I got my start in visual merchandising working for large department stores. We would start planning for the holiday season in early spring and start prepping for the setup in September. Too much was never enough. I saw so much red at Macy’s, I never wanted to see it anywhere again! The expectation customers have of RV dealerships is not of a Christmas wonderland, but there is an unconscious letdown if your selling floor is devoid of holiday decor.
If you don’t have much time and/or money to spend on holiday decor, find your five prime focal points in your showroom and put something in each of those areas. Coming through your front door, write down (or photograph) the first five things you see as you scan your showroom floor. If your parts/accessories area is in a separate location, do the same for that area as well. Some of these five areas will (hopefully) be ideal for a holiday message or decor item. It can be as simple as a tree with lights or more complicated with garland on the columns — preferably with lights. Lights are the key to prettier and more festive holiday decorations. Strings of LED lights are available everywhere — Ace Hardware usually has a good selection, as does Costco and pretty much every big box store in the U.S. Please make sure the string color of the lights matches or blends with your garlands/wreaths/trees. Also, white lights are fine, mixed colors are fine — but blinking lights will make your customers and staff crazy!
Some dealerships have Christmas and holiday decor they have been using for years and years — and it looks like it. If your trees, ornaments, garlands or whatever you’ve been hauling out in early November are over five years old, chances are it’s all a little faded, definitely dusty and probably well past its prime. Of course, the time to replace large quantities of holiday decorations is right after Christmas when the sales start. But if you’re blowing the dust off your decor this month, here are some ideas to refresh what you have by adding a few simple elements.
Lights are always No. 1, but once those are installed, ornaments are a good complement to add to any greenery. Unbreakable ornaments are your best bet for safety and longevity. An easy-to-assemble display I saw years ago could work well for your showroom focal areas. Find a long dowel or PVC pipe. Paint it with metallic spray paint (Krylon works well), wrap or loop pine garland around it, add some hanging ornaments (make sure they are 7 feet, 6 inches up from the floor), put an eyebolt on each end to hang it from the ceiling and if by some miracle you have an electrical outlet nearby, add lights! This can be a simple, nonreligious but festive element that can be used for (about) five years.
If you are running late with finding and installing holiday decor, luckily you can purchase almost anything online. But if you want to buy locally in person, you’ll pay more at independent retailers and but chances are good you’ll find something no one else has. If local isn’t working for you, check out Michaels, World Market, HomeGoods, Target, Walmart, Costco, Lowe’s, Home Depot — you get the idea. You can also try one of the many dollar stores. The secret to buying at big box stores is how you combine and use the products creatively so they feel unique to your dealership and brand.
While not everyone celebrates Christmas, pretty much everyone is accustomed to seeing Christmas decor in every store they visit. If you have a more mixed customer base, pick a color theme that says “holiday” and add a metallic color to make it special and more elegant. For example, bright red and metallic gold are classic Christmas, but if you use maroon (a darker red) and gold, it feels different.
A store I worked for years ago picked a purple/blue tone mixed with silver for all the garlands, ribbons and ornaments. It was beautiful and unusual. If your dealership has a signature color combination, consider using that with fun ornaments, ribbons and lights. Add a pop of metallic silver, gold or bronze in either the ribbons or ornaments. I’ve seen many RV logos with orange. Bronze or copper can stand in for the orange and mix it with one of your other logo colors — other than black. One company that can ship quickly is Oriental Trading (orientaltrading.com) and their prices are decent. They even have some RV ornaments, although they are priced around $20 per ornament. On Etsy, Hello Sunshine (etsy.com/shop/HelloSunshinePaperCo), a company out of Brooklyn, New York, die-cuts paper ornaments. They have a quick turnaround and do excellent work. Plus, their prices are very reasonable. I used their cutouts for a party I gave, and many people asked if they could take some home with them. (Of course I said yes.)
Inside each of your RVs put one piece holiday decor. It could be a bowl of candy canes, an Elf on the Shelf, a wreath on the door, a few red pillows on a bed, a bowl of ornaments or a string of LED fairy lights in a clear jar. I bought four dozen of battery-powered lights from Michaels’ website (a six pack of LED warm white battery-operated fairy lights, 10 inches long). The only downside to these lights is that someone needs to turn them on and off.
Tip: Always buy warm white LED lights! The plain white lights are an ugly bright tone that gave early LEDs a bad name.
Consider asking your staff if they have any holiday pillows, tchotchkes or knickknacks that they want to donate to decorating each of the RV units. Will something be stolen? Probably. So in the giving spirit of the holidays, you’ll live with it as long as you don’t spend much money on any of the items. Thrift shops also can be an excellent source for these little pieces.
Finally, your windows are ideal for lit trees. Even one will shout “holiday” across a parking lot or roadway. If you don’t have windows, a wreath will tell the story just as well.
When you make an effort to decorate your surroundings and get in the holiday spirit, it shows your enthusiasm for what you do and people appreciate it. Wishing you all a successful, prosperous and peace-filled holiday season!
