Weekend Trend Alert!

     One trend that I've noticed over the course of my three years working for a lingerie store is that no matter where you are in the country, the personality types that you see on Saturday and Sunday are consistent. I have now worked in Vermont, New Hampshire, and Tennessee and regardless of the state, you can count on Saturday traffic to be friendly, talkative, and overall desiring of an associates help.
     Sunday, however, seems to be the day that everyone is much more guarded, refusing assistance and being much more irritable. At first I found this a strange phenomenon, but after discussions with other sales associates and friends, I think the proximity that Sunday has to Monday has a large part in the attitude change.
      So what should you do to assist customers on Sunday when even a simple "hello" provokes their guards? Make sure to allow them the space to feel that they are not being bombarded by salespeople. Offering a friendly "Hello, my name is......I'll be right here if you need any help finding anything today" helps to establish your presence in case of need without pitching sales right when they walk in the door. I've found that after a few minutes of perusing, if you then reengage with him/her, he or she will be much more accepting of help, sales pitches, and promotional offers that you have to address.

Holiday Happenings

          One of the most frequent questions I've heard over the holiday is "What are your current sales?" With the economy still recovering, many consumers are being frugal with their money. Currently, our store does not offer holiday specials and this has turned many customers away. In fact, many customers have left not only disappointed, but angry.
          Offering incentives to loyal customers helps to create repeat buying and entices customers to shop your store over others. An incentive as little as a 10% discount can encourage shopping and will in turn help to increase sales over the holidays. Many companies are seeing marginal increases in sales revenue in comparison to last year, even without incentives to buy. With the addition of incentives, customers are more prone to spend within your store rather than in stores that do not offer good discounts, or any. Popular incentives include percentage discounts, gifts with purchase, purchase with a purchase (such as a discount on a purchase item with another purchase) and promotional offers such as $25 back with any $100 purchase.
          Although holidays such as Hannukah and Christmas are over, companies who concentrate on promoting incentives to customers post holiday should continue seeing increases in profits into the new year.

Body Image

It's astonishing how many women think negatively about their bodies. I hear from women all the time statements such as "my bones stick out too much" or "the ladies look too pointy." Ladies, confidence is internal! Bras are just an accent to this. Pitching a bra to someone who thinks like this is easier than you think. You need to bolster her confidence and spend the time finding something that makes her feel feminine. She'll leave feeling a fresh sense of self and return again and again because you helped her to feel confident in her own skin. I've found the best selling bras for this are the ones that include memory foam. This seems to be the lastest trend, as it fits all the requirements of comfort, feminine shape, and can be made to look sexy as well.