Everyone in the retail world is excited for the New Year, but are you ready for the big changes that a new year brings? From closing out the previous years’ sales, to planning for the year ahead, it’s never too early to start thinking about your retail activation strategy, new retail fixtures or displays, and your overall customer experience.

1. Create a sales strategy and retail activation plan

The holiday season had retail stores buzzing with sales, special promotions, and customer interactions, but now that the New Year is here, you may feel a drag in sales and inspiration. Don’t get stuck in post-holiday blues; start building a sales strategy and retail activation plan for the New Year. What is going to bring tired customers back into stores and look for your product? Utilize the time you have during the beginning of the year to build new promotions that excite customers again, and think about how to best layer on a continuous retail presence so that your customers walk out the door with your product in their hands.

2. Re-invigorate store associates

After the holiday shopping madness, associates may feel drained, tired, and ready to take a break as the number of shoppers dies down. This makes it the perfect time to re-invigorate associates through targeted associate campaigns and incentives. During this slower shopping season when there is less promotional clutter, it’s the perfect time to re-introduce associates to products that launched during Q4 via online and in-person trainings, provide brand and product messaging for the new year, and engage associates with contests and prizes to get them excited about promoting your product to customers. Associates are your biggest brand advocates at retail, so don’t leave them out of the mix!

3. Conduct customer follow-ups in-store and online

During the holiday season things can get a little crazy, but hopefully you didn’t get too caught up in gift-wrapping that you forgot to ask customers for their e-mail address at checkout. This allows you a great sales opportunity to follow-up with holiday shoppers after the holiday season has died down. A digital or in-store “thank you” to your customers after the holidays goes a long way, and be sure to do even more follow-ups in the new year informing customers of new sales and fun promotions.

4. Change up retail fixtures and displays

The New Year is all about revamping and renewing, so why not start 2016 with a new look? Retail fixtures and displays can be updated, floor-plans can be rearranged, and new window installations can tie in with new winter trends. Overall, you want your brand to feel fresh, new, and enticing to your customer base. Help your customers start the New Year off right by showing them how change is a positive thing.

Need some inspiration for what to do in 2016? Browse our retail strategy services for more information on how BDSmktg can help put a fresh spin on your in-store presence in 2016.