How To Have A Successful Retail Holiday Season

And customer engagement. Good morning to you. Bob, thanks so much for being here.

We appreciate it. First of all, love the nickname. It's actually my trademark, but that's good. The trademark. I love it. That's awesome. I guess let's just, let's get right into it. And I want to know your biggest piece of advice for mom and pop shops, anybody who's trying to compete with those big box retailers. So number one, small business Saturday is Saturday after Thanksgiving. So a lot of people know it. You start off originally as American Express.

Now it's called Shop Small. So the biggest thing they can do is make sure that you're on Facebook, email your customer list, talk it up, get with other businesses on your street and enjoy the hope of the season instead of sitting there. Oh, it won't work for us. Oh, it never works. Right. So if you come out with a hopeful presentation, we are finding increases of 10, 20 percent across the board if you're focused on the customer. And if not, you might get coal.

So remember, it's not about you. Make somebody else's day.

Bob, you mentioned it briefly in there, but how do those mom and pop shops, small businesses, even maybe that local chain that's really trying to do well in your town? How do they leverage social media to draw in a customer base? So, for example, one of my suggestions for some of my clients is real simple. Take a video and show, take your camera and show where to find the best parking secrets that you know that nobody else knows in your neighborhood.

Or maybe you're going to have three tips for how to get your gifts wrapped locally without having to worry about it. But it's about being of service. That's the thing we seem to have missed in opening our own businesses and realize it's not about you. you've got to make that customer feel like I've got a brand on my arm that says only shop here. And when you do that, you have places like I'm down State of View. I'm by Hudson.

And you see a lot of new stores opening and the owners are in the store and welcoming. The days of being in the back office and hiding from people, well, I think they're over.

You know, Bob, I'm curious to know your advice for not just bringing in customers for the holiday season, but keep them coming in. And, you know, small business Saturday is all well and good. But, you know, what about the other 364 days of the year? That is an excellent point, Abby. So those people that are coming in this weekend is to find a way to get their contact information, give a QR code. They can join your list, go through and have likes on Facebook, certainly.

But the number one thing that most people forget is it's about being face on that brand. And so a warm greeting that just says good morning. And that sounds simple, but 90% of people say that's why they don't like going into some stores because they don't feel welcomed. And so if you're greeting is somebody looking down at their phone. Hiding behind the counter, you're not going to have a warm feeling. Because here's the thing, we are all living in a kryptonite world, my friends.

And we go into a store not to find your latest widget. It's how does this little widget make me a hero? So if that's a toy store, I don't become a hero to my kid. If you have that lens on it, then it's a lot of fun because you're shopping with people instead of trying to sell stuff.

Does that make sense? yeah um is there a way during the chaos of the holiday shopping season i mean you you go from the black friday small business cyber monday giving tuesday you i'm sure there's stuff on wednesday and thursday that we don't even know about yet is what can mom and pops do to additionally stay relevant during this particular time because i i feel a lot of people you know okay, let's go holiday shopping.

We're going to get in the car and we're going right to the mall or right to the big box store. We don't often deviate from that plan and show up at the row of local retailers that really need our business and offer a great quality product. Well, you know, it's funny. A lot of the big boxes now have what we call an endless aisle.

So you might see it, but when you go to buy it, it actually has to be shipped or it's from another the store or something like that so the advantage that locals have is when it really has to be here shop local because a lot of people buy things online and then oh out of stock and i started to buy something the other day and it said wait nine weeks after i hit the got ready to click the border and i was like this is ridiculous

because it's right across the river from me so remember being being local means you're not paying a shipping charge you're and more than likely you can try it all and find it fits instead of buying three and then shipping them back and trying to find a box and all that nonsense, if you really unpack it, the local option is still the best. And make no mistake, 80% of stores is where the business happens.

A lot of the big boys are struggling right now because they've offered free shipping and free returns and all these other things. And people return things that have been worn and all this. It's really weighing on their bottom line. Whereas if you think about it, the most ecologically sound thing, sustainable, is to shop in your local area.

Bob Thibbs, the retail doc, thank you so much for your time. We really appreciate it this morning. Happy Thanksgiving. Same to you. Time right now.