Celebrating Slow Days

Okay, okay. We know what you are thinking. Slow days in retail mean slow days in your bank accounts. While this simply cannot be ideal everyday, sometimes slow days bring a welcome relief to the non-stop action of retail.

If you are fortunate to have a full year’s history of sales behind you, it’s likely you can better plans for what may be a slow day. If this isn’t the case or even if it is, you may still be able to predict days that will be slow based on current demographic and consumer trends. For example, if you are open Sundays but notoriously have slow foot traffic on these days, then this is a great day to plan for retail “chores” and other responsibilities that need to be done. Still not sure what these means? Here’s a look at what retailers need to be doing, yet often don’t have time for:

1. General Cleaning – dusting, vacuuming, bathrooms, floors

2. Inventory Management – reorganizing, tracking, management, replenishment, placing orders

3. Office Management – filing, billing, payments, banking

4. Employee Management – scheduling, reviews, new hires, training

5. Community Relations – planning for local activities, sharing press, volunteering time

6. Media Relations – preparing press releases, distributing news & press, posting on media websites for event calendars

7. Social Media – posting, tweeting, responding to others, blogging

8. Website Maintenance – product management, e-commerce support, updating copy, scheduling updates

9. Product Reviews – learning about new products for your store, gaining information on competitive products

10. Competitive Analysis – learning about other like-minded retailers, challenging yourself to do better

Often on slow days, retailers schedule part time employees to help fill the space in the store and consider this their day off. While this is a nice balance to have, remember to plan your part timers days with a long list of what can be done. Their involvement may not be as intense as yours would be in the store, but there is still plenty for them to do. If they aren’t busy, then you aren’t doing your job to keep them busy – it’s as simple as that. As most retailers know, there is ALWAYS something to do in retail, so being bored or playing on Facebook isn’t the answer.

Above is just a quick peak at everything you should be doing and what you could be doing on a slow day. Have something else that you like to do when foot traffic is slow? Let us know! Please comment below.