Making Stellar Service Your Store’s Summer Strong Suit

School is out and summer vacations are in full swing! Your store has been given many new opportunities to greet customers in larger numbers over the next couple of months. What steps will you be taking to ensure your sales grow? One very important step is to provide top-of-the-line customer service. Although this should be a priority all year round, the summertime is when you should definitely make stellar service your store’s strong suit.

Offer refreshments.

We all look for ways to beat the summer heat. Why not offer your customers some cool refreshing treats? Set up a small beverage station with chilled water, lemonade or iced tea. You may also want to offer refreshing snacks like fruit slices or popsicles to enhance the experience. Providing your shoppers with relief from the heat will encourage them to stay in your store longer. More browsing leads to more sales, right?

RSB & Associates urges merchants to take things a step further by throwing a Customer Appreciation Day, complete with treats. “Market the heck out of it, and on the big day, have snacks, drinks, fun giveaways (e.g., merchandise from your stock, gift cards to your store), games, special discounts – whatever your imagination can dream up and your financial situation can bear,” encourages their website.

Keep things cool.

Speaking of beating the heat, you should also make sure that your store is a cool and comfortable location throughout the summer. It’s all about A/C. You can make the shopping experience a pleasant one by maintaining your HVAC system. Your air conditioned store will be considered a nice refuge on particularly hot days. You may also wish to use energy-efficient cooling methods like ceiling fans or smart thermostats.

“On a hot summer day, an effective air conditioning system serves to bring people into the shops for completely different reasons,” notes the UK’s Kool It Services Ltd., “By keeping malls and shopping areas cool, people generally congregate there to escape the heat and this is an ideal way to capture the impulsive buyer or shopper who would not otherwise have visited.”

Design a summer-specific loyalty program.

There’s no business like repeat business! To keep customers coming back, offer points or discounts for purchases made during the summer months. Consider adding special rewards for your regular customers. Introduce fun and engaging challenges such as scavenger hunts that offer additional points. Your goal should be to grow your customer relationships so that they will want to return to your store well after the summer is over.

Be sure to promote your loyalty program on your website, stresses Zinrelo founder, Samir Palnitkar. “Display a prominent loyalty program banner for the first three months after the program launch,” he advises on MarketingProfs.com, “Include a link to the loyalty program explainer page in the header and footer sections of your website. Often users proactively search for “rewards” to see whether the retailer has a rewards program they can take advantage of.”

How can Synergy Merchants help you to make stellar service your store’s summer strong suit?

Give us a call at 1-877-718-2026 or email us at info@synergymerchants.com to learn about how our unique merchant cash advance program can quickly fund your business needs. You can also apply online for a free, no obligation quote!