Many businesses get excited for the holiday season, because it always marks an increase in sales brought on by holiday gift shopping! Sometimes businesses get overwhelmed during this season, and end up scrambling to get things back in order. The key to having a successful holiday retail season is to plan ahead and be prepared. Here are some simple tips for accomplishing your holiday retail goals!
Plan Your Promotions
The holiday season is a great time to get creative with your promotions. Discount codes and coupons will entice consumers to buy from you, but there are many ways to encourage sales and customer involvement.
Some alternatives to discounts and coupons are:
- Giveaway contests
- Free item with purchase
- First X customers get a free ____
- Buy one get one half off
- Get a coupon or dollar amount off your next order
- Gift card promotions
- Social sharing contests
- Charity drives or donations
Choosing more creative promotional ideas can help keep your customers engaged with the brand. It’s no secret that consumers love discounts and that discounts often help improve sales. But creating a lasting relationship with your customers can be easier when you use engaging promotions and incorporate social media into your strategies.
Get Your Gift Cards Ready
Gift cards are one of the most popular gift items, especially during the holiday and Christmas season. Every retailer should make gift cards readily available in stores and online. Using special holiday designed custom gift cards adds a special touch to the gift.
As a bonus, offer custom gift card packaging to your customers free of charge, or provide optional packaging for a small price such as $1. This can help keep your brand name front and center and eliminate the need for your customer to go buy alternative packaging. You can have gift card folders, boxes, tins, and more custom printed with your logo or a specialty design. If you need help with your gift cards or custom gift card packaging, Morgan Chaney can provide all the information and options you need.
Organize Your Inventory
It’s easy to get overwhelmed when sales suddenly take a sharp increase during the holiday season. To prepare, be sure to organize your inventory and order extras of your most popular items in advance. Customers are never happy when the items they want are out of stock, and poor organization and planning can cause you to lose valuable customers. Always have a way to notify customers when an item they want comes back in stock, to increase the chances that they will come back and buy from you.
It’s also a good idea to make sure the layout of your physical store and/or website makes logical sense and has the right flow for your customers. Organizing products into categories and sections makes it easier for customers to shop. Be sure to include unique sections or categories for gift ideas or themes for the holidays.
Up-Sell When It Makes Sense
Your customers don’t want to be bombarded with up-selling and pushy sales tactics, especially during busy and stressful times. Up-selling products is still possible and still works effectively without being pushy.
It’s important to consider what your customer might really be interested in purchasing, rather than just promoting a random product or products. Always keep gift cards on display at your store, because they are a great last-minute gift purchase and customers may add them on at checkout. Small stocking stuffer items are great for placing near the checkout at your store. Customers may find unique items that they didn’t know they wanted, at a small price that won’t significantly impact their purchase or turn them off.
Selling small packaging items near your checkout or offering gift wrapping are also great ways to up-sell to customers. The customers get the benefit of gift wrapping or the convenience of not having to shop for packaging separately. Near your checkout you will want to have gift card boxes or gift card packaging options, gift bags, boxes, and possibly tissue paper and ribbon available for customers to purchase. Some businesses choose to include gift-like packaging with purchases while others offer it at a small price as a convenience to customers. Buying packaging for resale can be expensive, and charging your customers for premium packaging is a great way to relieve the burden of that cost.
Up-selling online comes down to displaying related items on a product page, at the checkout page, or even after a customer checks out. After purchases for the holiday season are made, keeping in touch with customers through email or mail provides you the opportunity to up-sell related or new products to keep them as loyal customers. Your hope should be that customers welcome the product suggestions and will choose to buy from your business again in the future.
Keep In Touch With Customers
Re-engagement is an important part of your marketing plans. When customers purchase from your business online, it’s easy to keep in touch via email. This allows you to send follow up emails, cross-selling emails for different products, and sales and promotional emails. Keeping in touch with your customers creates a relationship where they are repeatedly enjoying your brand.
For in-store purchases, it’s a great idea to ask for an email address at checkout or have an email sign up card available. You can also use giveaways and promotions to gain your customers’ email addresses. Always be sure to give your customer a choice, because not everyone wants more emails or to give out personal information. When you keep in touch with the customers who actively choose it, you will see better results from your campaigns.
If you need custom packaging to help achieve your holiday retail slam dunk season, contact us at Morgan Chaney for more information! We provide custom packaging, gift cards, and product packaging solutions for all types of retail businesses. 