So Enough of the…”Christmas was horrible!” What do you do next?

Happy New Year to you all! I think I have finally caught up from Christmas…not that is was as busy as we all hoped but I think because I was so stressed I felt tired the entire month of December. So from all the reports it seems most stores had a terrible Christmas. I have to say this Christmas was the first time where each and every customer asked for a discount. My employees were instructed to offer to split to the tax first and then if they persisted 5% off. Obviously, if it was a larger piece we didn’t let the customer walk out of the store without it in hand. Unfortunately, we didn’t sell too many high ticket items. I had purchased Artistry Sterling silver line and nearly sold out of it; discounting Hearts on Fire also helped (sold fulfillment earrings, large fulfillment pendant, whimsical oval earrings, mystic pendant, repertoire ring, etc.) We did sell lots and lots of small tickets. At least the cash register was being opened!

So enough of the Christmas was horrible! What do you do next? With the new President in office I still think its going to take at least 9 months before we see any change. I hope I’m wrong but I don’t think things are going to change until at least September.

Changes I started working on (some to save money of course) right after the New Year:

1. We changed around all the cases. I wanted the merchandise to look fresh.
2. We created a “fabulous finds” case. Each staff member picked out a favorite piece of new and aged inventory. Each piece in the “fabulous finds” case is 25% off. If a customer asks for a discount we direct them to the fabulous finds first.
3. I remerchandised. Because of the economic times I want to control buying a lot more but am missing a lot of price point items. Here’s what I did. For example: I took a pair of huggies that were $435 and brought the price down to $389 and created trays of earrings and pendants in certain price points for the upcoming holiday. For example I have a tray of diamond huggies from $200-$300, $300-$400, and $400-$500 so this way I don’t have to buy new merchandise but instead take pieces and bring them down to a price point and sell what we already own.
4. I talked to my staff about selling “preventative maintenance” on repairs. To sell more refinish (polish/check/tighten), sell rhodium, etc.
5. I started to pull up all our customer birthdays and anniversaries by month. I distribute the lists on the 20^th of each month and each staff member is instructed to call and email customers for their birthday and anniversary. Some customers we send emails reading a short and sweet happy birthday message with an offer. For example: Celebrate your birthday in style with a new piece of jewelry from Guliani’s and receive 10% off all month.

These are small changes and many that I probably should have been doing all year but never too late to start now. Any changes you all can recommend to bring in more traffic, save money, and survive these economic times?