Tip # 460 - A GREAT Month for Retailers
You may have seen it on Facebook or read about it in your inbox... the claim that once every 823 years July has 5 Fridays, 5 Saturdays, and 5 Sundays and that this once-a-millennium phenomenon is happening next month.
Well, it's not entirely true.
July 2011 certainly does have 5 Fridays, Saturdays, Sundays, but It is a regular calendar occurrence that follows a predictable pattern - July has 5 weekends once every 5-11 years, not every 800+.
Still, any month that has 5 Fridays, 5 Saturdays, 5 Sundays is a great one for retailers!
Play up the 5 weekend days to your customers and have a fun "FIVE" themed promotion. Here are just a few ideas for you to consider:
- Offer $5 specials on the 5 Fridays, Saturdays, and Sundays. Put out tables - everything on the table for 5 bucks. You could even call your favorite, most cooperative vendors and see if they have any special deals you could buy into that would be a great $5 value for your customer.
- Give a bounce-back. For every $25 your customers spend on the 5 Fridays, Saturdays, and Sundays in July, they get a $5 Bounce-Back Buck good during August (or $1 for every $5 spent depending on your price points and merchandise mix.) Only a fraction of your customers will redeem their bucks, but everyone will like getting them!
- Make it cause marketing month - 5 charities, 5 weekends, 5%. On each of the 5 Fridays, Saturdays, and Sundays donate 5% of sales to a different group. This is a great publicity opportunity, too!
- And, of course, this month would be a great time to launch your regular "5th Saturday" program - Bob explains this fun, money-making promotion in this 2:27 minute video.
Even though it's not a once in a lifetime month, enjoy your five summer weekends and have some fun in the store!
FOOTNOTE: By the way, this kind of calendar aberration is the reason big retailers use a standardized 4-5-4 calendar. I wrote about it in
Tip #441!
