It’s that time of year when retailers scramble to take advantage of every last holiday sale before the big day arrives (yes, I’m talking about Christmas).
This last-minute push to drive more sales can seem cumbersome after an already exhausting shopping season, but here are a few ideas to keep sales strong for your tea café, teahouse or tea retail business – all the way to the finish line!
Idea No. 1 – Host an In-Store Scavenger Hunt
The best way to increase sales is to get people in your door. One way to entice visitors to your establishment – especially as the holidays get closer – is to create an activity for them to do when they visit you.
In our shop, we use the week before Christmas to host an in-store scavenger hunt. One of our friends crocheted 25 mini snowmen for us to hide around our shop. We pick how many snowmen we are going to put out and then place them around our shop in strategic places that we want our guests to look. We call it the “Great Winter Snowman Hunt,” and anyone who comes to our shop can participate (we don’t make it contingent on having to purchase anything).
We offer a prize and put everyone who participates and guesses the correct number of snowmen into a drawing. Of course, our prizes always include our own products and a gift certificate to come back to our store. This has been a great way to increase our foot traffic and sales, as you have lots of people looking around your entire store.
Idea No. 2 – Create a Gift Guide
One of the ways that we help our guests with their gift giving is to create a gift guide for them. Our gift guide is printed and mailed to the guests on our mailing list. It is also emailed to more than 1,100 guests that have registered to receive email correspondence from us, and it’s made available online.
Our gift guide consists of gifts ranging from $10 to $50, and we offer suggestions as to who those gifts might be perfect for (teachers, party hosts and hostesses, etc.). This takes some of the guess work out of gift giving and it helps our guests with ease of selecting gifts.
Idea No. 3 – Promote a Free Gift with Purchase
Who doesn’t love free stuff? Almost everyone does. We encourage offering something free with purchases over a certain dollar amount. In our shop, when a guest spends $25, they get a complimentary three-pack (sachets) of one of our holiday teas. With a $50 purchase, they receive a complimentary reusable shopping bag (which we had created just for us with a picture of our shop on the front, to serve as a reminder of where they shopped). These small tokens may cost just a few dollars, but they go a long way in creating excitement and loyalty with our guests.
Idea No. 4 – Offer a Gift Card Special
During the week leading up to Christmas, we offer a promotion for guests to purchase gift cards. You see this used by larger corporate restaurants during the holidays, so why not duplicate it for your store?
If a guest purchases a $50 gift certificate, we give them a voucher to come back and “Be Our Guest” for a complimentary pot of tea in our Tea Parlour, or for a Tea-To-Go. It’s like giving the guest a little gift for themselves.
We also have guests that wait until this promotion each holiday to purchase their gift certificates, so they can get their voucher and come back in January to enjoy a little tea for themselves.
To create a voucher, you can make it on your computer using a business card template and print out sheets of 10 at a time. Super easy.
Idea No. 5 – Invest in Boosted Ads
Of course, all of these ideas are great, but they don’t translate to extra revenue if no one knows about them. So, it’s important to get the word out. At our store, we create posts about the above specials and then spend an average of $25 per post to boost them across several social media platforms.
For the boosted post – instead of targeting a larger audience – we use this opportunity to target our followers and their friends. We found that this audience is more likely to visit us vs. trying to target new followers and entice them in.
Creative Thinking Keeps Your Sales Strong!
With the use of the above ideas – and even some of your own creative thinking – you can create a strong holiday shopping environment that will entice guests to visit and shop with you, keeping your sales strong all of the way to Christmas. Good luck and happy holidays!
Kelly Hackman, owner of The White Heron Tea & Gifts and Driftwood Tea Company in historic downtown New Port Richey, Fla., is a World Tea Academy Certified Tea Sommelier and Certified Tea Specialist, in addition to being an Etiquette Consultant. Hackman has created a unique tea escape at her tearoom, which has assisted in transforming her town’s historic landscape and assists in drawing guests to the area from throughout the Southeastern United States. Visit The White Heron Tea and Gifts online at TheWhiteHeronFL.com and Driftwood Tea Company at DriftwoodTeaCompany.com.
You can also hear more from Kelly Hackman in person at the upcoming World Tea Conference + Expo, March 2022 in Las Vegas. Her session is “A Partnership of Tea & Beer,” featuring her husband Bryan Hackman, founder of Cotee River Brewing Co.
Plan to Attend or Participate in the
World Tea Conference + Expo, March 21-23, 2022
To learn about other key trends, issues and hot topics within the global tea community, plan to attend the World Tea Conference + Expo, March 21-23, 2022, celebrating its 20th anniversary.
World Tea Conference + Expo will be co-located with Bar & Restaurant Expo, creating unique opportunities and synergy. Visit WorldTeaExpo.com.
To book your sponsorship or exhibit space, contact:
Veronica Gonnello
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p: 1 (212) 895-8244
Fadi Alsayegh
Companies M-Z
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p: 1 (917) 258-5174
Also, be sure to stay connected with the World Tea Conference + Expo on social media, for details and insights about the event. Follow on Twitter, Facebook, Instagram and LinkedIn.