Although the current school year is just coming to a close, it is important to begin preparations for back to school shoppers.  Many specialty retail stores depend on back to school revenue to get them through until holiday shopping starts.  Starting your preparations and promotions early will give you a leg up on the competition, but where should you focus your attention?

Events

Events are one of the best ways to draw in new customers.  These can take the form of sidewalk sales, outdoor festivals and fundraisers.  Providing entertainment and incentives will be necessary to pull off a successful sales event.  This can be as small as face painting for children or a larger investment such as live entertainers.  Promotion of your events will be key.  This is where you should showcase your best sales and also promote the customer service that only small businesses can provide.

Unique Merchandise

Offering unique and hard to find items is another way to separate your company from larger stores.  It allows you to promote to a generation that is increasingly focused on individualism.  Imported and handmade, one of a kind items can be a big draw and will give your store a revenue source that larger stores cannot provide.  These items may not bring a dramatic increase to your bottom line, but the customers they bring in are likely to spend money on other items that will.

Specialty Designers

Taking a chance on new designers to fill your racks will make your store unique and trendy.  Seeking out new designers and offering them a chance to showcase their wares can also provide you with significant profit margins as new designers will be willing to take less money to get their name out.  You’ll also want to take a look at industry trends and obtain inventory from popular designers that may not make their merchandise available to chain stores.

Social Media

Social media is one of the best ways to spread the word about promotions and create brand awareness.  Advertising your back to school specials and events through social media will be instrumental in the success of your back to school season.  Be sure to include images and videos that display your top selling and unique items as images tend to get the most attention on social channels.

Ecommerce

With so many consumers turning to online sources for their shopping needs, creating an Ecommerce site to promote and sell your products can provide an enormous boost in revenue.  Developing such a site can be a large undertaking and it’s best to hire an experienced professional to ensure its success.  Ecommerce sites also provide a tremendous return on investment as you will not have to pay salespeople commission on its sales.  It also allows you to sell a greater variety of items as you will not necessarily have to have a product in stock to make a sale.

Being prepared for back to school season can go a long way towards boosting your store’s bottom line.  With only a few weeks to go before school is in session, if you don’t currently have the funds to carry out a full-scale promotion, it’s not too late.  With its fast approval time, a retail cash advance from Quikstone Capital Solutions is the perfect way to prepare your specialty retail store for back to school success.