A low-cost promotion

More and more women are living alone nowadays, either as divorcees, widows or those who have never married. They own or rent their residences, and frequently need or want to paint, repair and maintain them. Impersonal service (or hard-to-find employees) in mass merchandisers or big-box stores do little to allay the fears or provide the answers that women customers often seek about DIY chores. In many cases, the male-orientation of big-box stores adds to the reluctance women feel about shopping in a warehouse-style store. Consequently, a number of independent hardware stores and home centres are aggressively courting women customers, and their Ladies’ Nights events are proving very successful. What’s more, such promotions are easy to conduct. They should be held in the evening, when working women can attend. If need be, close the store a bit early that evening and be sure to limit customers to females. Here is an outline of a typical event of this kind: - Pre-register (and limit) attendance to make the event “important” - It should include plenty of simple demonstrations - It should include an offer of refreshments – ie, coffee, soft drinks, snack food - It should include free products (maybe even gift bags) for each attendee - A raffle to reward lucky winners with some more costly prizes is also recommended - It should include store coupons to be used in subsequent shopping trips to the store - If manufacturers’ reps or factory personnel can be on hand to conduct demos, great, but if not, one’s own personnel should be put to work - The event needs to be advertised – via in-store signs, local newspapers or radio, and via pre-event news releases - Invite local media to attend, too, in order to get follow-up publicity Suppliers can often be counted on to provide personnel for demonstrations, as well as prizes and inexpensive gifts to go in gift bags. If vendor personnel cannot be on hand, be sure your own employees will enjoy and do a good job in conducting demonstrations. Some pre-event rehearsals are a good idea. Simple chores make the best demos – such as changing locks or hardware, installing new toilet floats, replacing light fixtures or installing dimmer switches, hanging pictures or mirrors, etc. Given current concerns about “green” products, you could also explain how to compare environmentally friendly cleaning products. Another important demo is one that shows how to properly prepare surfaces before painting. You might even ask female customers to…