 Back to school, back from vacation, and back to the florist because all the blooms in the garden are spent. Everybody loves to get back into their fall routines, and putting your shop on your customer’s regular path from the bakery with fresh bread to the café for their steaming latte is what you want to be focusing on.
Start Early
The third week of August is the ideal time to begin setting the scene for fall. It may still be 30 degrees outside, but you’ll be ahead of the game by getting a jump-start on the season. It’s time to entice your customers back into your store with promises of spring flowers for the chilly winter days ahead.
Preparing Your Shop
• Make your shop glow with warm, rich colors. Paint one wall a deep pumpkin orange.
• Pile fresh apples in a basket by the front door with a ‘help yourself’ sign.
• String apples to hang vertically in the window for a contemporary fall window attraction. The hook is to catch your customers’ eyes as they walk by to draw them in for a closer look. Once they stop to peak, they won’t be able to resist taking the next step through your front door.
• Unless it’s below zero, keep the door open and put a sweater on. Your shop will be more inviting and more welcoming if you leave the door open. More people will come in – I guarantee it.
• Hang clear twinkle lights around your window to give your shop some sparkle for those rapidly darkening evenings.
• Pile pumpkins and oak leaves in outdoor planters and display baskets of mini pumpkins and gourds – market style to encourage your customers to load up on.
• Its candle season again, so find a good supplier and stock up on candles in cozy colours and favourite scents.
• Bring in fresh bags of leaves to pile up in the windows with a ton of baskets - everyone wants to reorganize their lives in the fall, and baskets are great for organizing clutter.
• Halloween is a huge business in the U.S. and it’s starting to rev up here. It’s easy to add some creepiness to your autumn window, right after Thanksgiving.
Fall Advertising
Speaking of that café down the street from your shop, you know, the one you go to every day for your morning java jolt? Why not offer them a free, weekly bouquet for their front counter with your business card prominently attached? I do it – and I get free coffee for all my staff. It’s a great place to put a seasonal fall enticement to new and old customers. Print a couple of hundred copies of 8x11 pages, divided into 3 horizontal sections. Along with your stop’s vital statistics, include an invitation to come and view the bounty of the season in your shop. You should also put these promo papers with every purchase that leaves your shop. Your promoting your shop – no freebies, no discounts, just come in; have a cookie and a cup of cider and a stroll through the store. This isn’t an ‘open house’ – this is an open everyday to make customers feel welcome to browse.
Keep your shop full of fresh flowers, healthy plants, and giftware of clean, organized displays. Create your own unique Thanksgiving centerpiece in a fun container and have one in the fridge as a sample everyday from September first and onward!
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