Whoop, whoop it’s almost Christmas, and if you haven’t already considered what you’ll be ranging, here is some inspiration to convert shoppers into valuable customers.
Secretly, we love to buy for ourselves when shopping for presents. The truth is out there, it’s no secret, with everyone on average spending £84 on themselves when Christmas shopping – that’s an accessory like a pair of headphones or an SDA to kick-start that New Year’s resolution in healthy eating.
The most popular Christmas gifts are entertainment-based, with 63 per cent choosing these over clothes, food and drink, spending an average of £489.04 on approximately 14.8 gifts for 8.3 people – that third of a person only needs something small.
Appealing
Now, with an identified average spend per person of £61 (in addition to the previously mentioned £84), what do you range that meets that price point? Not much, I’m guessing, thus increasing the importance in making sure that those items that fall within this price point are clearly visible and appealing to shoppers in your store.
New technology is still available to buy, think Ring’s video doorbell, which also won the Editor’s Choice category at this year’s T3 Awards. At £159, its innovation and functionality can be justified by ease of installation and potential as a household gift. Speaking of innovation, think Jabra’s range of wireless headphones, leading the way in the ‘hearables’ category, merging high-quality audio increasing through the range with fitness tracking via your ears.
Equally, on the back of the phenomenally successful and much discussed The Great British Bake-Off, there’s an SDA at a range of prices that every fan of the show desires to grace their kitchen or make them a better baker. These include the Kenwood mini choppers, AEG blenders and the KitchenAid hand mixer or, if you’re really generous, the Artisan stand mixer and Magimix 5200XL food processor. With SDAs helping the 41 per cent of Brits cooking from scratch, the opportunity to develop your sales, across the SDA category, can be linked to a gift purchase.
With two-in-five shoppers stumped on what to buy their friends and family, they can be swayed as 68 per cent buy based on deals and 62 per cent on convenience. By highlighting the deal, its USP and suggested target audience, closing a sale among the 40 per cent who are undecided could be simpler than you thought.
Moving up the generosity scale, a premium audio device is the perfect gift for any audiophile or music-loving household. Consider an expert in the audio category, such as Naim – also a T3 winner. The Mu-so wireless speaker combines stylish design with unrivalled sound quality filling your home with your favourite tunes compatible with all the popular streaming services – very appropriate for the Christmas period.
With premium audio sales growing by 22 per cent year on year, it’s a great opportunity to increase your average basket value. Perhaps use a showroom style approach, allowing customers to see the speakers in a living room setting, perhaps even syncing their phones to the speaker to test the wireless connectivity. Creating some in-store theatre is key to selling these premium items.
Addressing those entertainment shoppers, the huge media coverage enjoyed by the exciting Virtual Reality category – expected to exceed $2 billion globally this year – means it could be the time to start stocking a VR or AR proposition within your line up. The eagerly anticipated PlayStation VR is an accessory for the vastly popular PS4, of which there are over 1.5 million in homes across the UK. This is due to launch on October 13 and expected to RRP at £349.
Exciting
Now, this may be more than the average spend, but it’s an exciting, innovative product with a forecasted 50 games available by the end of the year, with highlights such as Batman Arkham VR and EVE: Valkyrie. It’s going to be huge and a welcome gift for any PS4 user or their family. If this is beyond your ranging, think Google Cardboard. With an RRP of £15 and thousands of available apps, it’s the ideal stocking filler for anyone of any age with any brand of smartphone. With Sky and Freeview experimenting with VR as well, entertainment platforms are taking the technology mainstream.
Take some comfort in knowing that only 14 per cent of shoppers surveyed return an electronic gift. If sold correctly, return rates should be negligible within your store especially if you’ve trained your staff. Remember ranging is one thing, but if your team doesn’t know what you range, what your core Christmas items are, how to sell these correctly to the right customer by identifying what they want and matching USPs and how to close a sale, there’s no guarantee of success.
Perhaps consider incentivising your staff to attach your lower-priced items to higher-priced transactions, assisting an increase to your average basket value.
Santa Baby may be coming down the chimney with some great tech, if you get your ranging and training right.
Read more at: http://ertonline.co.uk/opinion/all-i-want-for-christmas/
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