Event planning

Use these example tasks as a jumping off point to plan for your next event!

1 to 3 months before

Decide on the themes for upcoming events. What product will be held back?

• Some popular themes:
  • New with tags
  • Sports or local school's teams/colors
  • Brand-specific, like Lululemon
  • Subcategory-specific, like a Denim Drop
  • Style-themed, like cottagecore, old money aesthetic, etc. (Ask your team what styles they've seen on social media that you can curate)
  
  

Set the target number for the total amount of bins that you need

• Set a realistic goal of bins you can hold back each week
• Use this weekly goal to determine how early you need to save up
• If it's a smaller drop, you may decide you only need 6-12 bins. You could save back for 3-4 weeks, with a goal of 2-3 bins per week.
• For a larger Back to School or Black Friday event, you may need 50 bins or more. You may need to save up for 3 months, with a goal of at least 4 bins per week.

Add a note in ResaleAI so your team will always see the event guidelines

• Clearly communicate the date of the event, what product to hold back, and the goal for bin count
• Adjust the dates so the note will show up as a reminder for your team the whole time

Create new backstock categories to track the event product, if needed

• Make sure your team knows to log in event bins as this new category. Add a note to the bin, if helpful (ex: Category is "Back to school event", note says "Guys sneakers")
• Review the count of bins you've saved week-to-week. Check the Weekly and Monthly reports in ResaleAI, and look at the count of bins for your event category
• Each week, add a note on the Daybook so your team knows if they are on track for enough bins
• If you're light on bins, have a team leader review recent backstock or walk the sales floor to pull items to supplement. Be sure to log in any new bins they fill up

1 to 3 weeks before

Take sneak peek pictures of product you've held back

• Pull out your favorite items to photograph for "sneak peek" posts on social media
• Put sneak peek items together in the same bins (with a note on the bin), so you ensure they're put out first for customers

Make signage and promo graphics for the event in Canva:

• Posters for the front door
• Flyers for the fitting room and cashwrap
• Receipt staplers
• Signage for display racks for the event
• Graphics for social media

Schedule posts about the event on social media 2 weeks out

• Put up in-store signage 2 weeks before to promote the event
• Create a QR to put on the signage to take them straight to your social media
• Decide if you will do a bounceback campaign for your event
  • If so, add details about the coupon to your signage and social media promos
  • Set up the campaign details in ResaleAI's settings

Make sure bins of product are tagged, hung, and organized on-site ready to go

• If needed, mark bins to bring back from storage
• If you have a lot of bins, have someone review them in advance
  • Take items out of the bins and sort them into more specific groups, so it's faster to put out
  • For example, grouping all shoes together, or certain brands. Add a note as you place them back into bins, like "Girls graphic tees". We find this helpful to see how much we have and decide in advance how to merchandise
  • They can pre-hang items as they go if desired

Check how many total bins you have, and make a plan for merchandising the product

• Will you need to move other product off the sales floor to make room?
• Will you use any extra tables/racks?

Review your schedule to ensure you have enough coverage

• Consider drawing a map of the store, and write out where employees will be stationed during each shift to visualize coverage throughout the day
• You may need extra staff the night before to set up for the event, during the day to refill as items sell, and at night to adjust the floorset back after the event
  
• On the Daybook, add any special tasks in advance for the day before the event, and assign the right team members, so they know immediately what to do that day

The night before the event

Locate all bins with event product, and pull those bins

• Run out the event product to the floor and arrange any displays
  • If needed, put up tables or extra racks to make room for the event product
  • If product is taken off the floor, make notes for the next day's team, so they know where it's located to put it back after the event
    
• Have a team leader collect all empty bins that were put out, and double-check that every bin was logged out of ResaleAI after it was emptied
• If there are extra event bins that are still full, place them near the fitting room or cashwrap so they are ready to fill with throughout the day. Leave a note for the opener telling them where these bins are located, and how many they have to fill with
• Leave any other notes or tasks for the opener, if needed

The day of the event 

Prep and promote at opening

• Put up any relevant signage at the front door, cashwrap, or feature racks
• After everything is set up, take additional videos and pictures to post to social media stories to further promote the event
• Check every few hours to see if you can replenish with more event product as items sell

Tear down at closing

• After the event, take down any signage that is no longer applicable
• Adjust the sales floor back to normal if needed (put away any temporary tables, re-fill any empty displays, etc)
• Search or filter the Backstock page once more to make sure all event bins were used. If any bins are left, put them out on the floor, or flag them as next to go out for the opener