A recent survey by Neilsen highlighted how schoolwear shoppers are beginning to shop earlier in the summer. Now this survey was carried out in the States, but with most things retail where they go the UK follows. 18% of respondents had started shopping at the beginning of August compared to just 7% in 2013.
This trend was partly driven by retailers advertising earlier. For independent schoolwear retailers, a really effective way of advertising is emailing your customer base. This can be simple to create, but perhaps more importantly measure. With emailing tools such as icontact retailers can see which customers have clicked on links, and by using Google Analytics on your website where clicks and sales have come from. Cybertill’s EPoS system can help retailers create that all important customer database at the till point. With a post code look up facility, retailers can add customers in a few seconds, and by collecting email addresses they can then email customers with offers and promotions. This way retailers can create ‘personalised emails’ by School and generate multiple email campaigns throughout the summer months. And if you start early with an incentive to visit the store or shop on-line you can generate a great start to the summer holidays.
The same survey found over one in four of respondents say they’re very likely to post about their back to school shopping on Facebook and 15% plan to Tweet about it on Twitter this year, both up from 9% and 3%, respectively, in 2013. This shows how important it is for retailers not only to have a social media presence but be active and talking to their customers.
Have you noticed people posting about their back to school shopping experience on social media? Let us know over on the Cybertill Twitter @Cybertillretail or on our Facebook page https://www.facebook.com/cybertill.
