Christmas in July is an excellent opportunity for local retailers to attract new shoppers

Thanks to marketing tools in our POS software, it is easy for local retailers to pitch Christmas in July, track performance and learn from the value of the opportunity.

We first wrote about Christmas in July more than 10 years ago. What was a good season then is even better now.

Here’s is some of the advice we have shared with our local retailer POS software user community about Christmas in July.

1. Run the Christmas in July campaign over no more than two weeks in July. One week could be enough.
2. Choose dates which are away from any other promotion – it works best with little competition.
3. Get all team members engaged.
4. Set aside space at the front of store, in their face.
5. Use your window – go BIG.
6. Dress the team and the store to suit the Christmas theme.
7. Display any spare Christmas stock from last year.
8. Play Christmas music.
9. Choose a day for an extra special celebration and make this an all-out focus.
10. Have a competition for the kids around the theme.
11. Create a giant Christmas stocking which one lucky customer can win.
12. Use the event to discount any slow moving items. It its a perfect opportunity to quit stock.
13. Promote on social media.
14. Ideally, connect with your online store as planned of shopping today is done outside usual hours.

Christmas in July is an excellent opportunity to get suppliers on board too.  Maybe they could provide products for you to give away as gifts – I.E. every shopper gets spending over $10 a ‘Christmas’ gift.  Suppliers could use your promotion as an ideal time for trialling products and getting your customers engaged.

The key here is to create some excitement in the middle of winter, to make visiting your shop more appealing, to get your shop noticed. This is what disruptive marketing has to be about – getting noticed, causing people to stop what they were doing, to turn and see your business. That has to be the first goal, for them to stop, and notice. If you can do that you are part way there. This is why going BIG is important.

Christmas in July is a terrific opportunity in local retail and our POS software can help you track this.