Oct 10, 2013

Seven Ways to Engage Customers During Small Business Saturday

Half of our nation’s retail sales are generated from independent retailers and Small Business Saturday has become the day shoppers really come out and support their favorite local shops. Small Business Saturday is a shop local initiative that was created to bring awareness around the importance of consumers shopping at independently owned businesses the day after Black Friday. Patricia Norins, Small Business Saturday spokesperson and GIFT SHOP Magazine publisher, spoke to a sold-out crowd of retailers during the FALL GALLA Market at the LA Mart about how they could leverage the power of Small Business Saturday to boost their holiday sales and profits.

The fast-paced seminar provided proven techniques to drive more traffic and sales on November 30th including free resources available to promote their involvement and 50 take-away tips they could put to work immediately.

Among the 50 tips were these 7 recommendations on how retailers could leverage Small Business Saturday to boost sales.

1) Start marketing your Small Business Saturday 60 days in advance (around September 30)

2) Reach out to local media outlets and let them know you’re participating and offer to be an source for independent store stories

3) Create an event page on Facebook and invite customers to come in

4) Direct mail is not dead!

5) Organize a cash mob.

6) Use the power of social media and broaden your reach with pre-scheduled posts

7) Take pictures of customers in shop (after you ask for permission) and post on social media sites to show the activity within your store

In addition to the presentation, the Fall GALLA Market at the LA Mart hallowed retailers to fill in last minute orders for the fourth quarter and get a head start on what to add to their merchandise mix for the following year. Retailers used the opportunity to work closely with their representatives to discuss their store’s looks, get recommendations on how to best display their lines for maximum effectiveness and take advantage of Small Business Saturday traffic.

About the L.A. Mart®

The L.A. Mart® celebrates over 55 years of serving the gift, home and design community as Southern California’s most comprehensive collection of fine regional and national showrooms available to the trade professional. Encompassing 724,000 square feet of gift, accessory and furniture offerings, the L.A. Mart Gift & Home Center features thousands of premium product lines, from custom manufactured to nationally branded gift, home, and lifestyle merchandise. The L.A. Mart is the pre-eminent market center on the West Coast.