1.

Social media contests: One of the most effective ways of marketing in

this day and age is through social media. Millions of people have social
media accounts and making yourself known on sites like Facebook,
Twitter and Instagram will help boost your sales significantly. Here, you
can showcase some of what’s on offer and entice people into your store,
whether in-store or online. As well as letting people know who you are
and what you’re all about, social media is also the perfect place to run a
contest. Everyone likes the chance to win something, especially if there’s
no cost involved. If one person enters, others will follow and share, and
before you know it you’re ad’s been shared millions of times without you
having to lift a finger. Sure, you may have to give away a bike every now
and then, but the publicity that you’ll receive because of it will be worth it.
2. Free accessories/free shipping/free assembly: Everyone likes to get
something for nothing, even if this may not really be the case. For
example, by strategically pricing your bikes so that the customer gets free
lights with their purchase but it’s not costing you too much, everyone's a
winner. The customer feels like they’ve got themselves a really good deal
and you’re selling extra bikes every week as a result. If you own a local
bike retail shop one very good tactic for pulling in customers is to offer
them free assembly with every bike purchased. It won't take you very long
to do and the customer will feel much more valued and likely to
recommend you for your excellent service.
3. Rebates: This is quite a popular option for many bike retailers as is a very
effective way to grab a customer’s attention. Being offered money back
for purchasing a product that you would have done anyway is a no-
brainer, which is why customers like them so much. Retailers like rebates
as not everyone remembers to claim and so for the retailer it hasn’t cost
them anything in discounts. Retailers often do this to try and clear excess
stock they may have of one particular item.
4. Special pricing: Another deal that customers find hard to pass on is
limited time only deals. These are typically really good offers that can only
be taken advantage of during a certain time. While some may say it’s a
form of pressure selling, consumers are getting a good deal and no one is
being forced to buy anything they don't want too. It just comes down to a
person's willpower as to how much they can resist a bargain. One
example of this type of deal in a bike retail shop would be to offer the
latest bike model out at a reduced price for just one week only to boost
sales.
5. Free finance: Buying a new bike and all the accessories to go with it can
add up to quite an expense. So, being able to offer your customers
interest-free finance is a great selling tool. It allows them to spread the
cost and it allows you to pitch the price differently in an ad. Which sounds
 more tempting to you: £500 or 10 monthly payments of £50? For many
people, £50 isn’t too hard to find, but £500 is another matter. By allowing
people the opportunity to spread the cost will help secure a lot more sales
year round.
6. Coupons: Offering money off a customer’s next purchase is another good
sales promotion technique. Not only does it entice the customer to buy
the goods now, but it also sets them up for another purchase later on as
they now have a coupon to use. Coupons can be very cost effective for
bike retailers too as is a good way of getting repeat business when you
might not have ordinarily. Of course, you don’t have to just offer coupons
for a customer’s next purchases. You can offer coupons to everyone on
your emailing list, for example. This is a far more cost-effective way of
promoting your products and will hopefully produce an influx of sales as a
result.
These are just a selection of the many tried and tested sales promotion
techniques out there that have so far proved to work quite well when it comes to
bike retailers. However, rather than focus all your attention on one technique,
you’ll get a much better result using a combination of them. At the end of the
day, you know your product and you should know your audience. Now all you
need to do is find a way to grab their attention and reel them in. The rest is
down to your products. As long as you continue to make yourself known and
offer customers good value for money, the sales will keep rolling in.