Preparing for the Holiday Season
With the holidays coming up fast I thought I would blog about something that happened to me a few months ago and how I plan on applying this experience to improve my business.
Last Spring at the end of the school year my kids and I went shopping for teacher gifts. Our first stop was the local florist. My kids really wanted to give their teacher some flowers. They had big dreams of very large bouquets and arrangements….I had a budget.
Not only was it the last week of school, it was also Memorial Weekend and Graduation for all of the area high schools. Busy times in our small town! As we shopped around the clerk approached me and asked if she could help. I explained that I was looking for teacher gifts, maybe a small flower arrangement for each child, about $20-$25 each. The reaction from the clerk was not pleasant. She explained that if we wanted a flower arrangement for that price we would MAYBE get 2 flowers (carnations) in a tiny little basket. As I looked in the flower case I couldn’t believe that they didn’t have arrangements made and ready to go for the week’s festivities. If it were my business I would have had a shelf of teacher gifts, a shelf of graduation gifts and a shelf of Memorial Day arrangements…all at different price points. Instead they had arrangements averaging out at $50 each.
I convinced my kids to leave and again the clerk was beyond rude. I knew I wouldn’t be coming back to that florist again. We went across town to another florist and found two beautiful flower arrangements of about 15 flowers each (not carnations!), already in a vase for…get this….$6.00 each. Yes, $6.00 each. This store had signs outside the window that said “Great Teacher Gifts starting at $6.00”! and “Gifts for the Grad!”. The place was swarming with BUYERS. And the best part the staff was happy, friendly and made our purchase a breeze.
This experience has helped me prepare for our Holiday Season. Our unrivaled customer service will definitely take care of our customer’s needs and questions. Is your customer service up to par? Re-evaluate it and make changes where necessary. This year I am more prepared. I know that if I have those promotions in place now I will be ready for the masses this season. We’ve worked hard to organize our site so those customers doing their Holiday Shopping realize that we have everything they need.
I’m hoping for a successful holiday season this year. I know a certain florist down the street will have a good season…you see the other florist with the $50 vases…they went out of business, hmm I wonder why?!
This post is filed under The Life of a Mom-preneur and has the following keyword tags: ecommerce, work at home.
