Last week I wrote about the increasing popularity of gift certificates during the holiday season and Doug Fleener, a retail consultant, posted the following response.

Great tips Patricia, I especially like #3 (Reward Employees for Selling Gift Certificates As Part of their Sales for the Day). Because retailers can't book a gift card/certificate sale until it's used they often neglect the salespeople who are good at creating those card/certificate sales. A weekly contest where an employee wins a gift card themselves is a great incentive. It could be to the store, Starbucks, Barnes and Nobles, etc.

One interesting point of gift cards is that the NPD Group says that the popularity of these gift cards has hurt other retail segments, especially impulse buying. "In past years, impulse purchases have accounted for 26% of holiday sales. In 2006, that figure dropped to 19%, this year we'll be lucky to hit 17%," NPD says in its release. Sounds like to me its smart to make gift cards a retailer's impulse item.

This got me thinking about how important impulse sales are to increasing your store's overall sales for the holiday season. I wanted to share a few ideas for increasing impulse buying this season in your store:

1. Place stocking stuffers near the registers, and at the register.

2. Locate POS fixtures with products under $12 near the line to the register so that customers can shop while they wait. I can think of dozens of mass retailers who do a great job selling to customers in line. At Victoria's Secret they have cleverly loaded a three-tiered fixture with fantastic items for your purse, such as lipstick, small perfumes and mints.

3. Sell pre-made gift baskets.

4. Create a table for hostess gifts ranging in price from $12-$30.
   Make sure you have professional signage to remind customers to purchase said hostess gifts.

5. Strong window displays are never more important than during the holiday season.
   And strong window displays can lead to strong impulse buying.

6. While most retailers sell on value and customer service, I urge you to think outside the box and create a few special promotions to increase impulse buying.
   Some ideas: special promotion of the week (15% of one product category per week for eight weeks.. frames, baby, home decor, etc.), spend $50 and receive $5 off and/or a special gift with purchase if over $50 or $100 is spent.