Increase your Holiday sales with these tips from Camino Financial

Between Thanksgiving and New Year’s Day, Holiday sales account for nearly 30% of annual sales for small and mid-sized businesses according to the National Retail Federation. On average, that accounts for a whopping one trillion dollars of retail sales between the months of November and January.

As a business owner, how do you capture the lion’s share of these profits? How to increase sales? Is there a way to rein in these tis-the-season, shop-till-you-drop buyers to your storefront? The answer is yes. In addition to huge doses of gritty determination, you can use the tips below to boost and increase sales. Regardless of what type of business you operate, these actionable tips build goodwill during the holiday season and lasting relationships with your customers. While you’re thinking about how to put these easy and cost-effective tips into practice, savor a piece of chocolate pie while seated beside a roaring fire. Don’t forget to wear your striped Christmas socks.

20 Tips to increase sales during the Holiday Season

With a pumpkin spice latte in one hand and a smartphone in the other, buyers are armed and ready. They may wear ugly Christmas sweaters or reindeer antlers but one thing’s for sure… They’re looking for deals! It’s game on. And for business owners, this means one single thing: it’s time to increase sales!

1. Decorate your storefront. Nothing draws people into the holiday season like colorful lights, snowflakes, and even fake snow. Scrooge’s are notoriously unhappy people so make sure your storefront screams: “Come in, we’re festive!”
2. Offer a Black Friday sale: After a day of eggnog, turkey, and yams, shoppers are ready to take their buyer’s wand and scout out savings. Advertise the sale on your website, post flyers, and run ads in your local newspaper.
3. Run a contest: People love to compete and win stuff. Invite the public to a one-day sale that requires shoppers to dress in festive attire or an ugly Christmas sweater. Give everyone a discount but offer a prize for the best holiday season costume.
4. Share your profits: Advertise during the holiday sales season that you intend to donate a portion of your business profits to a local charity. Give customers information on how they can donate too by visiting your store.
5. Wrap gifts for free: When customers purchase items, they may see wrapping gifts as a chore. Even if they don’t, offer to wrap the gifts so when they walk out the door, they’re done.
6. Hire seasonal employees: Customers may make a mad dash to swoop up deals. Make sure there are plenty of personnel on hand to answers questions and provide help.
7. Engage with customers through social media: Introduce holiday marketing campaigns in your social media and include pictures and information about your products that shoppers can view using mobile and desktop devices. Make sure to point out the urgency of making a purchase by a certain date.
8. Make room for Cyber Monday (the Monday after Black Friday): Wikipedia states that In 2017, Cyber Monday online sales were 6.59 million. Make sure you offer deep discounts on big-ticket items exclusively on Cyber Monday.
9. Give group discounts to families: One-stop shopping encourages buyers to purchase everything at one store. Be creative when offering discounts so that each family member gets a product at a reduced price.
10. Offer a free pet toy with purchases: You’ll score big in the hearts of animal lover shoppers by remembering their pets during the holiday sales gift-giving season.
11. Send email blasts: Probably you’ve been collecting your customers’ email addresses all year to provide notices of sales and to keep in touch. The holiday season is the perfect time to let them know about your hottest holiday items.
12. Create a holiday specials page on your website: Make sure your website’s landing page has a holiday theme so when customers reach your site, it’s easy for them to start shopping.
13. Set up a countdown to Christmas campaign: Target each person’s inner child by offering a discount on a different product each of the 25 days before Christmas. Send emails each of those days and post the daily changes on your website. Shoppers will look forward to what’s coming next.
14. Collect Food Recipes: What does everyone brag about when seated together at Thanksgiving and Christmas? Family recipes. Offer a discount when people bring in favorite recipes. After the holiday season ends, publish the recipes in an ebook: you can send it next year in your Holiday newsletter, use it for your marketing campaigns, or even sell it and donate your profits. Those clients that collaborated with their recipes will love to know it served a good cause and they will return to your business.
15. Encourage sales after January: Want to increase sales after December? Print up post-holiday sales flyers and put them in shopping bags. They’ll like a deal no matter when it happens.
16. Play a mix of background music in your store: Some people like Elvis’ Blue Christmas while others may want to hear Frank Sinatra singing, White Christmas. Play a mix of holiday tunes throughout the day that appeals to a wide range of shoppers.
17. Consider safety first: Make sure your lights are safe and properly plugged, and nothing in your store can spark, tangle, burn or ignite. Be careful with the profuse ornaments. You want your clients to be able to walk comfortably around the store without stumbling into each other or into the decorations. This may lead to the opposite effect you’re looking for, and customers will leave without making a purchase. Also, be careful with scents: someone may be allergic to pine needles, herbs, and spices and walk out the door. Use scented candles sparingly or not at all.
18. Add an appreciation token in each bag: A keychain, free notecards, or holiday pencils… for a small price, you’re sending a priceless message: “we appreciate your business, come back soon!”
19. Offer your gifts in price ranges: Most people have a budget in mind when buying gifts. Make the buying experience easier for them categorizing the products on your website by $10, $25, and larger price ranges.
20. Give away shipping costs: You’ll encourage more sales by offering free shipping during the holiday season. Depending on the type of products you sell, offer to deliver purchases to homes at no cost. You’ll save your customers from lugging packages around all day, and they’ll be more inclined to buy more!

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Parting Holiday Cheer

You’ve just learned how to avoid ho-hum sales so you can sing “jingle all the way” to the bank. Implement these simple holiday season tips to increase sales and you’ll feel good about saving people money and putting a smile on their faces. Plus, it won’t hurt for your income statement’s bottom line to mushroom at the year’s end.

Just like you, Camino Financial reaches out to others throughout the year. Our goal is to not only enrich your lives through our products but to come alongside you and help grow your business. One way we do that is through our newsletter. The publication is free and arrives weekly in your inbox. You’ll receive updates on what’s trending in the business world and tips on how to maximize business growth. Subscribe today to the Camino Financial Newsletter and learn how to build a legacy for your family while staying connected to a community of over 30,000 entrepreneurs.

And while you’re at it, why not share this valuable post with other business owners so they succeed too. After all, “Christmas is a season for kindling the fire of hospitality in the hall, the genial flame of charity in the heart“—Washington Irving.