Planning for event sales can be a very complex task. In this, the second entry in our two part series, we will talk about merchandising techniques and increasing your sales at events. If you missed the first article, you can read it here.
In this article, we will walk you through things you need to keep in mind when setting up your event promotion:

Proper Signage: One of the first and most important steps in ensuring successful sales and happy customers is setting up proper signage. First of all, make sure your signage is clearly visible from as many angles as possible, and can be read from a distance. Secondly, make sure that your signage is professional and attractive to the eye. Thirdly, make sure that the language is concise and makes sense. Try to eliminate any language that might be confusing to customers at check out time. Make sure that pricing and specials are clearly marked. Finally, make sure customers know and can find where to go for what. Whether it be a certain type of product, or the checkout, you want your customers to find what they want easily.

Managing traffic flow is critical to event success

Traffic Management : Be aware of the traffic flow through your area, and try to anticipate potential bottlenecks and traffic problems. The better flow of traffic you have through your event merchandising area, the more success you may have. You want people to be able to find what they want, checkout, and get out easily. Many event purchases are impulse buys, and you don’t want traffic congestion to interfere with that.

As was mentioned before, make sure the signage and P.O.P properly reflects the locations of things, and that the pedestrian traffic lanes are clearly defined. If you have some areas that you know will most likely be traffic problems, and you will have no way of alleviating the problem, put some product there. Let people stare at your product while they wait, you may just get some add on sales.

Product Merchandising: Proper product merchandising can be a major factor in determining the success of your next event sales promotion. Make sure to keep your product selection in mind, and make it easy for customers to pick up add-on sales. Place like products together, and make sure to display add-on items next to the other products. Invest in proper P.O.P to properly and attractively display your product. Product will most always sell better when attractively displayed. Lastly, don’t make people look for your product. If possible, display your product at or just below eye level, and keep it visible,

Staff Appropriately: Make sure you have the appropriate staff available, and that you have a contingency plan if one or more members becomes ill. Not having enough staff can be disastrous, leading to high customer wait times, frustration, and lost sales. Plus, events can be extremely stressful on staff.
The loss of a key employee or under staffing can result in high levels of frustration and can lead to other problems as well.

Safety and security are key at events

Conversely, overstaffing can eat into your profit margins and ruin an otherwise successful venture. Be sure to analyze your potential sales numbers and plan accordingly.

Safety and Security: A general rule of thumb when planning for a successful event: expect and plan for the unexpected. Make sure you are acquainted with proper evacuation procedures for you, your employees, and your customers. Know where the fire extinguishers are, and where to find emergency first aid if necessary.

Be sure to have at least one security person for every 500 persons in your area. Depending on what kind of event you are at, you may want a higher or lower ratio. Properly train your staff on techniques to prevent the theft of both products and cash. Many an event has been ruined due to excessive theft. Have a secure system for handling daily deposits, and have a set system of checks and balances in place to ensure that proper accountability is in place for those who are handling money.

Of course each event merchandising and sales are different at every event and location, but these are some general guidelines to follow when setting up your next live promotion. Let Powertex help you set up and plan your next event. Put our experience and vast assets to work for you. Call today at (800) 588-7111, or email us at: customerservice@powertexgroup.com or visit us at: http://www.powertexgroup.com or visit us at: http://www.powertexgroup.com.

Big crowds mean lots of planning.

Planning for event sales can be very complex and difficult. In this two part series we will go through the nuts and bolts of setting up an event, and, in part two, we will talk about merchandising techniques and increasing your sales. Part 1 (below) is a list of important things to keep in mind when planning your next event:

Know Your Demographic:

The first and most obvious step in preparing for a successful event is to know who you are going to be selling to. You want to know the number, age range, male/female ratio, buying habits, etc. Music festivals, air shows, and corporate events, for instance all draw very different crowd types.

When developing your products, keep in mind that women make 60-70% of all purchases at events (even if those purchases are for men). Also remember the kids. Children’s souvenirs are a huge part of the event market.

Plan, Plan, Plan Again:

If you are developing promotional products specifically for an event, you will want to start at least 120 days ahead. This allows you plenty of time to develop the promotional items and source them overseas if you need to. You’ll also need plenty of time to plan out the shipping logistics of your program, the merchandising, and and temporary storage you might need.

Develop Your Key Strategies:

You’ll need to set up a plan to ensure on-time product delivery. If there is a need to store product before the event, or at night during multi-day events, you’ll need to arrange that as well as product transport back and forth between the locations. From a merchandising perspective, you’ll need to ensure you have the necessary trucks, tables, tents, and the proper amount of sales personnel available.

Use the demographic information you gathered (and past sales if available), to try to determine
how much product you will need to bring. Have a plan for dealing with left over product, and make sure you have a contingency plan on how to deal with a complete rain out (for outdoor events).

Get the Location Set:

Live events pose special challenges

Before you go, it is of utmost importance that you take the time to visit and evaluate the site you will be merchandising at. You’ll need to ensure that your location will have the proper traffic flow near it, you will be able to establish the proper signage. You’ll also need to check that you have proper access to electrical outlets, a phone line if you need it, and night lighting for  evening events.

Money, Money, Money:

First you will need to determine what types of payments you will be accepting (checks, credit cards,
etc..) If you are processing credit cards on-site, your site visit should have affirmed whether you have the proper phone access.

Unfortunately, many vendors spend far too little time thinking about cash security procedures. Events tend to be very chaotic, and cash can “disappear” in a hurry. Take special care in laying out how, and who will access your registers. Plan out how you will protect your hard-earned money when you are away from the booth,and during the evenings. Also take extra steps to ensure credit card information integrity if you are collecting the numbers.

Be sure to catch next month’s email article when we discuss event merchandising and techniques that will garner more sales on site. Powertex can help you set up and plan your next event. Put our experience and vast assets to work for you at your next event. Call today at (800) 588-7111 , or email us at: customerservice@powertexgroup.com or visit us at: http://www.powertexgroup.com.