Appeal to the “start fresh” mentality of spring-time shoppers.

Sales. You can’t escape them. March and April are two months when the fashion and retail industry “mark down” prices and promote spring sales. The spring sale season is one of four important periods in the retail cycle. It involves massive price reduction on old inventory and introductory sale prices on new summer items.

If you’re an online seller your business cycle should reflect a similar mentality because customers are keen to shop offline and online. Plus, they are often comparing in-store prices online.

Spring time is sale time.

Why are customers so keen to shop?

Customers are keen to shop during the spring because:

• The retail cycle has changed little in the past 100 years; they are conditioned to buy more during sales cycles and after one walk-around in the mall they have seen enough red stickers to know prices are low.
• Spring is also associated with spring cleaning and the good old adage: “out with the old and in with the new”. Spring marks the time for new beginnings and fresh starts. Consumers want to purchase fabulous new things.
• And last, Mother’s Day is fast approaching. Spending peaks right around Mother’s Day.

Take a play from retail mastermind Macy’s and create a Mother’s Day Gift Guide featuring your products. Click image to make it big.

Here are a three ways you can get in on spring buying:

• To start, (a) mark down your old inventory; (b) try to use new messaging that appeals to the customer’s desire for a fresh start; (c) or decide on a product to have featured as a “Mothers Day Item”. I’d say pick two out of the three and do them really well.
• Reach out to mommy blogs and tell them about your store and your story. Bloggers are often offered free product and in exchange, if they like your product, they’ll write a piece about it. You can time this perfectly for Mother’s Day. And don’t get disheartened if no one responds.  Persistence is key.
• Get testimonials from your happy customers and run a few online ads using their testimony. Online ads can get expensive pretty quickly. First set a small budget and see if the ads bring in any paying customers.

Try out one of the methods above and let us know what worked for you.

-Divya H. Pahwa

Image sources: dandelion, sales sign, Macy’s