In a little more than a month, families across the country prepare to return to school. As you consider your in-store back-to-school promotions, the key to your success will be planning and coordination.
- Create cross-department collaboration. Successful whole-store promotions involve all departments, from operations to marketing. Ensure that stakeholders responsible for implementing promotions are involved in planning meetings and on the same page.
- Understand and plan for changes in customer shopping patterns. How and when customers shop changes throughout the year. Use point of sale reports to identify trends in prior years and daily customer count by the hour.
- Execute a theme. Abundant displays, including interdepartmental cross-merchandising displays, accompanied by themed signage, should make the theme clear to customers upon entering the store. Digital, paper and electronic media should all align with promotional advertising used in-store.
- Highlight solutions. Back-to-school time is challenging, as families learn to balance new routines. Create displays that offer meal solutions to help customers make quick and easy meal planning decisions. Make sure to feature a selection appealing to a range of special diets, along with single-serve products that make packing lunches simpler. Share with your shoppers recipe ideas for easy, weeknight meals and lunchbox lunches from grocery.coop.
- Back to school isn’t just for kids. Think beyond kids’ lunchboxes and family meals when planning your back-to-school promotions. Co-ops in communities with colleges and office buildings have the opportunity to craft promotions to serve those demographics, too. Think ramen cups, nutrition bars and fresh-cut fruit.
Thoughtful planning, engaging promotions and consistent messaging within and outside of your co-op are necessary to ensuring success this back-to-school season.
