What are the busiest times at your store? According to data compiled by Simmons Market Research Bureau, between the hours of 2 pm and 4 pm on any given Saturday or Sunday, you can find 11.6 percent of Americans out shopping. The second highest amount of traffic occurs during the weekend lunch rush from noon to 2 pm. As most people work during the weekdays, they’re likely to stay out late shopping on weeknights with 2.3 percent making purchases between 8 p.m. and 10 p.m. Monday through Thursday.
So what does this mean to you? If the patterns hold true for your smoke shop, it should help you to devise effective sales strategies.
Weekends are a given. If that’s when the big rush is happening, you’ll want to make sure that you have your staff on target to handle the rush. It’s also a good time to put your higher priced merchandise front and center. This might also be the point in the week when new customers are finding their way in, so make sure to do your best to encourage them to return – give a “return visit” coupon with a purchase (or even without).
Lunchtime is a great time for a flash sale. You may recall the “blue light special” at K-mart when a specific item was on sale for a limited time — same idea here. Use the lunch rush as your sale time for a discount on a new product line or even to unload slow selling items. Get customers excited by posting your flash sale on social media first thing in the morning. If you have customer emails, send out a VIP invitation.
Lets face it there’s not a lot to do on weeknights. If people are using evening hours to do their shopping, make it special for them. Host a local artist (glass or otherwise) for a meet and greet. The artist will love the public space to showcase thier work (and surely promote it on their social media), and you’ll increase foot traffic as a result. If the artist has pieces that you don’t normally carry (paintings, drawings, etc) you may want to consider negotiating a commission rate for any pieces that sell while displayed in your store.
