Tuesday, April 2, 2013

Tip #66: Complete a Post-holiday Recap


Now that Christmas, Valentine’s Day and Easter are behind you, this week’s tip is to take a moment to do a recap for each holiday. By stopping to review items such as inventory, sales numbers, marketing and more, you can forecast more accurately for the following year’s holidays.

Questions to ask during your post-holiday recap may include:
  • What was the day of the week and/or date of the holiday?
  • Did the weather impact sales (positively or negatively)?
  • What sales or special offers did you have? What was the response to each?
  • Did you have too much or too little inventory of any particular items (products or otherwise)?
  • Was staffing adequate for each day and time leading up to the holiday?

Be sure to include your staff in the process. Oftentimes, they see and hear things from customers that could be enlightening for your holiday planning.

RCI Members: Access a post-holiday recap template created just for RCI members by signing in to the RCI website as a member. Then, click on Planning Tools under the Member Resources tab.