What are the best merchandising strategies for seasonal products?

What space to you have to dedicate to the seasonal business? You have to also have a percentage of your backroom stock prepared to store each seasonal offering that you want to carry. Transitioning from Harvest/Halloween to Thanksgiving to Christmas requires a constant changing environment and shifting sales floor. Do you have the staffing to execute? Seasonal items should be higher margin offerings as they require more effort to execute them effectively. You will still have to be mindful of your competitors.

Suppliers are also a great source of information, usually they start preparing the season earlier then most retailers do. Discuss future trends and season highlight in your revenue planning.

Your window of execution for the seasonal business is very small. Try delivering pumpkins in November, Thanksgiving turkeys in December and Christmas trees in January. You will not have a successful season. There is a reason why you see holiday items as soon as August. You want to be almost sold out a week before the holiday without leaving too much in sales on the table. The seasonal business is never perfect. Markdowns are a part of seasonal planning and must be calculated as part of the seasonal buy.

From my standpoint, the greatest danger is overstock and the cost related to that. It's a no-brainer to plan ahead and order wisely. In some industries you can make suppliers just as responsible for the intake. As you want to do business again next year, it can be a basis for cooperation for the most optimale planning. It is important to explore the options throughout the chain, so you are not the only one carrying all the risks.

In my experience seasonal displays are key to making your store stand out against the big box unit. Keep your focus on your best eye popping products and when it comes moving products having it out, built out, fun and accessible by the public to see how you did your magic does way more for increased sales than a few more feet of gondolas holding product.

One thing that I have found helpful is to get in front. By that, I mean have your display in the front of the store where it catches the buyers attention when walking in and makes them want to stop and take a look into your brand. If online, get in front by placing ad to come up higher in the search area closer to the front or in the front.

Obviously you should create exciting display or signage, it must appeal to that exciting time where you can persuade your customers into buying. But in my experience it usually stops there. And that's when the magic fades. Too often I see just a sad lone "seasonal" display in a store corner, some excitement that is... If you are serious about the season sales, it really requires some effort (and budget) to get that excitement going on the shop floor. Either you do it good, and let the magic flow, or not at all. Consider that before risking purchasing seasonal products.

In my experience across multiple retail companies. This is the piece of this pie you are either good at and have a successful sell through or you missed the mark and you are looking at old seasonal merchandise sitting on the shelves in your WH. Customers have so much going on in store during the holidays. It is so important to get these items out. Be creative. Let the teams have fun with it. Don’t get stuck with it!

As a food buyer, I enjoy offering food samples to my customers. If you have a new seasonal offering, what better way to get potential customers hooked and excited by the season than to let them eat it? Additionally, when negotiating seasonal items with suppliers, see if a discount can be offered to the customers as you get closer to the holiday. Some items have marketing funds built right into their costs for this exact reason. Use them wisely.

At the end of every season, you should do a full analysis on what worked and what didn't. This will be your basis for the next season. Take plenty of notes. These notes are essential because if you're promoted, the next person up should have a good guide or baseline. Which items sold better than expected? Which items underperformed expectations? Which targets did you meet? Which targets did you miss? This information speaks to your customer's satisfaction, your marketing decisions, and the success of your buying strategy.