As we have entered February, Valentine’s Day spirit is starting to take over the retail industry. This is an occasion for people to celebrate love and buy gifts for their loved ones. Thus, it’s normal that people are planning to spend heavily on gifting during this holiday season. To seize every opportunity on this Valentine’s Day, retailers need to refresh themselves with reasonable strategies. In today’s issue, we’ll present you with the 5 best Valentine’s Day retail ideas to capture your customer’s hearts.
Overview
Dedicate a special section on your website or store for Valentine’s Day
When pink and red begin to pepper the shop windows, people realize that Valentine’s Day is coming. In fact, we’re influenced and manipulated by visual stimuli more than we are aware of. Psychology research has indicated that normally, vision is the most dominant sense for human beings, so-called ‘visual dominance’. This phenomenon can be efficiently applied in retail as it’s recommended to focus on visual appearances like packaging or displays to effectively boost sales in a short period. This is one of the most effective Valentine’s Day retail ideas to consider in this holiday season.
Nothing captures in-store shoppers’ attention more than the feature display section. Typically, retailers place Valentine’s Day-themed sections on the window display or right near the entrance. Besides, you can set up a dedicated area for Valentine’s Day in-store so that your customers can browse around and get inspired along the way.
The same idea applies to your e-commerce site. You can attract the attention of website visitors by placing a special Valentine’s Day feature section right on the homepage of your website. Besides, you should also add a “Valentine’s Day” category on the navigation so that it’s easier for customers to find, browse, and shop the Valentine’s Day gifts.
Provide help with Valentine’s Day gifting
One of the toughest challenges of Valentine’s Day gifting, or, in fact, any gifting, is what to give. So providing customers with any form of help would be courteous and make them feel more inclined towards buying from you. This makes one of the must-try Valentine’s Day retail ideas in 2021.
You don’t have to conduct big research or survey with a wealth of information to be able to give out some good advice. A few simple, straightforwards blog posts or articles about how to choose the right gift will do.
Additionally, breaking down the gift list into subcategories helps you target your audiences better. Integrating a filter mechanism on the products is a worthwhile effort, especially if you have a vast range of merchandise offered. The most common way of categorization is gender-based like “gifts for her” or “gifts for him”. Besides, there are some other ways to break down the list by including price range, interest, product types, style, etc. It helps your shoppers to narrow down the options quickly. Thereby, it facilitates faster purchasing decisions while minimizing the chance of return or exchange.
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Don’t forget about people’s pets
In 2020, Valentine’s Day spending witnessed significant growth, pretty much of which was driven by people who bought gifts for their pets.
According to the National Retail Federation, in 2020, 27% of people celebrating Valentine’s Day said they were buying gifts for their pets, in comparison with only 17% in 2010. Simultaneously, spending on pet gifts has increased considerably, from just $450 million to more than $1.7 billion during the same period. Interestingly, the trend is not just among younger consumers like Millennials and Gen Zers but is going strong among shoppers under the age of 55 as well.
Due to the COVID-19 pandemic, pet ownership has increased marvelously in 2020. With such momentum, engaging in gift-buying for pets will likely continue in 2021 and the upcoming years. So, if you’re operating a retail business, consider stocking pet gifts or running a promotion program for people with pets would be among worth-trying Valentine’s Day retail ideas.
Celebrate more than just romance
Typically, there are 2 types of people on Valentine’s Day. Some people love Valentine’s Day and use it as an occasion to celebrate with their partners and revel in the romance. Other people hate Valentine’s Day because it reminds them that they aren’t in relationships. As business owners and operators, your target is to capture both groups. But “how” is the real question.
Retailers like you can deploy the fact that Valentine’s Day isn’t just about romance. It’s about love, and there are many different kinds of love other than the romantic one. Love for families, love for friends, love for your pets (like we have discussed earlier), etc. can all be celebrated on Valentine’s Day. You can run a special offer for Valentine’s Day, something that all your customers can enjoy.
For example, in 2012, Qdoba Mexican Grill encouraged its customers to share the love on Valentine’s Day through a classic “Buy One Get One” offer. Customers had to buy one entrée and share a kiss with a significant other to get the offer. That significant other can be either a relative or a friend or even a stranger, and Qdoba gave them a second entrée for free. The promotion successfully encouraged Qdoba customers to celebrate all different kinds of love on Valentine’s Day. And it helped Qdoba not drive holiday sales but also enhance its relationship with customers.
Promote Valentine’s Day “experiences gifts”
The world has witnessed a shift towards an “experience economy” in customers’ behaviors. People are now more interested in experiences like dining out, traveling, etc. over objects. According to Forbes, adults under 35 are still buying experiences over objects. Tickets to concerts, an art class, or a spa day, are all more likely to score Millennial dollars than a diamond ring.
Thereby, creating an experience for your customers is in the list of Valentine’s Day retail ideas that you can’t miss this holiday. If you’re in the business of providing services, this golden opportunity is already in your hands. On the other hand, if you’re retailers, you can also take leverage on this retail idea by providing free service right in your store. People are embracing the idea of pampering others and treating themselves during Valentine’s season, so see if you can create store experiences around those ideas. You can also partner with some service providers to give away vouchers or tickets to your buyers when they purchase from your store.
Love is already in the air!
Valentine’s Day is already around the corner. To successfully do what we normally do on this day – capture people’s hearts, this list is our early Valentine’s Day gift for retailers like you. Hope that with these 5 worthwhile Valentine’s Day retail ideas, you can find your way to make your business more fruitful and profitable this holiday season.
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