How to Create Traffic-Building, Sales-Driving Retail Events & Promotions
How is your events calendar looking so far? More than ever, retailing in 2025 is all about the in-store experience. Shoppertainment is critical to that experience! You should have one MAJOR event and one to two MINOR events scheduled for each and every month of the year. Major events attract crowds; minor events (think trunk shows, classes or demos) attract a smaller group of shoppers but require careful planning as well.
Now, there are times when you need to run a sale, however, do not confuse events and promotions with markdowns. Sales provide the opportunity to clear out the dogs and the discontinued stock – pile it high and watch it fly! You can always combine a sale with an event, but the true purpose of an event is to attract customers, the life blood of your business.
Get your hands on a blank calendar; this will become your promotional calendar where you will note each event. It will also come in handy when creating “refrigerator calendars” (a complete listing if what’s in-store for the month) that you will distribute to customers as bag stuffers.
Schedule a brainstorming session with store associates to gather ideas for each month of the year. In a brainstorming there are no bad ideas. No one gets to say, “We can’t do that.”, “That won’t work.”, or our favorite, “That’s a really stupid idea.” That so-called stupid idea just might be your next big claim to fame when someone puts a new spin on the idea, or combines it with another.
Fill your calendar with one major event and one to three minor events each month. Remember, a major event builds traffic and packs your store with buying customers. Minor events attract less people but keep your store on your customers’ radar.
Answer these questions for each event you plan:
Why did I choose this event? What’s my sales goal? What do I wish to accomplish overall?
Will this event bring new customers to my store?
Are these customers likely to come back and shop again? What will I do to entice them to return? (Hint: Bounce Back Coupons or Bounce Back Gift Cards that bring them back again next week are always a good idea.)
Will this event attract my loyal customers? (New customers in your store are a good thing, but hordes of loyal customers are even better.)
Will this event enhance my store’s brand and/or reputation? We know a retailer with a 1,700 square foot store who sent a fabulous offer to 3,000 customers with this one, tiny stipulation: You must be present to win. 3,000 people trying to get into a 1,700 square foot store? You do the math…
Every event detail needs to be thoroughly planned and assigned to a store associate to ensure it will be handled properly. Each event also needs a Count Down Calendar: You’ll want to begin planning three to four months out (this time frame is determined by the type of event and how much lead time you need to get everything organized).
Make your initial contacts. Book the entertainment and the caterer, find retailer partners to cross-promote with, secure instructors and demonstrators. Get key vendors involved, too. Purchase necessary supplies and place additional merchandise orders. You need to be in stock when customers arrive to buy.
Schedule a store meeting to review the event and go over every detail. Do this each week as necessary as the event approaches.
Design the advertisements and email blasts, do a Facebook Offer and Event, plan a Flash Sale on Instagram, create the bag stuffers, contest forms, in-store and window signing, etcetera.
Hold a mandatory store meeting on the morning of your event. Go over everything, and then go over it again.
Immediately after your event, ask everyone involved to evaluate how they thought it went. Follow-up with a store meeting to discuss what worked, what you’d like to add, and what you’d do differently the next time.
To be successful today, you have to do more than just sell “stuff”; you have to touch customers’ hearts and minds as well as their wallets. You can exist by running an occasional sale and maybe an event or two throughout the year, or you can thrive using Shoppertainment to connect with customers. Putting together a promotional calendar and bringing each event to life is not an easy task. It takes creativity and dedication and sometimes sheer willpower, but it’s always worth it. If you’d just like to do some pre-planning brainstorming, give us a call. Or drop us an email for 10 retailer-tested in-store event templates. We’ll be happy to help you exercise a little crowd control!