Prepare Your Board Game Bar or Hobby Store for the Busy Holiday Season
The holiday season can be a revenue driver for your whole year so it’s important to do everything you can to ensure your customers have a great experience in your shop. Here are 10 ideas to get you started.
- It’s time for a deep clean. While not exactly marketing-related, cleanliness can impact how people feel in your bar or store. Before those wild shopping weekends get the best of you, tidy your space and sanitize as much as possible.
- Speaking of cleaning, now is a great time to purge older product through sales and bundles. You can offer “Blind Date with a Game” packages for cozy evenings at home, or discounted Magic: The Gathering bulk boxes. All in service of making room for the amazing new releases coming this season, and extra stock of games that usually fly off your shelves.
- We’re all excited for the new Dungeons & Dragons Dungeon Master’s Guide coming out in a couple of weeks, Magic: The Gathering Foundations, Mistborn Deckbuilding Game, and Queen By Midnight: Quarter Past. So why not host release parties where fans will get first access to these new games and expansions. Make it more than just a purchase event where you can detail new changes in the DM Guide or award prizes to folks who come dressed as queens.
- Of course, revitalize your email marketing newsletter to ensure it’s hitting inboxes and getting opens and clicks.
- If weekends are busy but weeknights are a little slower, you can host events like “how to teach your friends and family games this holiday,” mini-tournaments, or jigsaw puzzle competitions.
- Let local businesses know you have a great space for hosting staff holiday parties or team builders.
- Share what collector’s items you have to offer and encourage folks to add items to their holiday wishlists. Ideally, your website has a robust and up-to-date e-commerce section with an option to save those images and links to Pinterest or other wishlist builders. But you could even encourage folks to window shop in person with cozy decorations and festive treats.
- Can you make any tweaks to popular games to make them more wintery-themed? Maybe a dexterity game with mittens on, or only playing the winter seasons of Creature Comforts or the person who gets the most polar bear exhibits in BarenPark gets a bonus. The sillier the better.
- Lots of game bars and stores are finding success streaming on TikTok, Instagram and Whatnot. It can be a simple tour of your space, a live event stream, or cracking card packs.
- Remind folks about your loyalty program and encourage them to take advantage of the benefits. The more they use the benefits, the more they’ll connect with your store and continue their fandom.
Want help making a holiday or winter plan for your specific shop? You know where to find us!