Valentine's Day is nearly here. For most people it is a special time to be wrapped up in love and everything that goes with it — but for a business, 14 February is an opportunity, because couples everywhere are looking for a venue, a restaurant, something to do and a good deal for a special evening. Restaurants, cafés, shops and even beauty salons can all make something of that demand with a campaign or a promotion aimed at customers who want to mark the occasion.
Don't look only at couples, though. There is far more to play with than romance: you can aim an activity or an offer at groups of friends, at families, or at people on their own — self-love is very much a trend at the moment. These promotions work for any kind of business. At Qashier, we would like to share some Valentine's promotion techniques and ideas so you are ready, set up your POS terminal and handle the extra sales this Valentine's season together.
Valentine's promotion ideas
Themed products, or pairs
Don't forget to widen your range with paired promotional items, limited editions, or products available only over Valentine's. Plenty of customers will be out looking for a gift, and having something special, limited or seasonal on the shelf makes choosing easier for them, which gives you more chances to sell and brings more people into the shop. It isn't only for retailers, either — restaurants can put on a special menu just as easily.
If your business hasn't got anything special to sell, don't worry: you can still bundle products together and offer a discount that way. Two for the price of one, for instance, plays neatly on the idea of pairs and fits the occasion. In a restaurant, the same thing might be two mains for the price of one, or order two dishes and get an extra one on the house.
Even the customers who aren't couples and aren't looking for anything romantic can still enjoy a good promotion and a discount. For shops running a POS system , the bundle feature makes packaging products together or applying a special discount simple, straight from the promotion management on the terminal itself.
Dishes, products or services designed for Valentine's alone
When it comes to giving a gift, plenty of customers want to add something of themselves or of the person receiving it, which makes it that bit more special — and never more so than at Valentine's, when it turns an ordinary present into something meant for someone they love. Shops can meet that by offering products or dishes that can be customised or made to order. In a restaurant, beyond a dish that can be adapted, you might let customers ask for something special: booking ahead, or arranging a surprise, which could be as simple as choosing the flowers, preparing a card, writing a message — or a dish available over Valentine's and no other time.
If yours is a beauty salon or another service business, you might offer a Valentine's package with extra treatments beyond the usual, or pick a colour theme and a product theme that suit the season.
Valentine's gifts
A festival is the best time of all to give something away, and gift promotions tend to be the ones that catch the eye. You can run an activity for several days before 14 February to promote the shop through the activity itself. A shop might run a hashtag campaign, or ask customers to tag it on Instagram for a chance at a special offer or a small seasonal keepsake. A restaurant or salon might give something away through a free trial when a customer signs up, or a special dish available free over Valentine's and nowhere else. Tagging campaigns and sign-ups have another benefit: they give the shop customer information, a database you can analyse and build on. Shops can use a membership management system to strengthen those relationships and build brand loyalty for the long term. If you want to lay on a special surprise, for instance, you can email customers ahead of a festival, an anniversary or a birthday to let them know you were thinking of them, or to offer them something — which makes them that much more likely to come in.
Activities and workshops
Rather than concentrating only on discounts or special products to push sales, you can put on an activity or a workshop and give customers an experience worth having. If you sell cosmetics, you might run a class on this year's Valentine's make-up looks; a café might run a coffee-making workshop built around a sweet seasonal drink.
Retailers can run an event showing off a new collection, or give customers a look behind the scenes, which brings them closer to you and builds engagement between your brand and the people who buy from it. Whatever kind of event you run, remember to put social media to work and tell your customers about it, because it doesn't only build awareness — it builds the engagement a shop can go on using in its marketing.
Run your Valentine's promotions better with Qashier POS
With everything going on over a festival, don't lose sight of the smaller details, such as staff scheduling and commission, which may work differently from usual over the season. Qashier can help there, with a staff management system that makes it easy to set out a plan and reward your staff, because you can follow their performance, the day's sales and your best-selling lines, and even manage the menu, without setting foot in the shop — all through QashierHQ, the online back office for Qashier customers.
Qashier POS, the smart front-of-house system, keeps your business moving without a hitch and ready for everything Valentine's brings. We hope it helps prepare your business for a digital, cashless world, and lets you use technology to run the place at a price you can afford.
Qashier's POS shop management system suits restaurants, cafés, salons and retail shops alike. It comes with a wide range of functions that make the work easier, and once it is installed it is ready to go in moments — a modern shop management system that helps you run the place efficiently. If you are interested and want to push your business forward, contact us for more details on Line Official: @qashier.th or call 02-544-0267