As the fiscal year draws to a close, EOFY and stocktake sales are well underway, with Australians spending an estimated $26 billion. A successful advertising depends on informing your audience on what is being offered, whether you are a car manufacturer, clothes retailer, or white goods showroom.
A simple, straightforward method of alerting your stakeholders to important information is SMS marketing. In this instance, stocktake sale dates, coupons, special discounts for VIPs and loyalty members, online offers, and help with payments and delivery.
In order to facilitate stock counting prior to a company submitting its financial statements after June 30, these yearly sales are intended to clear inventory before the fiscal year ends.
EOFY: What is it?
EOFY stands for End of the Financial/Fiscal Year, and it marks the end of Australia’s fiscal year (FY), which runs from July 1 to June 30. For instance, this fiscal year’s dates started on July 1, 2018, and ended on June 30, 2019.
The fiscal year is divided into four quarters:
Question 1: July 1–September 30
October 1–December 31 is Q2.
Question 3: January 1–March 31
Q4: 1 April–30 June
Businesses and individuals should submit their financial situation to the government during EOFY. Important documents including the income tax return, profit and loss statement, and balance sheet must be obtained in order to calculate the amount of tax due (or returned) for each fiscal year.
The Australian Tax Office (ATO) may have sent you text messages through myGov with information on tax season, industry changes, reminders, and progress updates. These SMS messages can be useful reminders to arrange your company’s paperwork, get ready for the inventory, and offer guidance as the fiscal year draws to a close.
What makes EOFY significant for the retail sector?
Businesses all around Australia do a stocktake by June 30 of each year. Unless you are a tiny firm with a turnover of less than $10 million and a difference between your opening and closing balance of less than $5,000, this is a must for all businesses.
If there is less inventory, there is less to count when businesses conduct a stocktake. It is easier to count inventories when sales can move things quickly.
Coming up to EOFY has been the standard for the retail business. Good offers are appearing everywhere, and consumers have received the signal and are likely to spend a lot during this period.
Remember to inform your clients of the time and location where they can benefit from your sales, as this is where stocktake sales are most effective!
A stocktake sale: what is it?
The best way to move inventory is through sales, and EOFY is the ideal time of year to get rid of extra inventory and create space for new items.
Make sure your business is heard by using SMS marketing to break through the clutter. Inform your clients of special offers, include them in flash sales, update them on your online purchases, and use OTP (One-Time Password) to guarantee safe online payment methods.
Customers typically wait for sales on expensive things because it’s the same time of year every year, so they can maximize their savings. And for that reason, EOFY is somewhat of a sensation. Customers are willing to wait until June to spend more money, even more than they would during the Christmas season.
Getting your brand in front of consumers is crucial as you approach one of the busiest periods of the year in retail, even though EOFY sales might sell themselves.
Marketing and retail
A strong platform that can carry out direct mass communication on any scale is required for marketing an EOFY sale. A bulk text message campaign is a dependable method of informing clients via a rapid, user-friendly, and effective channel.
With 98% of SMS being accessed within three minutes of being received and 91% of adults always keeping their mobile device within reach, SMS marketing is a cutting-edge method of communicating.
In an era when many businesses are heavily marketing online, mobile messaging is especially crucial to breaking through the clutter. Email marketing, for instance, is effective at sending multimedia messages with more content, but these may end up in spam or junk mail bins and be ignored.
The goal of these sales is to take advantage of the higher spending at this time of year, but your sale may not be noticed if you lack adequate publicity. SMS marketing offers a simple, affordable, and useful substitute with high open rates.
Bulk SMS usage for EOFY
Customize the way you communicate with your clients.
You can send bulk messages with customized content by using merge SMS. Using templates and personalization makes it simple to create communications that are pertinent to stakeholders. This enables you to provide targeted material, such an order number or coupon code, and address your clients by name.
Links to sales and online content
Although SMS is straightforward, it has a 160 character limit, so including a link and a call to action can increase website traffic. Including links in a message encourages people to check important dates, participate in online deals, and enter competitions.
Provide coupons and discounts.
Customers are greatly encouraged to spend more when they have exclusive access to discounts, special offers, and free presents. Promo codes are brief and simple to distribute to your brand’s mailing list via SMS. Additionally, searching through emails or printing out a document to present in-store is far less effective than pulling out your phone and finding an SMS or QR code.
Promote sales both in-person and online.
For a campaign to be effective and for your clients to take advantage of the finest offers available, you must remind them of sale dates. It’s better to start your deals early, especially with stocktake sales, and then raise the discounts as the new fiscal year approaches. Sales will only increase if you inform your clientele about the location and time of these sales.
Special offers for loyalty and VIP members
Giving your VIPs and loyalty members special access to offers, discounts, and freebies is a crucial way to demonstrate them how much your company values their business and to make sure they feel valued. Your VIPs will be informed of the options that are accessible to them and how to take advantage of them when you send them a direct message.
Notifications and reminders for significant dates
Inform your clients when the sales will begin, and make sure they know when to join before the items sell out or the sale finishes. To make sure your clients don’t miss important dates regarding new goods, deals, and promotions, an SMS marketing campaign is ideal. Timely messages can be easily scheduled and distributed ahead of key dates with the use of a content calendar.
Safe payments and delivery notifications
Customers who wish to access or enter sensitive information online are given an additional degree of security by using 2FA (Two Factor Authentication) via OTP. This covers shipment information, delivery updates, and online payment options. Keeping your consumers updated at every stage demonstrates openness and involves them in the buying process.