This month we’re asking retailers, what was your last promotion you ran and how successful was it?
Wendy Martin Green – Owner of Peter Green Furnishers
One of our biggest and most successful promotions we have had this year was our ‘Peter Green Health and Wellbeing Event,’ which we held in the Spring. It was the first of what will most probably be an annual event now. To begin with we invited a number of health and wellness professionals from the local community to ‘set up shop’ in our Chandlers ford Store for one Saturday in March. Next, we invited our neighbours and customers to come along and explore the benefits of sleep, relaxation, proper posture and a healthy diet and lifestyle from the experts with an emphasis on improving both mental and physical health. The response was overwhelming. We had over 20 experts sign up to demonstrate their services ranging from chiropractors to people who were able to map inflammation using special technology. When we opened the doors 300 guests joined us and enjoyed free massages, healthy smoothies and lots of free advice on how to improve their lifestyles.
Huw Williams – Toons
The last promotion we ran was an invitation only event to launch our new cookshop over the bank holiday weekend which was extremely successful. We offered discounts not only off the cookshop products but right across the store. We also opened late on the Friday evening with a huge prize draw and free buffet for those attending. Both the staff and customers said what a great night it was.
Jan Morgan – Hafren Furnishers
We have been running some strong bed and mattress promotions, from leading brands, which have resulted in good sales in a challenging marketplace.
Vic Smith – Vic Smith Beds
We always try and tie in our promotions with current events and as we have our own in-store printing machine, we can react very quickly. Some examples of our recent sale promotions in the last few weeks include ‘It MAY be time for a New Bed during May Madness’, which was for the whole of May and ‘The King of All Bed Sales’, which we ran for a week either side of the Coronation. This offer was when you buy a bed get a headboard (the beds Crown) half price. We find our customers read the instore literature and our sales team back it up and reinforce the message, so yes, this was good for us! When you’re telling a customer a point it’s nice to point to a poster to back up the sales pitch. After all, a poster and picture say a thousand words.
George Sinclair – Nimbus Beds
Our latest campaign was our ‘IN STOCK clearance sale’ where we cleared a lot of our stock that has been in storage for some time. This allowed us to scoop some dead money back up and create space. It was also one of our best months of trading too.
