Rich's - Mexico -Publications

Volume 2 Issue 2

A Christmas Gift for All

In times of crisis we have to be more creative than ever with promotions in order to achieve success and increase sales and profitability for our businesses.

The combination of factors that make up a promotion at a retail sales outlet is crucial in achieving the desired results. "Recent studies in supermarkets demonstrate that the combination of promotional discounts and special displays create a greater impact on sales than either of these strategies used by itself. If you also add promotion through flyers, sales can be even greater," explains Rich's marketing manager for Latin America.

The challenge is to give the consumer more value for his or her money. You add value through the promotion of the appropriate products. The consumer arrives at the sales outlet with a limited budget and the intention of buying. Whether or not part of this budget is spent on your products depends on you.

One of the factors that most attracts consumers is the variety of products. In the case of pastries, variety means a sufficient number of genuinely different options. This variety is phoney if the customer can't see the difference between the various products on offer, or sees very little difference between them. The decoration of pastries can help you avoid this problem.

Change your pastry decoration with the seasons. At Christmas, offering a variety of decorations with a holiday season theme is an excellent way to generate increased sales. Christmas is a time when family and friends get together, and bringing home a delicious pastry is the perfect way to celebrate the spirit of the season. Attractive decorations on your pastries and an appropriate display will guarantee greater sales.

You, too, are celebrating!

Christmas decorations are an essential part of the holiday season. Your business should project the happy and festive atmosphere of the Christmas holiday. Expensive and complicated decorations are often not the best idea. The atmosphere you want for your business should have a personality of its own, a Christmas feel in good taste. Your employees can wear small items like red St. Nicholas caps to communicate the festive atmosphere to the public.

Christmas is a time to bring happiness to the youngest members of the family. Keep in mind that at this time of the year they have adults' complete attention, and can have significant influence in buying decisions. So create a welcoming atmosphere for children. How about a mailbox where they can send letters to Santa Claus, the Three Kings, or the infant Jesus? Why not offer a daily "Santa's Choice", a specialty of the house related to the holiday season? Christmas cakes, nougats, chocolates and sweetbreads are always a temptation for kids.

Keeping track of sales

Any increase in marketing and promotion efforts should be backed by a proper coordination of production and inventory management. Before the season starts, have a look at the previous year's records. How much did you sell? What quantities of supplies did you have to buy? How have sales behaved in the last few months? Do you expect to have higher sales this year? The answers to these simple questions will help insure correct management of your production during the holiday season.

PUBLICATIONS

In this Issue

Strategies for a Happy Christmas

A Christmas Gift for All