It's here! Have fun with shoppers this holiday season

Smiles can differentiate stores, and payoffs could build as we go deeper into Q4.

Don’t be a stiff scarecrow with just one expression this Halloween. Let shoppers experience a fun side of your stores. Prime them to be part of more holiday traffic, as they feed off of your upbeat approach to the Q4 season.

Let’s face it. Holiday season shopping can be pressured. Lists grow longer and more complex. Time shortens. And millions of households feel an incessant need to save money - so retailers need to give them reasons to spend at full price, or close to it.

Family fun is a great way to put people in a position to buy, we feel at The Lempert Report.

Autumn weather remains mild enough for retailers to consider setting up a haunted tunnel outside the store. Maybe a 50 cents kid’s admission to a haunted tunnel could go towards a known local charitable cause – and each kid could get a bottle of store-brand water at the end.  

Play up other fun aspects of Halloween too – possibly with a bouncy house, face-painting and pumpkin-carving stations.

Commercialize your efforts: set up a stand where people could pay for pumpkins, candles, carving tools and decorations, as well as candy- and caramel-apples, cider, candy, corn and other seasonal treats. One idea would be ghoulish cupcakes from the in-store bakery – along with photos and flyers to drive shoppers inside for themed sandwiches and pizzas from the deli, or extra bloody meats from the butcher.  

Halloween is no longer just a candy and treat holiday, since more families get together these days to host parties where kids stay safe and don’t have to trick or treat. Why not let multiple departments share in the fun of meeting these increased food needs creatively?

Also, the holidays are an opportune time for retailers that purchase from local farms to also help brand them. Start with Halloween. It doesn’t get more authentic than having local farmhands in your produce department help people pick pumpkins, or by the bakery selecting apple and pumpkin pies and breads.