By: TimeForge Labor
Many businesses experience a seasonal slump in foot traffic and sales, as well as experience varying levels throughout the day and week.
Fortunately, there are certain things merchants can do to minimize the influence of slower seasons on the business’ yearly earnings.
Why an Off-Season Strategy is Important
A good off-season marketing plan is essential for any retail company. It can help merchants better plan for the busy season and promote more items during the off-season.
It’s also important to conduct regular maintenance on POS hardware and software. Additionally, having a more dependable sales technology like a modern POS system is advantageous.
With the time and money saved, retail businesses can worry less about downtime and spend more effort building their brand.
There are some ways to increase off-peak earnings. Here’s how your merchants can make more money by utilizing POS technology:
How To Maximize Off-Peak Profits Using the POS System
Though retailers have to think carefully about addressing the specific problems that their industry faces, formulating strategies during slow periods can actually be quite straightforward.
Let’s look at how merchants can use their POS system to attract customers and increase off-peak sales.
Inventory Control
The right POS system can keep track of inventory and what needs to be restocked. This is important for understanding product cost and profit margins. With this component, merchants can also manage deliveries and update stock status automatically.
Additionally, with enough sales data, merchants can gain insights into the psychology and behavior of customers and discover current trends – or even forecast future trends.
With integrated POS features such as gift cards and incentive points, merchants can treat their customers better and keep them coming back.
Email Campaigns Based on Purchase History
Marketing the brand or product by segment is an excellent way to get customers’ attention and demonstrate the value of a product.
When people see that a product can make their life easier, they are more likely to purchase it for themselves or as a gift for someone else.
A POS system that prioritizes the customer experience can help merchants identify previous purchases and target potential buyers more effectively.
Additionally, retailers can focus on content and include links to their website’s blog entries or videos. If they want to send some specific product recommendations, they can look at items customers have already purchased and recommend similar or new items.
Promotions
It’s important for retailers to advertise sales that occur during off-peak times. Specials and combos can attract customers when organic business is otherwise slow.
To keep customers coming back, retailers can offer vouchers for the next purchase or award them with each shopping bill.
To determine off-peak days and times, merchants can use information from sales records. Sales data can also help with figuring out which items sell best during certain times, so that these items can be at the forefront of any promotions.
Enhancing the In-store Experience with Technology
Retailers are using technologically sophisticated POS systems to provide their consumers with an exciting experience in addition to a positive purchasing experience.
Because of the AI component built into some POS systems, these systems can greatly assist businesses with upselling and cross-selling. The system is able to identify what the customer already has in their shopping order and suggest other things they might like.
Some systems can identify patterns in shopping habits, wish lists, and other data. The merchant can then provide appropriate, individualized specific recommendations for each customer based on the information.
Focus on Convenience
Customers today enjoy having options. They may visit a store in person, but at other times they may prefer to shop online and have their products delivered or picked up later. Some of them may even be international e-commerce clients.
Regardless of how customers purchase, merchants need to make sure they are providing convenience and options. This can be done by offering window pickup, private shopping visits, phone orders, and video shopping through an omnichannel POS.
Having these additional channels can increase a merchant’s sales by giving customers ways to make purchases without having to visit the store.
Consider Upcoming Local Events
Retailers can use local events as opportunities to draw traffic into their stores. Instead of accepting that it’ll be a slow day, they should think about how to use the popularity of that event to promote their own goods.
To encourage guests to attend in-store events, a merchant might invite some targeted groups through social media. They may even organize their own event (such as a taste-testing party) to advertise a new product.
If a concert is taking place nearby, merchants could consider conducting an offer where anyone with concert tickets receives a discount on their shopping purchase – the right POS can help with this sort of cross-promotion.
Staffing Optimization
By training employees well and running the business more efficiently, merchants can increase profits gained during slow times.
Merchants should use an integrated scheduling system to manage minimum staffing levels and determine how many employees are needed to cover each shift. They should then organize shifts so that more employees arrive immediately before peak times, or shift prep time to off-peak mealtimes rather than the beginning of the day.
Cross-training personnel to perform additional duties as needed is also a good idea for retailers. This will allow them to remain flexible in the event of unexpected traffic.
Plan a Seasonal Pricing Strategy
Finally, it’s important for merchants to think of their point of sale as a system that supports their marketing efforts.
The POS is crucial for any business transaction. By using integrating the POS with the CRM and back office, merchants can gain valuable insights using their own data – and then have the power to follow through.
Retailers can also reduce prices on items to increase demand during off-peak times. Social media is a good way to get the word out without spending extra on advertising.
Final Thoughts on Increasing Off-Peak Sales
By taking full advantage of the POS, merchants can be successful even during the off-season. They should take advantage of social media and promotions to attract customers during off-peak times, and use the data from e-commerce and in-store sales to make smart decisions about where to spend their time and effort for the best results.
