Don’t Let Your Gift Basket Business Suffer
There was a story posted on IndyStar.com that made me think about how we, as business owners, can deal with factors that affect our businesses, but over which we have no control. Street construction in front of a strip mall in a small town in Indiana will impede access to the stores in that mall. While the store owners recognize the future advantages of this construction project (better roads and improved traffic flow to the mall), they are concerned about the immediate effects through this holiday season. Full Story.
Basically, the store owners have to grin and bear it. But there are some things that we can do to be prepared in these types of situations to encourage customers to continue to shop with you even though they may have trouble getting to your store.
- On-line shopping. This is when a web site really has it’s advantages. If you have even a simple web site, customers can still make their purchases.
- If you don’t have a web site, consider designing a flyer to mail to customers that includes photos of some of your baskets. Include descriptions of the products used in each basket, pricing information, etc. Offer a special discount or price if customers call in their order.
- Send an email to your customers announcing a special sale (in this case a pre-construction sale). If you don’t have access to email, send a letter. Or make personal phone calls to your best customers.
Add comment October 9th, 2007
