Category Archives: sale idea

Retail Sale Idea: Boss is Away Sale

Here is a fun and creative idea to generate interest in your store, courtesy of The Cozy Nest in New Hampshire. The employees at the Cozy Nest had a “Boss is Away Sale”, and just look what great results they had when they were given permission to go wild, have fun, and create sales in her absence!

“I wanted to share a promotion that my staff had while I was at the June Retail Success Summit. I borrowed the idea from someone that said she had a “While the cat is away the mice will play” promotion while she was away from her store. I asked my employees if they would like to plan a similar event while I was at the Summit and that I would trust them to handle it and didn’t want to know anything about it.

“It was a huge success. They had a 237% gain over last year.

“Here are some of the things they did:

  • Wore little glittery mouse ears with a pink bow the whole time I was gone
  • Sent out a daily e-mail about the deal of the day (borrowed idea from the 12 days of Christmas)
  • Had a big poster for the customers to sign and leave me a message
  • Created a poster with a thermometer that they filled in every day to show how they were progressing
  • Asked neighboring businesses to send their customers over and gave those customers an extra 10% off. Plus, the business that sent the most people received a gift certificate
  • Raffled off a gift basket worth $300 (all clearance items)
  • Held a daily raffle for 4 gift certificates ($25 each)

“I gave them a hefty sales goal and if they met it, I’d give them each a day off with pay, and they met their goal. They had a blast and were really proud of their event. The customers also had a blast.

“I had a friend drive by and they told me it was like a feeding frenzy and the parking lot was a mob scene. I am sure that created some buzz around town, plus it brought in some new customers that wanted to see what was going on!”

What a fun idea! I especially love the Deal of the Day email, the reciprocal program with neighboring businesses, the message poster for the boss and the mouse ears. Gosh, I guess I loved all the ideas. Please me know if you try this out. It sounds like a hoot!