by Jeff Grant
August brings hordes of teen and pre-teens with parents in tow to retail stores in search of the newest, coolest school gear. This year the prediction is that back-to-school sales will ring up $18 billion in sales. With the right preparation you can take better advantage of this windfall than you ever have before. Here are some things to consider when prepping for the season.

Staffing
Think about increasing staffing for the rush. If you can hire high schoolers, so much the better; they speak the language. Hire in enough time to allow adequate training.

Marketing
Drop by the local schools and talk to the administrators about offering discounts to students and teachers in sports, clubs, and classes. Teachers typically pay about $500 a year out of their own pocket on classroom supplies. Ease their pain and you’ll have an important advocate for your business. Back-to-School Nights are an excellent place to hand out flyers touting your store. Remember that you are marketing to two very different mind-sets—the parent and the child. When all is said and done, the kid makes the decision on what is purchased, but you have to get the parent into the store, and the way to do that is by putting items on sale or offering a special discount to students.

Stocking
Keep an eye on trends. Kids, especially the high schoolers, are mind-bendingly trend conscious. Keep up with the magazines. What are the hot accessories for backpacks this year? Hot accessories for the iPod? Are designer water bottles the hot new thing? What are they wearing? Stay current. Stock up on “consumable” store supplies such as bags, clothing hangers, and cash register tape.

Fixturing
Pen displays, paper racks, dump bins, book merchandisers, and sunglass displays are just a few fixtures you might want to add for the season. Merchandising around the cash register is always important, but when selling to teens, the impulse buy is even bigger. Small, flashy items with good margins are the ticket. If you stock electronic items, batteries are a cash register mainstay, and for good reason.

Plan and Profit
Advance planning is the key to seasonal merchandising. Order product and fixtures well before back-to-school shopping season. Product, especially, is a bit of a moving target, but if you do the homework you’ll be halfway home. You learned that in school, right?