havBeing your own boss is the dream. And living the dream should be fun, right? One important way to build in fun is through events. As a retail store owner, you already have the venue! Lucky for you, the boss ladies from my Shop Talk interviews have shared their successful event ideas. Now I’m sharing them with you.
Events offer multiple and sometimes underestimated perks. The first is customer appreciation. Show customers how much you appreciate them by spoiling them with time, exciting products, and heck, a little bit of alcohol. Second, it’s instant content for your website, blog, social media, and email. The more timely and relevant posts you have, the more often you’ll come up in your customers’ screens. Events are an opportunity to have conversations with and continue learning about your customer. And they’re fun! Events are fun for your customers, and you too, Take the opportunity to enjoy yourself, which is key to lower stress and closer bonds.
5 retail event ideas
If you’re craving some new ideas here’s a few:
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Celebrate the start of a new season
(Spring, Summer, Winter, or Fall) with a themed event. B. Boutique in Cannon Beach, OR celebrated Spring with mimosas, faux leis (a festive touch!) and a denim sale. -
Have a category sale Instead of an end of season sale, try having a sale on a category of product. It could be linen dresses or sandals or books. This is a strategy that has brought a lot of people through the door at Dotter in Highland Park, CA. They come for the sale items, but leave with more.
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Feature a product or service you don’t offer
yet your customers use. Gretchen in Yakima, WA, has a Bobbi Brown makeover event every year that her customers LOVE. She invites a couple of salespeople from the local department store to set up a station in her window. They get sales from it and Gretchen’s customers are the prettier for it! Just to note: she doesn’t offer a sale in conjunction with the event. -
Throw a girls night
hosted by one of your customers! Belleza Ropa in Olympia, WA loves to do this and says her customers feel spoiled to have the store all to themselves and their friends. The customer does the inviting and you stay open a couple of hours, give a perk to the hostess, and provide a light refreshment like wine and cheese. Less work for you, more fun for them! -
Host a Fundraiser
for a local charity. Blue Moon in Garden Grove, CA, a philanthropic boutique, will host Sip-n-Shops with an organization she’s given to. It brings a new audience into the store.
Have you thought of a few more event ideas? Take a minute to share in the comments below some fun, successful events you’ve had. Let’s keep the ideas flowing!
We have an anniversary sale each year that we send out emails to our customer friends. Only our customers receive the larger discount. They have to wear something designated each year such as a hat, color, something they purchased here, etc. which tells us they are a former customer. The person coming off the street only receives 20%. We serve mimosas and hor de vours. Fun day.
Joyce, that sounds like a super fun event! I especially like the secret code in the email to designate the return customers. Very creative! Thank you for sharing!