10 Father’s Day Promotion Ideas to Try in Your Retail Store

Father’s Day is upon us, and it’s high time to prepare.

While the jury’s out on the exact numbers for Father’s Day 2023, last year’s data sheds a lot of light on how shoppers behave on and around Father’s Day. 

According to the NRF’s annual Father’s Day survey, consumers intend to spend $22.9 billion to celebrate Father’s Day, with greeting cards topping the list of gifts. Other popular gifts include clothing (55%), a special outing such as dinner or brunch (52%), gift cards (48%) and personal care items (32%).

As for where consumers are shopping? Nearly half (43%) of consumers intend to shop online. Meanwhile, 38% plan to shop at department stores, while almost a quarter of consumers will go to discount stores.

This year is shaping up to be a big year for Father’s Day as well, so read on to get some actionable ideas and tips on how to win over shoppers in 2023.

• Start with the right Father’s Day displays
• Run a digital campaign specifically for Father’s Day
• Offer freebies for your Father’s Day promotion
• Curate a special Father’s Day collection
• Run conditional Father’s Day promotions
• Have a sense of humor
• Sell dad-centric gift cards
• Create a gift guide
• Avoid stereotypes
• Make data-backed decisions for Father’s Day promotions

1. Start with the right Father’s Day displays

Like with any other holiday, you’ll want to set up a special Father’s Day display in your store so you can showcase your dad-centric merchandise. 

And remember that the most popular gift categories for Father’s Day include:

• Special outings
• Clothing 
• Gift cards 
• Electronics 

Another interesting finding? Consumers are focused on finding a gift for dad that is unique or different. When consumers were asked on what’s most important to them when picking out a Father’s Day gift, they responded with the following:

• 44% shopped for gift that are unique or different 
• 37% wanted to gifts that create special memories
• 24% wanted to find gifts that are convenient for them

Keep these tidbits in mind when crafting your Father’s Day displays. Select unique items or products that help families create memories. Also, strive to make shopping more convenient for customers. 

And if you’re looking for real-life inspiration, here’s an example of a great Father’s Day display from Paddington Station in Ashland, OR:

2. Run a digital campaign specifically for Father’s Day

Be sure to ramp up your online presence for Father’s Day.

Start with the low-hanging fruit and add a banner or section on your website specifically for Father’s Day. 

One retailer that’s executing this incredibly well is the gift shop City Bird, which has a large attractive banner on its homepage to promote their Father’s Day merchandise. 

You can also take things a step further by running a Father’s Day promotion. Consider Untuckit, which has a special section on their website to showcase Father’s Day styles. And to top it all off? They’re running a dad’s day promotion in which shoppers can buy a men’s shirt and get a boys’ shirt for 50% off.

3. Offer freebies for your Father’s Day promotion

Here’s another Father’s Day promotion idea: give out free products with every purchase. 

Offering complimentary items or services for fathers can create a sense of excitement and appreciation among your customers. They not only enhance their shopping experience, they also serve as a powerful incentive to attract shoppers and increase traffic and sales. 

Plus, when customers receive a freebie, they’re likely to share their positive experience, generating word-of-mouth that can benefit your business well-after Father’s Day. 

A great example of this in action comes from Seattle Shirt Company, which ran a Father’s Day weekend promotion in which they gave away a free hat with every online purchase. 

4. Curate a special Father’s Day collection

Help those having trouble shopping for dad by curating bundles or collections specifically for Father’s Day. Aside from making the gift selection easier on your shoppers, curating a handful of items allows you to showcase your range of stock.

In some cases, it can even help you sell your slow-moving stock. By bundling slow-movers with better-performing merchandise, you can clear your shelves and avoid having too much capital tied up in inventory.

One idea is to curate a gift basket. Get inspiration from the folks at Once Upon A Gem, which recently came up with a basket containing various personal care items for dad.

Here’s another cool example of a retailer putting bundles to good use. This Is Ground, an online store that sells leather goods, created a “Dad Kit”, which is a collection of various leather items that dads can use every day.

5. Run conditional Father’s Day promotions

Speaking of promotions, if you’re looking to further entice people to buy their Father’s Day gifts from your store, consider applying promotions to specific products or categories. Like Untuckit, you could do something along the lines of “buy a men’s shirt and get a discount on your other purchase.”

Other examples include: buy and save off specific items (e.g., “Buy two men’s shirts and save 20%”) or buy a certain number of items, then pay a fixed price (e.g., 5 men’s ties for $80”).

If you have a loyalty program, consider rewarding shoppers extra points or dollars for spending on specific items.

MyDIY.ie implements this for slow-moving products, but you can apply the same concept for items that you want to sell around Father’s Day. You can, for instance, offer double or triple loyalty points for categories like menswear, electronics, or sports.

6. Have a sense of humor

If there’s one time of the year when dad jokes will be (fairly) well-received, that would be Father’s Day.

So, consider injecting some dad humor in campaigns. Whether it’s adding a joke in your next email, sharing a funny video on Facebook, or posting a dad quip on Instagram, grab the opportunity to crack some dad jokes — they’re very timely and you might even get some laughs out of it!

And of course, if you have some humorous products for men, now is the best time to promote them. The clothing brand Look Human, for example, is promoting more of their funny Father’s Day products on their site as well as on social media:

Meanwhile, Zazzle created a section on their site specifically for funny Father’s Day presents.

7. Sell dad-centric gift cards

We talked a bit about gift cards earlier in this post, but they’re worth mentioning again. As of 2019, gift cards were the fourth most popular gift choice for Father’s Day (next to greeting cards, special outings, and clothing).

There’s certainly a case for stocking up on gift cards for the occasion — particularly if you don’t sell experiences or menswear.

If you haven’t done so yet, order a few Father’s Day-themed gift cards and put them in key areas of your store, such as the checkout counter and those special displays we talked about earlier.

Selling gift cards using Lightspeed Retail is easy. Just scan the card’s code into the system or enter the gift card number directly.

8. Create a gift guide

Gift guides are always a good idea for big retail events and special occasions — and Father’s Day is no exception.

For Father’s Day, identify the items in your catalog that would appeal most to dads, and create a gift guide containing those products. For best results, put your merchandise into different gift categories.

Nordstrom, for example, uses pricing tiers (e.g., “Gifts Under $50,” Gifts Under $100,” etc.)  to categorize its Father’s Day gift items.

9. Avoid stereotypes

Whatever type of promotion or campaign you decide to run, be mindful of the dad images that you’re portraying. A study by Dove Men+Care Internal Research found that “only 7% of men can relate to depictions of masculinity in media.”

To combat these stereotypes, Dove created a great campaign focusing on father’s who care. Take a look at one of their videos below.

Examine your offers or messages for Father’s Day to determine if they would really resonate with your target customers. Ask yourself, what type of dad would use your products? Would it be the macho or aloof type? Or would it be someone who’s warm or cares about his appearance?

Also, consider how moms or kids see the father-figures in their lives — after all mothers and children would be your main customers for this holiday. Find out their perceptions around dads and then make sure that your campaigns reflect those perceptions.

10. Be data-driven in your promotion ideas

While industry data and research are valuable, you should always consult your own store data to make decisions around Father’s Day promotions (and beyond). The best ideas come from combining industry trends with insights from your business. 

Here are some of the steps we recommend you take:

Look at historical data

What sold well during Father’s Day last year? Which items moved the fastest and which ones didn’t perform? Looking at the previous sales period can provide valuable info, so dig into those reports. 

Lightspeed Retail makes it easy to look into sales and product performance from previous periods. Just select the report you’d like to see (e.g., Sales), specify the date range and viola! Instant insights. 

That said, historical performance doesn’t always translate to future success, especially if you’re in a fast-moving industry. That’s why you need to marry last year’s data with this year’s insights. 

Drill down on relevant categories this year

Make it a point to drill down present-day data. With Father’sDay coming up, you may want to check out relevant categories (e.g., gift cards, men’s apparel, electronics, etc.) and identify trends that are emerging or continuing from previous years. 

In doing so, you can better tailor your inventory and marketing strategies to current consumer preferences.

Final words

With Father’s Day just around the corner, you have a unique opportunity to engage customers, drive sales, and create memorable experiences. 

So in the weeks ahead, strive to tap into the excitement surrounding Father’s Day and cater to the diverse preferences of shoppers. From setting up appealing displays and running targeted digital campaigns to offering freebies for dads and curating special collections, these strategies can help you attract customers, increase foot traffic, and boost sales. 

And if you need help staying on top of sales and managing your business on Father’s Day (and beyond), check out Lightspeed Retail, which provides powerful tools to streamline operations, optimize inventory management, and enhance the customer experience. Watch a demo.