The Power of Experiential Retail

Thriving in beauty environments that expect experiential retail to drive selling has gone from an art to a requirement for success.  The tug-of-war brands and prestige retailers face to balance the demands for online selling with the opportunity of offline selling seems to escalate with every season. 

‘Experiential retailing immerses clients in a dynamic and interactive environment, fostering a deeper emotional connection to the brand. By engaging multiple senses, it creates lasting memories, strengthens client loyalty and promotes higher selling.’

Missing Ingredient understands the mechanisms of experiential retailing.  More than a brand initiative a retailer supports in store, a truly great event’s success requires much more.  Here are a few essential practices to follow for experiential retailing at its finest.

1.         Planning

2.         Collaboration

3.         Education

4.         Flexibility

5.         SELLING

Planning – The ability to act with certainty

Beyond corporate team communications, its important equal planning is done at the event location with store leadership.  This may sound basic, but it is often overlooked.   It’s important to ensure the event is understood and well organized by all who will be executing it.  From store-level cycle counts and stock builds, to gifts, sampling and a mix of the next 4 practices -  all are important to ensure an event’s success.

Collaboration – It really does take an army

A mistake many brands make is assuming because an event exists on a key selling day, it will be a success. Start your collaborations with an open dialogue on the specifics your event's store team can deliver and how the event will be marketed to their local audience.  Maximize partnerships with other vendors, like-minded stores and their beauty-loving associates. These efforts will bring a true sense of ownership and excitement to the event which translates to increased traffic and sales.

Education –  The perfect blend of fire and know-how

The ability to impart a blend of usable information, skill development and contagious enthusiasm is especially important leading up to an event.  Knowing your icebreaker, how to pitch the event in a single sentence, how to move a client through the event experience, build the basket and secure the sale all matter.  This specific type of event-driven education is key to a successful event result and brand connection. 

Flexibility – Powerful in-the-moment solutions executed with serenity

Expect the unexpected, stay calm and carry on - you know the sayings, and for sure,  event days deliver a need to know them all!  Flexibility leads back to planning.  With a well-planned, focused event, everyone’s eyes remain on the prize of retail sales.  When a team is acting with certainty, being flexible to variations are just that – being flexible – so your solutions are adapted smoothly and with serenity, not in a panic that can derail momentum.

SELLING – The effort that never stops

Selling happens in a few ways:

1.         Selling the associate  on the event. This starts about 30 days out from the event.  Announcements are made, store-level planning meetings are booked, education begins

2.         Selling a client to attend the event. This normally kicks in 14 days from the event.  From social media, emails, world of mouth and retailer shout outs - here we give the client a reason to attend

3.         Selling the event itself.  At 7 days out, all engines are firing.   Social and email marketing are in high gear, retailer signage and visuals are being set,  the team is promoting the event, rallying the event store, other like-minded stores and their associate teams as well.  All efforts are pointing towards event day

4.         Event day!  A successful event’s report card for MI means meeting and beating the retail goal, elevating brand awareness and offering the kind of engagement that will keep a client coming back to shop your brand.   On event day, don’t forget other vendors in store and how what they are selling compliments what you are selling – partner for success. 

Experiential events come in all shapes and sizes.  Missing Ingredient excels at every level – from one-on-one consultation events to mid-sized point of sale events and larger, mega store take-overs - they are all part of our expertise.  As leaders in TESS – Training EVENT and sales support, Missing Ingredient has supported some of the most successful events on record for our brands and our retailers.

We keep it simple, stay true to best practices and deliver measurable successes in the form of ROI for our brand partners, super happy clients for our event stores and enduring relationships with all whom we touch.

Happy Eventing!

The MI Team