Optimize your store for the onslaught of last-minute shoppers

It’s almost over. The busiest time of the year for most jewelry retailers abruptly ends this coming week. 

No doubt you’re already counting down the days to when you’ll be sipping eggnog by a roaring fire—your weary feet encased in fuzzy slippers instead of lace ups or sensible heels.

But now’s the time to soldier on; the week leading up to Christmas is typically the most lucrative of the year. So-called last-minute shopping has really become the norm.

Courtesy Business Computing World

“It’s really changed over the past three to four years,” notes Ron Boyd, owner of Duncan & Boyd Jewelers in Amarillo, Texas. “It seems that it’s the 10 days—or even four or five days— leading up to Christmas that are the best days.”

Here are a handful tips and/or reminders for maximizing the final days:

1. Overstock inventory on the sales floor before or after opening hours—even if it gets a little jammed under people’s feet or on the back counter (minding that the cases stay pristine). Sales staffers should be focused on one thing this week: selling. Not running around looking for inventory.
2. Go on a grocery run to stock up on healthy snacks and drinks for your employees. It’s a tiny, easy nicety that can make a huge impact on staff morale. Think water, granola bars, and vegatable trays. And order in for lunch (get a consensus on what everyone wants) every day starting tomorrow through the 24th. Let your staff know that you know how hard they’re working.
3. Be the first on your block to open and the last to close this week. We’re nearing the time when ordering online in time for Christmas is cost prohibitive for many consumers, due to increased shipping costs. Hopefully, they are coming to you instead. Be there to welcome them.
4. Keep your windows up. When you’re not there, make sure your windows are working for you. Be mindful of security, but taking calculated risks (you should still lock up the Rolexes) in the name of enticing holiday shoppers is probably worth it. 
5. Make sure you have plenty of lower-priced items around the register for easy add-on selling. Think trendy sterling and costume pieces. 

Emili Vesilind

JCK Senior Editor