Appendix I.—CHECK LIST FOR PLANNING A STORE-WIDE PROMOTION
(Courtesy the National Retail Furniture Association, Chicago, Ill.)
1. Opening date; closing date.
(Note.—The most successful store-wide promotions run 10 days. Two weeks should be the limit. Make your plan at least a month ahead. Be all set at least a week in advance.)
2. Name.
(This should include at least a hint of the reason why you are holding this sale.)
3. Merchandise to be featured.
(See that a good percentage of this is new merchandise, items that you have never run before. Store-wide events based entirely on old merchandise are never as successful as they should be.)
4. Total advertising expenditure for event:
a. Newspapers.
b. Direct-mail.
c. Radio.
d. Window and store displays.
5. Advertising expenditure by days.
(Start your sale off with a bang and end it with a grand finale. The middle will take care of itself.)
6. "Presale" or old-customer courtesy days:
a. The dates.
b. Form of announcing them to customers (letter, folder, phone calls, etc.).
c. Special terms, premiums or other inducements to old customers who purchase on these dates.
(Note.—Sale or no sale, most of your business comes from old customers. See that they get special attention in any store-wide event.)
7. Window displays:
a. Merchandise to be featured.
b. Window streamers.
c. Price and description signs.
8. Interior and other displays:
a. Aisle banners, post hangers, elevator signs, cashier and credit department signs.
b. General floor arrangement and special merchandise displays.
c. Buttons or other special identification insignia for salesmen.
d. Truck banners.
9. Price tags.
For any store-wide event, your merchandise should carry special price tags—not the ones you ordinarily use.
10. Quotas:
a. By departments.
b. By salesmen.
11. Meetings:
a. Special meeting for all employees.
b. Meeting for sales employees only.
c. Meeting for credit employees only.
12. Special employee remuneration:
a. Store-wide sales contest, selling and non-selling help.
b. Contest for salesmen only.
c. Special "spiffs" on particular pieces of merchandise which you wish to push.
(Note.—It is not recommended that every store-wide promotion embrace every one of these points, although this is possible. You should, however, consider all these possibilities in planning your store-wide sale.)