5-Step Checklist for Spring Cleaning for Retailers

April 06, 2018

Spring has sprung and for retailers this means new product lines, more customers out and about in the nice weather, and most importantly, spring cleaning. That's right, it's time to spruce up your retail business and get your store and mindset ready for spring. Not sure where to start? No problem! We've put together a 5-step checklist for retailers to get started on their spring cleaning.

1. Have a "Spring Cleaning Sale"

The first step on your spring cleaning checklist is cleaning out your inventory. With leftover winter items and holiday returns, you might feel overwhelmed by the idea of getting rid of so much inventory. If you have enough product leftover from the winter season, hold a "Spring Cleaning Sale" with all out-of-season items offered at a discounted price, and new items on display so customers know what to expect for the upcoming season. Make sure to let your customers know about your sale beforehand by sending e-blasts, posting on social media, and offering special promotions or coupons in-store in the weeks leading up to the sale.

2. Try some new decor

Once you've done all your dusting, sweeping, and polishing to make sure your store looks brand new, try adding some seasonal decor to help your store really pop. Customers will feel more encouraged to purchase spring items if your store is decorated to match the items being sold. Try adding a splash of color or some artificial flowers to make your store feel warm and welcoming to spring shoppers.

3. Give your technology an upgrade

It is always important to have store technology that runs smoothly and efficiently. The transition period between the busy holiday season and spring shopping is the perfect time to evaluate your technology needs and upgrade your software or hardware.

Retailers in the mid-market or enterprise sector will want to consider installing a full retail management suite if they are struggling to manage business functions separately. Make sure to look at current costs of a POS system along with add-on features such as a CRM or inventory management, and compare that to the cost of a retail management suite that runs a POS and ERP on one platform. You'll also want to clean-up your cash-wrap area and consider trading in that clunky cash register for more aesthetically pleasing hardware.

4. Step up your marketing

Of course, retailers need a process to get the customer to hand over important information (email address, birthday, etc.) during the check-out that you can use for marketing later. That said, a new season means new marketing tactics! Take some time to clean up your marketing database. Delete contacts that repeatedly bounce when sending an e-blast (good email marketing software will do this this automatically), and personally reach out to those who have been showing less (or more) engagement.

Then, take a look at your marketing data and results and use that information to develop an incredible marketing strategy, and implement that into your point of sale process for the spring season. Experiment with some marketing tactics that you've never tried before, post more blog content, or engage more with your social media followers. Offer special promotions at the point-of-sale and make it dependent on handing over their personal information. Run a user-generated campaign on Instagram or start a video log.

Always remember to measure your performance and ROI so that you can measure the results and adjust accordingly.

5. Update your website.

Lastly, make sure all your information on your website is up to date. Remember to remove items that are no longer in stock and add new products. Take a look at your website analytics and consider giving it a spring makeover. See what pages are getting the most visits and give those pages an extra boost and take what you discover and apply to other pages on your site. Most importantly, always make sure that your physical and digital stores are working together to avoid inventory or purchase order mistakes and to provide your customers with a seamless and consistent shopping experience - otherwise Amazon will!

Now get out those brooms and dusters and make sure your retail store is in tip-top shape for the spring season!

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