Planning Merchandise Sales at a Live Event Part 2 of 2:

Planning for event sales can be a very complex task. In this, the second entry in our two part series, we will talk about merchandising techniques and increasing your sales at events. If you missed article one, you can read it here. In this article, we will walk you through things you need to keep in mind when setting up your event promotion:

Proper Signage: One of the first and most important steps in ensuring successful sales and happy customers is setting up proper signage. First of all, make sure your signage is clearly visible from as many angles as possible, and can be read from a distance. Secondly, make sure that your signage is professional and attractive to the eye. Thirdly, make sure that the language is concise and makes sense. Try to eliminate any language that might be confusing to customers at check out time. Make sure that pricing and specials are clearly marked. Finally, make sure customers know and can find where to go for what. Whether it be a certain type of product, or the checkout, you want your customers to find what they want easily.

Traffic Management : Be aware of the traffic flow through your area, and try to anticipate potential bottlenecks and traffic problems. The better flow of traffic you have through your event merchandising area, the more success you may have. You want people to be able to find what they want, checkout, and get out easily. Many event purchases are impulse buys, and you don't want traffic congestion to interfere with that.

As was mentioned before, make sure the signage and P.O.P properly reflects the locations of things, and that the pedestrian traffic lanes are clearly defined. If you have some areas that you know will most likely be traffic problems, and you will have no way of alleviating the problem, put some product there. Let people stare at your product while they wait, you may just get some add on sales.

Product Merchandising: Proper product merchandising can be a major factor in determining the success of your next event sales promotion. Make sure to keep your product selection in mind, and make it easy for customers to pick up add-on sales. Place like products together, and make sure to display add-on items next to the other products. Invest in proper P.O.P to properly and attractively display your product. Product will most always sell better when attractively displayed. Lastly, don't make people look for your product. If possible, display your product at or just below eye level, and keep it visible,

Staff Appropriately: Make sure you have the appropriate staff available, and that you have a contingency plan if one or more members becomes ill. Not having enough staff can be disastrous, leading to high customer wait times, frustration, and lost sales. Plus, events can be extremely stressful on staff. The loss of a key employee or under staffing can result in high levels of frustration and can lead to other problems as well.

Conversely, overstaffing can eat into your profit margins and ruin an otherwise successful venture. Be sure to analyze your potential sales numbers and plan accordingly.

Safety and Security: A general rule of thumb when planning for a successful event: expect and plan for the unexpected. Make sure you are acquainted with proper evacuation procedures for you, your employees, and your customers. Know where the fire extinguishers are, and where to find emergency first aid if necessary.

Be sure to have at least one security person for every 500 persons in your area. Depending on what kind of event you are at, you may want a higher or lower ratio. Be sure to properly train your staff on techniques to prevent the theft of both products and cash. Many an event has been ruined due to excessive theft. Make sure you have a secure system for handling daily deposits, and have a set system of checks and balances in place to ensure that proper accountability is in place for those who are handling money.

Of course each event merchandising and sales are different at every event and location, but these are some general guidelines to follow when setting up your next live promotion. Let Powertex help you set up and plan your next event. Put our experience and vast assets to work for you. Call today at (800) 588-7111, or email us at: customerservice@powertexgroup.com.


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