January is coming. Is your store ready to become a “resolution destination?” This is the third in a series of blog posts to help get you there.

For most natural products retailers, January is the most important month of the year. It’s a great month for sales, because so many people make health-related New Year’s resolutions. Many of the shoppers deciding to live and eat better are going to be new to your store, so the sales gains from January—if handled right—can lead to sales gains that last for the rest of the year and beyond.

Any time that you are planning a big event or happening—like your store becoming a “resolution destination”—you need to preplan the layout of the merchandise in your health food store. On a few occasions, when the price on a gift that I was planning to buy was too good to pass up, I have gone out in the Black Friday frenzy. I have noticed that the major stores publish maps of where the “door busters” are located in their stores. While these are just temporary locations to help shoppers for a few hours of shopping madness, they do have an idea that all retailers can borrow.

Preplan where you are going to put your featured items:

Check out more practical advice for making your store a "resolution destination."