Selling during Christmas in times of Covid-19, what’s your plan?
Once again, we are approaching the most important retail dates, Thanksgiving, Black Friday, and Christmas. However, this year in a totally different context due to the global health crisis.
Furthermore, if we add the presidential elections, this calls for an even more special holiday season that forces retailers to refine their forecasts for such dates more than ever.
Our obligation is to put aside all negativity and achieve a good sales campaign during these last two months of the year, attracting more customers, increasing productivity, and growing as Hispanic retailers in the market.
We need to work collaboratively with our most important suppliers, whom we consider great allies, to execute aggressive campaigns of discounts, offers, and promotions since this will be the great trend of the nation’s largest retailers.
A good strategy for the surplus of non-edible products will be to renegotiate with suppliers’ to liquidate those stocks during this campaign in exchange for continuing the commercial relationship for next year. This shouldn’t involve large investments but will have a strong impact on large discounts to our customers.
Related Article: FMI Releases Resources on COVID-19 Pandemic Impact on Grocery Prices
During this time, our main objective should not be to attract new clients but to nurture the relationships with your most loyal clients. Remember that health security measures will need to be in place, so the key will be to manage that aspect of the business while at the same time you get your customers to do their holiday shopping at your store.
The way to convince consumers that they should buy our products is by giving them what they need and not what we want or need to sell them as retailers.
Today more than ever, it is necessary to observe, ask, and listen to the client and let him decide our strategy. Our challenge will also be to identify each of our store’s or businesses’ real needs. Why? Because we are not even nearly the same consumers as before the COVID-19 crisis.
The consolidation of our online services will be precisely this Christmas season.
Let’s take the opportunity to go the extra mile in our online business, improving our delivery times at homes, as well as the 100% availability of all the products that our customers order quietly from their homes.
As Hispanics, we have a great social commitment to each one of our communities. Let’s take care of local commerce. Let’s make the word proximity our flag and the best letter of introduction to all our clients.
Each of our store managers and associates knows our customers better than anyone. Let them make local decisions and be a vital part of making our entire strategy for the final season of the year. They will not regret it.