Retailers that have prepared well for Mother’s Day this year are in a good position to benefit from an uptick in sales of female-specific goods such as women’s clothing, perfume and jewellery as South Africans set out to spoil their moms. That’s despite the relatively short time retailers had this year following Easter to ramp up their campaigns for Mother’s Day this coming weekend.
That’s according to new research commissioned by Cash Connect, which provides automated cash management and fintech solutions to SA’s retail sector. This research study, which was conducted by the Bureau of Market Research, indicates that the annual Mother’s Day bump in retail sales isn’t as pronounced as the spike in retail sales associated with Black Friday, Christmas and Easter. However, the positive impact spans over several retail sub-sectors, including restaurants and hospitality.
“Based on the historical data, we can expect Mother’s Day to attract strong interest from consumers this year. Retailers have the opportunity to generate strong sales across discretionary spending categories such as confectionaries, perfumes and fashion accessories. But, as the competition is fierce; agile, creative and innovative retailers will benefit most,” says Mark Templemore-Walters, operations director of Cash Connect.
Templemore-Walters offers the following tips for retailers and businesses in adjacent sectors to benefit from consumer spending over busy retail periods such as Mother’s Day:
Partner with other businesses: Many consumers want to give their mothers a memorable experience, as well as a great gift for Mother’s Day. Consider the potential of collaborating with other stores in your area, for example a restaurant or a guest house. You can offer a restaurant discount voucher to everyone who buys a bottle of perfume or run a lucky draw competition for a stay at a nearby guest house.
Bundle up: In these difficult times, consumers are looking for good value for money. Bundling products such as chocolates and flowers is a great way to offer them more bang for their buck, as well as to grow your retail store’s wallet share. Or you can work with your partners to offer bundles such as a spa voucher or flowers.
Offer great in-store experiences: Mother’s Day is a big day for dining out, which means foot traffic through malls and shopping centres. Think about options such as interactive store displays or expert demonstrations to get people into your store. For example, show products such as cookware, electronics or appliances in action, or let shoppers experience your latest range of scents.
Support social distancing: With an uptick in COVID-19 cases, many people are still not comfortable returning to malls and restaurants. For the foreseeable future, home deliveries, click-and-collect and e-commerce will all be great growth opportunities in a changing market.
“Peak trading periods, like Mother’s Day are a great opportunity to innovate, boost sales and profit margins. With Fintech solutions like an automated cash vault from Cash Connect, retailers don’t just save up to 40% in time and money, but they can have instant access to the cash in the vault, for supplier payments or even to pay for a competition prize.
But more importantly, retailers can have access to hassle-free business funding in 24 hours to stock up, run promotions and to ensure they don’t lose out on any opportunities to boost sales. Fintech funding solutions like Capital Connect enables retailers to repay the loan in small daily instalments, straight from the cash in the cash vault.
While Mother’s Day is only but one of many opportunities on the calendar year to boost sales, retailers can consider this approach to innovate and thrive for any other peak trading opportunity.