Auntie Kate The Resale Expert

I had a lovely lunch recently with two consignment-shop partners. (Crab cakes yum!) We were talking about how November, December, and January, resalers of all sorts don’t seem to get the customer lovin’ they deserve.

Here’s (approximately) how the convo went:

“They just forget us starting in November.”

“They’re out Christmas shopping and no matter what we do, they don’t come in.”

“And we DO have great decor items, party clothes, lots of “new” gift ideas.”

“So Kate, what do we do about this? And while you’re at it, how do we get through the dreaded J month: January?”

Well, after I asked for a refill on my iced tea, here’s what I suggested:

“How about using the end-of-the-year and the let’s-be-charitable-during-the-holidays aspects of what’s going on in their lives to motivate not just

visits (so you can show them all the holiday-friendly goods you have), but also

fun

a shop communication that saves them money and even enhances

your shop’s reputation for community involvement (press-worthy, this aspect!) ?”

What is this wonderful idea?

It’s as simple as a time-limited Frequent Buyer Card. Hear me out:

Starting at the beginning of the year, you issue “2016” FBCs. How? You throw a party in January… probably after the 10th or so. Any type of party you’d like (but I’d be sure it coincided with my seasonal clearance, personally 🙂 ) At this party, they receive a fresh new-year FBC with one punch/stamp already on it just for coming to the party. There’s the fun aspect!

During the year, you hand out FBCs as you normally do. Pointing out that they must be filled up by December 31.

In early November, you send out frequent reminders (broadcast emails, web site, blog, social media) that their card is good through December 31, and “here’s a few goodies that will tempt you to get those punches filled up!” That will remind them that you have neat stuff AND they’re earning their FBC reward and saving money. That builds visits, traffic, and sales in November.

In December, you repeat the marketing, and here’s the twist:

You remind folks that they can just dash in and drop their incomplete FBCs in one of 2-3 big glass jars to be donated to a local charity that could use the earned reward.  If they’re busy, if they haven’t got the time to shop with you, they can donate their punches to their choice of charity jar. That’s the community involvement. Every day from the 15th of December or so, you post publicly in-store and online how many rewards these charities are receiving, by combining the 4 punches on this card, the 7 on another, etc, to reach a total of credits that your shop and your customers, together, have given to the charities.

Immediately after December 25, you make a big deal out of the amount of money you and your clientele have raised. Great story for your local media, who are always looking for a unique happy story angle on the holidays.

Then in January, you do it all over… inviting the representatives of the charities chosen to your FBC-debut party and encouraging them to post pix etc of the event to gain exposure for their cause.

(Need to create cards? The Frequent Buyer Card Kit from Too Good to be Threw can help.)

(Need a switch-over strategy from your current FBC program? Check out our TGtbT.com Facebook page… we’ll talk there…)