3 Methods For Stoking Your Holiday Sales

The holiday season is right around the corner!  You’ve got an amazing opportunity here—the flow of customers will increase, and everyone is in the mood to buy.  I would expect this season to be challenging for every retailer, but making a few simple adjustments with the holiday shopper in mind will undoubtedly pay off for you in December.  And that’s a good thing. 

Before we dive in, let’s talk about the nature of the holiday shopper.   Your customers are busy people.  Besides the long shopping list, they are dealing with holiday parties, children, traveling, in-laws, and school vacations—along with their regularly scheduled lives.  Many people spend the season being more stressed & tired than merry & bright.    Make shopping with you the brightest spot of the season.  Follow these 3 mini-mantras & give your customers a shopping experience they’ll keep coming back for.

Make it simple. Make it quick. Make it memorable.

To make it simple is to make it as easy as possible for your customer to buy.  During the holiday season, this means creating giftability.  Show your customers why they need to give your products to everyone on their list.  Think about the different types of shoppers you get and the types of gifts they’re giving.  Here are few shopper profiles to get you thinking:

• A 40-year old mom shopping for a hostess gift for a holiday party
• A gift for your boss for under $40
• A 25 year-old guy shopping for his girlfriend

If these examples don’t fit with your product line, think about what would work.  Try to fill as many needs as possible.  Look at your product line and see if you can combine any individual items into gift sets—which will create simplicity for your customer (one-stop shopping!) and drive up your average sale.

Check out this post we did from The Down & Dirty Project if you need some more ideas.  Also, try to create a variety of price points and remember,  your customer may spend $100 on their spouse, but will spend far less on a teacher’s gift.  Once you’ve created the “perfect gifts” and added fresh photos to your storefront, start getting into gift guides, onto blogs, and talk about in your own media outlets.  Let potential customers know that you’re “THE destination for ________’s gift.”  Make it simple, make it giftable.

Customers are crunched for time during the holidays.  What can you do to ease that stress?  Do you have any last-minute gift options that will ship in time for giving?  Speaking of shipping, do you have holiday delivery dates clearly posted on your storefront?  There are a few other ways you can make the buying process move faster for your customers.  Make sure you have a FAQs page posted (if possible) so they don’t have to waste time emailing you with a question.  Try to turn you orders over to ship as quickly as possible.  Offer gift wrapping options.  Making it quick is making your customer’s life easier.    

The final mantra, make it memorable, is probably the most enjoyable.  What can you do to spread a little joy this holiday season?  I have one client who tosses a couple pieces of candy into her shipping boxes during holiday—seems really trite, but she got emails from her customers thanking her for the little treat!  Make the customer say “Wow!” when they open your shipping box.  Add a little ribbon, a blank gift tag for your customers to use, or even full gift wrap.  Customers don’t expect our attention to little details or to delight them during the holiday season.  Be the exception to the rule.

A great example on how to "Wow!" your customers...send a small gift along with their order by including a coupon for January shopping in all of your shipped boxes. 

Here’s to making it simple, quick, and memorable this holiday season!  

Megan Gallagher is a small-business strategist working with creative indiepreneurs at Method & Madness.  She talks business development, creative vision, and indie lifestyle through one-on-one strategy sessions, e-guides, and the Method & Madness blog.

Main image courtesy of Creative Tools