Beat the Winter Doldrums

There's no magic pill for the post-holiday slowdown. The best remedies are more sleep, if you can get it, and more sales. Some fresh merchandising ideas will help create extra business after the holidays, and might just make you sleep better at night.

Once you take down your holiday trim, your store is likely to feel dull, empty, and colorless. So, add color! There is no rule that winter has to be dull. Brighten up with a "July in January" promotion featuring items that are light and cheerful, and that create lively groupings in display areas. Banners made from vibrant colors — for example, a cranberry background with an orange-yellow sun — can be made at your local sign shop, or by a friendly seamstress. If you want a theme, July in January will work, but "Warm Up Your Winter" could provide more mileage.

Color will draw customers to your merchandise displays and encourage them to buy. If you hang banners, you can further brighten the store by cutting pads from fomecore or homasote to cover the fixtures that the banners highlight. Pick a solid-colored fabric that matches the color of your background to cover the pads. Your whole store will begin to glow.

Start moving merchandise. Before a speech I gave in Atlanta, a woman told me that every time she moves something in her store, it sells. When I mentioned this in my speech, many audience members nodded or said, "That happens to me too!" Obviously, if moving merchandise increases sales, after Christmas is the time of the year to get touchy-feely.

Moving merchandise is a lot like a puzzle game. By moving one object you bring the other items in your store to life, and then you'll find that you want to move 37 other pieces to get just the right arrangement. You can concentrate visual focus in new areas, and customers who are used to seeing the same merchandise in the same places will be surprised to see your store take on new life and energy. But be careful: You can easily over-think or under-think the moving process.

Life doesn't end after New Year's Eve. People are still going to dinner parties, office and birthday parties, and other social events. Between New Year's and February 1 — when you start displaying Valentine's Day merchandise — make January "Party Month." Breathe some life into your store with arrangements for dinner and birthday parties, as well as housewarming and office get-togethers. Depending on the look and style of your store, you can make the party theme formal or informal. Hang helium balloons off the tables and shelves. If your look is more upscale, display framed calligraphy signs that suggest gifts for special occasions. Be creative and have fun with the signage. To draw attention, party tables can have bright-colored tablecloths or covered pads. You can also use calligraphy on some polyester fabrics successfully without the marker running. But be sure to test the marker and fabric before investing time and money. And please, iron any fabric you use for displays!

The merchandise should make sense in terms of price for the type of party you are suggesting. Most dinner party gifts range from $6 to $30, depending on the community and your type of store. Putting $75 items on the table places it more in the wedding gift range, which is another type of party altogether.

On your dinner party table, think of all the little things that people love but don't buy for themselves. Group a lot of different kinds of gifts together on this table. As long as they are well organized and well signed, people will recognize them as ideal dinner party gifts. Lay it out. Make it easy, affordable, and beautiful, and your customers will understand that you are saving them time, anxiety, and confusion.

Making your store beautiful is another great post-holiday strategy. Winter is a flower-free time in many parts of the country, but it can also be the perfect time to showcase silk flowers in masses of color. So don't just buy six of each — go large. Sue Kirby, who speaks at trade shows across the country, talked about how she displayed cabbage roses in bunches all over her store. It was a huge investment for her small business, but it paid off immediately: Customers bought lots of flowers when they saw how wonderful they looked in large bunches.

Selling flowers can be easy until there are just a few left. When you're down to the last few, give them a new lease on life by using them as props. Flowers placed in vases or cases alongside merchandise displays will help accentuate other items in your store.

If you can afford real flowers, even better. Indoor flowering plants restore energy during the winter doldrums, and add enormous life to a store. Anything that grows reminds us that spring is just around the corner. Living in Connecticut, I desperately need flowers in my house during the winter to counteract the ice and snow. I'm not alone in this need. Cater to it! Buy more flowers and bright vases. You might sell mostly the clear, metal, and white vases, but a few orange, yellow, pink, and red varieties will draw attention to your basics and help them sell even better.

In your windows, think pink and yellow. These two colors draw people in like no others. Groupings of pink and yellow merchandise highlighted with dozens of pink and yellow ribbons will be a definite attention-getter.

Another look is to hang ribbons of all different lengths with a glass (or plastic) bead on the end of each ribbon. You can do pink on pink, or reverse the colors — yellow bead on pink ribbon and vice versa. Have fun with the ribbon. It's an easy and inexpensive way to get color and energy into your windows — and into your store. You can also carry the ribbon theme into the store by hanging large groups of ribbon over tables with neutral-colored merchandise.

To make all this hanging easier, invest in a white metal lattice with a 3"-by-3" grid. Hook the lattice to the ceiling over some of your most visible focal-point tables. Tying ribbon onto lattice is much easier than trying to pin it to the ceiling. Take the lattice down and tie the ribbon to it at your desk or worktable. Then you just need to hook it back up over the display. Your arms won't get as tired that way, and you won't be tempted to put up only five ribbons.

To beat the winter doldrums, think color, movement, party themes, flowers, and ribbon — all inexpensive, easy, and bright. And be in good cheer. You will have made it through another holiday season!