Is your shop taking Valentine’s Day to heart?
As I drove around my piece of heaven this morning — and somehow managed to keep my car from sliding on the undersalted back roads that received yet more snowfall this week — I couldn’t help but notice how many folks still have their Christmas lights and decorations on display. Granted, it’s been mighty cold since Dec. 25, and the few days that could have been tolerable for de-decorating outdoors were soaked with rain instead.
Handmade is always good — especially when it's made with love from your preschooler!
But the issue seems mainly limited to residential areas. Retailers are definitely over the holidays and looking ahead to all things Valentine. In fact, just a quick search on BusinessWire.com turned up some interesting trends:
• Less lavishness. According to PayPal’s fourth annual “Can’t Buy Me Love” survey, nearly half of shoppers plan to spend less than $50 this Valentine’s Day, compared to 2008, when 75 percent of shoppers planned to spend more than $50 on gifts. Forty-two percent of couples surveyed say their partner spends too much money year-round. (Whoops — I bet you’ve helped a few of them on their binges, too, haven’t you?). You can learn more about their survey from this release here. What can this mean for you? Educate your customers’ sweethearts on how you bring value to the table, whether it’s via a shop gift certificate that will automatically make their cherished ones happy or the practical side of what their significant other does at your shop (“Look at this warm sweater she made you! She’s one in a million!”).
• Social media plays a part. PayPal also announced it’s hosting a virtual scavenger hunt on Twitter: You “follow” them and get updated clues to get in on some giveaways. Macy’s is also using the social medium, for better or worse: “The ’sweetest tweets’ will be showered with diamonds daily between Feb. 1-14.” So if you can squeeze a profound declaration of love into 140 characters or less, read Macy’s release here for details. If Facebook is more your thing, Cost Plus World Market is running a “Sweetheart Sweepstakes” for fans of their Facebook page, with a trip for two to Greece as the prize, according to their release. What can this mean for you? It’s doubtful that European trips or diamond ring giveaways are in your budget, but you could do something fun like a “secret word” promotion, where only those who are following you on Twitter are privvy to the Word of the Day that you post like clockwork at 9 a.m. During shop hours, any customer who plays along and tells you the word gets a 5% discount on her total purchase. Twitter is free, and it’s giving you a more-or-less captive audience — why not take advantage of it?
• It’s better to give than to receive. All right, this one is not a retailer — but it can still translate to your shop. Dr. Scott Shamblott, a Minnesota dentist, is throwing a “Dentistry from the Heart” event where his office does free fillings and extractions for those in need. The release is here. What can this mean for you? People everywhere are feeling the economic pinch, but it does their heart good to see those who may be even less fortunate get helped by others. (Hopefully, there’s the “pay it forward” effect at play, too.) Maybe Feb. 14 is the right day to host a stitch-in at the shop, where everything that is worked on — be it a prayer shawl, a preemie’s hat, a bookmark for literacy, a quilt for the homeless — is meant to spread the love and donate to others. One event that serves as a great example is the Sixth Annual Pittsburgh Knit & Crochet Festival, coordinated by Barb Grossman and held over Valentine’s Day weekend. It includes several charitable endeavors, including a Warm Up America! lounge sponsored by Pat Catan’s Craft Centers; coat check with donations going to Hog Heaven Rescue Farm; fabric donations being accepted by the local Salvation Army chapter; and I’m certain I’m forgetting others!
So will February bring more than just red paper hearts around the shop and an excuse to eat more candy? Will it mean a re-energizing to your market plan? Remember, this month also celebrates Black History and Go Red for Women Day (Feb. 5), as well as Groundhog’s Day and the birthdays of Charles Dickens, Thomas Edison, Abe Lincoln, Susan B. Anthony and George Washington (Feb. 7, 11, 12, 15 and 22, respectively). Throw in the Super Bowl on Feb. 7 and Mardi Gras on Feb. 16, and you should be busy all month long.
Maybe things will thaw out soon and all those holiday lights will finally go into storage. Thank goodness it’s not leap year: We’re one day closer to spring!
Tags: BusinessWire, Cost Plus World Market, Dentistry from the Heart, February, Hog Heaven, Macy's, marketing, needlework, Pat Catan, PayPal, Pittsburgh Knit & Crochet Festival, retail, Salvation Army, Scott Shamblott, Twitter, Valentine, Warm Up America
