Holiday-Specific Displays: Yes or No?

The day before Independence Day, I hit a local thrift store

where the display shown in my photo above was right inside the entrance.

OK, yes, I critiqued it in my head - and honestly,
they passed with flying colors!

This is Goodwill, not Nordstroms,
and so the simplicity is very successful
AND easily changed when customers want to purchase items from the display.

Remember that Goodwill does not stock lines of product - 

everything is basically 'one of a kind' in there - 

so things sell out of displays regularly.

Here's my question for my readers:

Does it PAY to create holiday-specific displays in your store?
Do you reap the benefits of the time invested?

Does it spur sales of products with limited shelf lives
at full price and before a certain date?

Do you see NOTICEABLE sales increases of seasonal merchandise if you feature it in a themed display?

Me? I LOVE themed and holiday-specific displays.

I believe that one display in a store, and in a window,

gathering up all of the related product
and presenting it in a united theme,
can really help customers SEE what you offer,
be INSPIRED to take it home and re-create the look
for their own homes & celebrations.

 

It's easier than having products scattered all over your store,

forcing customers to wander and search everywhere

to see what you offer...

If your customers come in for patriotic napkins, and they find them in the napkin section,

they will grab them, check out, and go home perfectly happy with their napkins.

Yet if those napkins are presented in a small display

along with plates, candles, candle holders, and table runners, 

the customer would most likely purchase MORE items for their party...

meaning your per-transaction total just went up.
(Remember that old sales adage that says 

'It's easier to sell MORE to an existing customer than to GET a new customer?' It's true.)

Not to mention that they go home ECSTATIC that they found more wonderful things!

So give your existing customers the opportunity to buy MORE from you than what they came in for.
Give 'em napkins - and everything ELSE they need for a spectacular party table setting!

This subject has been on my mind for the past week,

because I have seen many PERFECT opportunities 

to present Patriotic, Red-White-and-Blue merchandise in three specific stores that I work in.

I have heard guests (customers) ASK for those products -
because they couldn't see them.
Yet there was no solution of a centralized location for the merchandise, 

no display to draw the guests (customers) attention to them with theme or color,

and no apparent concern that those products with a limited shelf life
existed in the stores and needed to be sold THIS SEASON.

By 'limited shelf life' I mean that there is a short preferred
'window of opportunity' to sell them effectively - 

not that they are perishables.
Fourth of July products sell best the two weeks immediately before the holiday. At full price, that is!

It confounds me that a company that I believe has
the best merchandising in the world

missed the boat on this one. And it's a BIG BOAT!
(like, white triple-deck paddle wheeler riverboat big,
if you get my drift!)

I asked about the lack of such displays in those stores,
and was told "No, we don't really do that here."

Well...... maybe they SHOULD.
It's the busiest time of the year, people are looking for and wanting this product,

and other parts of the locale are promoting the Patriotic color palette, and do themed displays.

People want to join in that celebration...

so why are these retail locations making it so hard for them to do so?

Ultimately, it's negatively impacting the store's bottom line AND the guest (customer) enjoyment.
I'm going to try to get to the bottom of the reasons behind that decision...
because I KNOW that I can implement new displays
 in every store I work in within minutes -
and make them a lot of money.

Vintage display by Seabold Vintage Market . Bainbridge Island, WA.

It's entirely possible to pull together an effective display 

just by quickly uniting items from all over the store by color and theme -

I could accomplish it in less than 30 minutes per store.

 You don't have to invest tons of money, effort, or time

or big props and backdrops and fixtures to get results.

Just take the opportunity to give your customer
what they want in an easy,
"don't have to think about it, just grab it and buy it" way.

Goodwill Industries delighted me
with their very simple and effective Patriotic entry display.

The specific stores I am thinking of need to do the same.
What about yours?