3 Ways To Maximize Your In-Store Back To School Sales

On behalf of the entire Canadian POS team, we hope you all enjoyed your Civic Holiday long weekend! We know that this past weekend wasn’t a holiday for everyone (Nova Scotia and Manitoba don’t get statutory holidays at this time of year, for some reason), but we certainly hope you all had a good one nonetheless.

For most of Canada, the Civic Holiday long weekend (which does carry different names depending on where you are in the country) is the second last long weekend of the summer. That means we only have one long weekend left this season! That would be Labour Day long weekend to start off September. And you know what happens right after that, right? School!

How is your store preparing for back to school season? Here are three ways to maximize your sales:

1. Slash your prices on supplies.

Some business owners believe that offering storewide discounts is a tried-and-true way to lure in back to school shoppers. We’d argue that it’s more important to offer discounts specifically on your back to school supplies to encourage young shoppers to enter your store. It’s wise to promote the rest of your regularly-priced goods in hopes that the in-store foot traffic will lead to a jump in sales for them as well.

“We can’t stress enough the importance of sales on back-to-school supplies,” says SquareUp.com, “Nothing delights students and parents more than saving on everyday items like pencils and notebooks. Bonus points for stocking creative stationery and items with kids’ favourite characters.”

2. Make parents’ lives easier.

Okay, this is one is for all those store owners saying, “But I don’t sell back to school supplies!” Don’t worry, you guys all get to take advantage of back to school season too. Launch a creative promotion for parents that commemorates this second-busiest shopping season of the year by offering them special deals that are focused on their needs.

“For example, if you run a wine store, offer a special ‘celebrate back to school’ wine tasting,” suggests Al Davidson on SmallBizTrends.com, “If you sell massage therapy services, encourage your busy parent customers to treat themselves to a relaxing massage. If you are a photography studio, offer back to school family portrait sessions.”

3. Run “during school” promotions.

Don’t assume that your back to school promotions have to end once the school year begins. Keep them going so that you can garner greater interest from the student population. After all, students will need supplies all throughout the school year. As well, for all of you non-school supply selling merchants, there are plenty of ways to grow your sales among members of the younger crowd.

“If you’re an ice cream shop, serve up two-for-one scoops for the after-school crowd,” advises SquareUp.com, “If you run a bar or coffee shop, host a happy hour with drink specials.”

Don’t forget that offering your customers payment options will always help with your sales numbers. Young shoppers much prefer to be given the choice between cash, credit and debit when making their purchases. For information about how you can make the switch to the innovative Poynt Smart Terminal, call Canadian POS Corporation at 1-877-748-2884 or email us at info@localhost.