You Are Unique…Now Act Like It

by Kyna Steinfurth, Media Director

Are you the retailer who is constantly stalking other jewelry retailers to see what they do with their marketing? Do you look at their latest promotion and think to yourself, “I should do this too?” Are you the retailer who expects the exact same results and gets upset if your event didn’t have the same amount of traffic? If so, stop it.

We see this all the time. Retailer A knows that Retailer B does a sale in the spring every year and they found out that their gross sales are typically $100,000+ and brings in a ton of new customers. Retailer A decides they are going to hold their own sale and gets frustrated because they only saw a fraction of the gross sales and next to zero new customers.

Retailer A failed to consider multiple things: market presence, consumer behavior, and timing. The average consumer in Retailer A’s market did not know their name. Their marketing efforts for the past few years were limited to existing customers and one or two one-off marketing campaigns to push an event. Retailer B has had a consistent presence in their market for years with advertising on local radio, television, outdoor, search engine marketing, social efforts – the works! Consumers were already familiar with this retailer and, therefore, much more likely to visit the retailer’s website and store.

Retailer B’s sale event was timed in the weeks leading up to Mother’s Day when their area consumers, mainly upscale families, were looking for gift ideas. Retailer A held their sale in the middle of the summer while their upscale families were out of town vacationing at their second homes.

Of course, this does not mean that Retailer A should never do a sale event. They should! They just need to take the idea and tailor it to their store. Pay attention to the details and have realistic expectations.   Each retailer is unique and they need to act like it.