It’s almost time to throw some fresh charcoal on the grill and bring out your best red, white, and blue fashions! Fourth of July is one of the biggest summer shopping weekends for Americans ($6.7 billion in years past!), so it’s important to take every advantage you can of the holiday. We’ve put together a list of ten things you can do right now to ensure you have your best Fourth of July sales yet!
1. Remind shoppers of your online shop now – create as many marketing materials as you can for your current in-store shoppers so they can take advantage of online ordering the weekend of the Fourth. Put up fun themed in-store signage, create bag stuffers with fireworks, and put them in as many places as you can.
2. Throw a social media contest – get your shoppers to spread the word about your store to their friends and family by hosting a photo contest on social media. Ask customers to post pictures of themselves enjoying your food that weekend with a hashtag (try #YourStoreNameJuly4 or something more out of the box) so they can promote your store and you can keep track of entries.
3. Designate pickup parking spots – make it super easy for your customers who are grabbing groceries on their way out of town by reserving parking spots for pickup orders and making it super clear to your customers with signs. These signs will also show customers you have online ordering so they’ll know for next time.
4. Use deep linking to share products on social media – start sharing products on Facebook or via email with deep linking so customers loyal and new can easily shop with you wherever they’re hanging out online. This also makes it easy for them to share your products with their friends and family, like your famous homemade apple pie!
5. Do a prize giveaway – encourage customers to spend more by automatically entering those who spend over $100 into a drawing for a great prize like a grill, a cooler of BBQ essentials, etc.
6. Personalize pickup and delivery orders – customers remember personal touches. Consider giving out flowers, American flag stickers, or lollipops when customers collect pickup orders or receive items for delivery.
7. Delight them on your ecommerce site – if you have hero panels, now is the perfect time to start using the new hero carousel. Give customers a dynamic shopping experience with three rotating panels that draw them in.
8. Put everything they need in one place – make a Fourth of July Collection with the essentials your customers need to throw an amazing cookout, without needing to sort items by department or temperature class.
9. Recommended items – don’t have marketing panels or Collections yet? Remember you can fully customize the Recommended Items that appear near the top of your ecommerce site. Make sure ground beef, ketchup, and red, white, and blue popsicles are front and center!
10. Open as many slots as you can – give your customers every opportunity to place an online order with you by opening up as many slots as you are able to fulfill.
Make this year a Fourth of July to remember by anticipating and meeting every one of your customers’ needs. If you want any pointers on how to bring these tips to life…
