Retail Planning - it’s like death and taxes….
There are certain things you know are going to happen such as Easter, Christmas, your mum’s birthday … and there’s no excuse for not being prepared.
So why does a sudden downturn in business (be it insurance, cars, nappies) seem to catch so many marketers out? You know it’s going to happen but there always seems to be a mass panic, much hair-pulling and the inevitable ‘God, what are we going to do?’ meetings.
Instead of a lot of navel gazing and looking at what’s happening in your own industry sector, just look a little further afield at the retail sector – they have known the answer for quite a while.
There are 8 key pillars … I’ll talk about a couple of them here (buy me a drink and you have the other six!) – they are ‘scenario planning’ and ‘new news’.
Scenario planning
Scenario planning first – very straightforward. It is the ‘what if’ part of planning. So what if our quotes are below target, what if footfall is down, what if brochure requests are not up to scratch. Answer: prepare now … create propositions, short term offers, templates that can be activated at the drop of a hat. So you have the finished article ready for action.
You’ll need to choose your channels of deployment: press, e-mails, key word search snippets and banners … but do your communications now. But that means spending more money now with agencies … yup: but it’s a worthwhile investment. If you believe that downturns will happen, then you have to ask yourself what you would rather do … sit there watching bad figures, panic and not be able to do anything about it or at least have the option of reacting there and then; and not in a knee-jerk reaction, but from a position of pre-planned thought.
‘New’ news
Then there is “new news”. In a world of increased number of messages, multiple channels, increased competition, less consumer time … increasing your turnover of new messages and offers becomes critical to gain cut-through and traction with the consumer. Retailers will normally have a lay-down of events (not just a media lay-down!) to form their promotional calendar. The beauty of this construct is that you build momentum throughout the year, so that the consumers know that there is always something new, something going on with your brand … and as a consequence they think they should at least check you out.
So next year doesn’t fall into the death and taxes trap … try the marketer’s version of retail therapy and avoid the pain.
Chris Dickens, Head of Strategy
for Precision Marketing