s recognise this is true all year round, when it comes to Christmas, you need to stage your greatest show of the year. Playwright, Tom Stoppard, once said in an interview, “I think theatre ought to be theatrical… you know, shuffling the pack in different ways so that there’s always some kind of ambush involved in the experience. You’re being ambushed by an unexpected word, or by an elephant falling out of the cupboard, whatever it is.” This is also true of retail theatre. It should be the unexpected, the surprise and delight, the unmissable. Whether it’s the window display or inside your retail store, plan to create something truly remarkable that customers simply cannot walk past. Before I give you some key fitness tips to creating and staging the greatest Christmas retail show, have a think about how you will connect with your audience. One of the greatest mistakes we see many retailers make is to start with their products, when Christmas is unquestionably all about solving their customers’ needs. In a Harvard Business Review article, Ron Johnson, former CEO of JC Penney and retail operations manager of Apple commented on the existence of the physical store space saying: “It’s got to help people enrich their lives. If the store fulfils a specific product need, it’s not creating new types of value for the customer. It’s transacting.” So just how do you create value throughout your customers’ entire shopping missions? Separate selling from customer service. Every customer that comes into your store at Christmas has a gift problem to solve. The greatest asset your sales staff can have is to be active listeners and possess a genuine interest in the customer by being totally solution focused. Walk through the store from a customer viewpoint. How can they navigate to products that will solve their problems? When they look up and see the entire store how easy is it for them to find a gift solution? Separate your merchandise into solutions: gifts for him, gifts for her, top 10 most sought after gifts this Christmas, staff Christmas picks, stocking fillers, hard to buy for Dads, and so on. Staff product training and the ability to demonstrate products is everything. Make life exceedingly easy for your customers. Offer gift wrapping or a click and collect gift wrapped option if they’re ordering online. Top 7 tips to staging your show Have a think about these business fitness tips for your Christmas show: The window and merchandise displays you create must be an expression of your unique business. Take a strong stand and challenge yourself to express it while remaining true to your brand. Contradict the assumptions of the audience.Draw them to the theatre with something that will attract them, but then, once they are drawn to your shop window, challenge them and make them think and feel. Make sure the show (display) is not a reproducible event – this is what people have come to see and your loyalists will return to see the next production. Include a surprise – the elephant falling out of the cupboard. No one should be able to know what’s coming next, including the performers. Surprise keeps theatre a live event. Change the material world. Keep your merchandising fresh and exciting for your customers and they will keep coming back for more. Make it clear when new lines and items are in store by promoting them in your window. Give the audience a ritual or repetitive pattern with which to identify. Create a shared history for the audience. Once a ritual is established, you can speak volumes through tiny variations on a theme. The art is in the details. Break the rules. Don’t do what anybody tells you. Make your own theatre, find your own way. Build impressive displays from the customer perspective that entertains and inspires, (form) not from the traditional product assembly (function). Top 5 tips for behind the scenes Stock up before and after store trading hours. Organise your store room and your inventory. Be first to open and last to close. Be on sale even when the store is closed through your website. Do the early morning opening tasks and visual merchandising the night before. Above all – have fun! Happy Fit Christmas Retailing! Brian Walker Founder & CEO Retail Doctor Group Join our Fit for Christmas Boot Camp! Is your retail business ready for this years peak trading season? In this interactive workshop you will learn the skills of the world’s best retailers to maximise your retail impact. Space is limited so secure your workshop place today at www.retaildoctor.com.au.