While the past few years inevitably saw a slowdown in the number of people shopping in-store, the recovery is now well underway as we continue to move forward in a post-pandemic setting.
With more people returning to in-store shopping, it reinforces the importance of getting back into the swing of ensuring your store clearly showcases when you’re having a sale. It goes a long way in elevating your sale efforts.
The Return to Stores
Towards the backend of 2021 and early 2022, many of the COVID-era restrictions started to ease and businesses really began to open back up. Much in the same way that travel exploded throughout 2022, retail brick-and-mortar shopping is back in full swing.
During the most recent Black Friday sales weekend for 2022, the National Retail Federation (NRF) estimated that more than 123 million people visited brick-and-mortar stores, which was a solid 17% increase on numbers from 2021. By comparison, online shopping increased by a more marginal 2%.
A significant number of these shoppers were Gen Z and Millennials, who are projected to make up 70% of the population by 2028 – so even among younger and more online-savvy shoppers, the appeal of brick-and-mortar purchases remains strong.
It serves to reinforce the importance of properly showcasing sales and ensuring those who visit your store are aware of – and excited about – the specials you’re running.
Why Showing Off Your Sale Matters
Every touchpoint of your promotion should be consistent across the board. This means your advertising, marketing efforts, and how you showcase the sale in-store should all complement each other. On a fundamental level, you want to ensure there’s no confusion among your customers and prospects over the existence of your sale.
So, if you’re spending money on social media ads and have a huge digital banner on your website promoting your sale, it would be understandably confusing to your customers if they came into your store and didn’t see a single mention of your sale. This simple lack of signage can be enough to make some customers think, “Oh, the sale must be over.” From that alone, you can miss out on potential sales.
Even if you’re running a sale that is both for online and in-store shopping, missing store signage will mean you lose out. And with more people returning to in-store purchasing, you may find the balance between online and in-store revenue shift – so you can’t afford to focus only on online channels while ignoring your physical location.
Ways to Show Off Your Sale
When it comes to showing off your sale in-store, the best initial approach is to ensure you have good signage. This can be more than a simple “Sale” sign, and we strongly suggest that your signage be themed to the occasion, which is why we offer a range of in-store materials for our clients to use.
For example, during a Christmas/festive sale, you could utilize signage that is red, green, and white in color – common colors used during the festive season. You may also consider hanging Christmas decorations, such as tinsel festooned across the ceiling or baubles in different spots throughout the store.
If your sale or promotion has a specific offer (e.g. “Buy ‘x’ and get a vacation”), then your signage and materials should reflect that offer.
Say you’re offering a resort stay in Mexico for people who make qualifying purchases, then you can fill your store with signage and props that reinforce imagery of Mexico. This could include banners with photos of Mexican beaches, blow-up palm trees, a map of Mexico, beach chairs, etc.
And if any customers happen to share photos from their Mexican trip with you, you could seek permission to display those photos in-store as well (such as for the next time you run a Mexico trip promotion).
To give you an idea of how this can look, check out the below signage and props clients have used in their stores and showrooms.
Above: Use of signage to promote the VIP Ticket (sports and concert tickets) in a furniture gallery.
Below: Auto dealerships promoting resort getaways and Las Vegas getaways, complete with balloons, signage, and props such as roulette tables and a prize wheel.
Remember that showing off your sale or promotion properly in-store isn’t just about making people aware, it’s also about getting them excited about it.
If someone hears you’re giving away Vegas trips for purchases and they come into a store lacking any mention of it, it not only makes them question if the offer is still on, but it can also deflate any degree of excitement they felt.
But if they come into your store, see Vegas signs and props throughout, and even hear Vegas-themed songs playing, then it immerses them in the excitement. Their mind can do the rest as they imagine themselves on a casino floor or lazing outside by a resort pool.
When you engage the senses and energize your store, it can do a lot for your sales and promotion efforts.
Let’s Talk
To learn more about our programs and how you can elevate your in-store promotional efforts, contact us via the form below, visit our Contact page, or give us a call on 1-866-883-2968.
