Boost Your Summer Sales: 3 Strategies for Game and Hobby Stores
Summer presents a golden opportunity for game and hobby stores to boost sales and engage customers. With more free time and a desire for entertainment, customers are primed for spending. Here are three strategies to increase your summer sales.
Provide an Air-Conditioned Play Space
During the hot summer months, an air-conditioned play space can be a major draw for customers. Offering a cool and comfortable environment encourages customers to stay longer, increasing the likelihood of purchases. Ensure your store has a well-maintained, air-conditioned play area where customers can relax and enjoy their favorite games. Promote your cooled and clean play space attract players looking to escape the heat. Additionally, take time to clean and organize your play space. A tidy and welcoming environment not only enhances the customer experience but also helps bring a sense of relaxation, encouraging another visit.
Organizing seasonal tournaments can also help draw in customers. Host weekly or bi-weekly board game meetups or game nights featuring popular games and offer participation prizes like store credit, a coupon for a drink or snack, or some low cost give away. We wrote a great idea here for that. For trading card games (TCG), organize a summer league for games like Magic: The Gathering, Pokémon, or Lorcana which attract your regular customers and new players looking to start a new hobby or game. A summer league can keep customers returning throughout the summer months, creating a sustained engagement during these hot months with your regular gamers.
Promote these special events using social media platforms, email newsletters, and in-store posters. Create a buzz by sharing sneak peeks of any discounts, event schedules, and highlights from previous events. The goal is to build your marketing audience to continue to grow sales into the future.
Launch Exclusive Summer Promotions and Build Your Q4 Audience
Promotions and discounts can drive traffic to your store and increase sales. At the same time building an audience for Q4 can help ensure a successful end-of-year period. Offer discounts on off-season merchandise to bring in customers looking for bargains. Create bundles that include popular games, accessories, and merchandise at a discounted price. For example, bundle a board game with expansion packs or a starter deck of TCG cards with card sleeves.
Introduce a summer-specific loyalty card where customers earn stamps or points for every purchase. Offer rewards such as discounts, free merchandise, or exclusive event access after a certain number of entries into the summer league. You could also encourage existing customers to bring in new customers by offering both players a discount on their next purchase. By offering a limited discount window or limited bounce-back time, you can focus discounts on older or current merchandise, clearing out inventory and making room for new merchandise.
To build your Q4 audience, start collecting email addresses and social media followers by asking each customer. Ask for their email or use QR codes around your store that links directly to your social media. This helps you build your audience for Q4 promotions and marketing. Use the summer to clear out old inventory, making room for the end of year products of Q4. Promote clearance sales heavily to attract bargain hunters and reduce excess stock.
Enhance In-Store and Online Presence to Drive Traffic
Improving the shopping experience and driving traffic through various channels can significantly impact the customer experience and increase sales. Transform your store with summer-themed decorations and eye-catching displays, highlighting new arrivals and bestsellers prominently. Consider using a blow up kiddie pool filled with inflatable beach balls and a stack of the newest game as a display. Set up demo stations where customers can try out new games; this hands-on experience can help convert curious visitors into buyers. Have a beach umbrella at or near these tables. Train staff to provide exceptional customer service, encouraging them to engage with customers, offer game recommendations, and assist with any questions. You could also have a beach day where everyone has a snorkel or beach ball they need to carry around for the day, making the beach experience more in depth.
Ensure your website is user-friendly, mobile-optimized, and easy to navigate, highlighting summer promotions and events on the homepage. This should be done every so often anyway. Updating your graphics, logos, and the overall feel of your website to reflect your summer tone in store. Use social media to promote your store, events, and products, regularly updating your pages with engaging content, including photos and videos of any new decor you added to show off your summer look in store.. Utilize your online presence to direct customers to your physical store by promoting in-store experience, events, and special offers to entice online followers to visit in person.
Conclusion
By offering a comfortable play space, launching promotions designed for the summer, and enhancing the shopping experience, game and hobby stores can significantly boost their summer sales through traffic. Take a look at these strategies to attract new customers, retain existing ones, and create a vibrant feel around your store.
