December 6th, 2021 | Updated on June 29th, 2022
During the holidays, retail sales go through the roof. According to the National Retail Foundation, last year holiday spending in the U.S. was at $682 billion and is expected to surpass $770 billion this year. To get a bigger slice of this cash flood, retailers need to get their customers to spend more during this time of year.
The following are some tips on how to do it:
1. Surprise And Delight
Surprises and delights should be done at regular intervals and not just during the holidays. However, if you’re ever going to go big for this, then Thanksgiving and Christmas is the time to do it.
With that said, these surprises and delights should be tasteful and pertinent to your brand but also add value.
For instance, if it’s Christmas and you decided to give each of your employees a $100 gift card to Starbucks so they can show their gratitude for all their hard work this past year, then that’s a grand slam.
Merchants should always think outside of the box when it comes to surprises and delights, and it goes beyond just gifts.
Give each of your customers something that they can enjoy and something that will keep them thinking about your business long after that surprise or delight has been given out.
2. Offer A Holiday-Specific Sale That Takes Advantage Of The Time Of Year
For example, if you sell women’s clothing, run a sale on coats and jackets in November and December.
If you sell products related to a holiday, offer a discount around the event. For example, if you sell Christmas trees, offer a pre-sale in September when customers can order their trees and pay for them to be delivered in January.
3. Set Up Recurring Orders For Existing Customers
Your customers can set up to receive regular shipments of your products, like every month or every season. This not only simplifies their shopping experience but allows you to remind them to become loyal customers.
Getting recurring orders is also an easy way to increase sales; for instance, someone who orders from you every month will likely spend more than someone who shops with you only once.
You can even offer discount incentives for customers that sign up for recurring shipments. And because many ecommerce shoppers use automatic billing options, recurring orders are easy to set up.
For example, your customers can connect their bank accounts each month to deduct the money directly from their accounts.
4. Make It Personal
Shoppers search for products. They choose to buy products. They become brand advocates because of their experiences. Delivering an extraordinary experience is challenging.
But, it’s made even more complicated when brands rely on outdated email marketing practices that are easy to overlook or ignore. That’s why it’s crucial to do more than send out an email blast to your customers.
Longer newsletters are more likely to be read on mobile devices. Shorter emails are more likely to get read on a desktop.
The audience also determines how long an email should be. Our research shows that retailers should be sending long emails to their existing customers but shorter emails to non-buyers.
5. Don’t Sell Like You’re Running Out Of Stock
If you notice, there’s a common theme with many of the major sales going on around the holidays.
Whether it’s Black Friday, Cyber Monday or even Boxing Day, the goal is to give customers a limited-time opportunity to buy products at a discount. We can apply this same concept to our businesses. Don’t sell like you’re running out of stock.
A quick turnover is a powerful tool that can help your bottom line. Here’s how you can use it in your business:
- Add A Countdown Timer – If you have a limited number of products available, adding a timer can help customers see that you’re going to sell out soon. It gives them a chance to act fast and buy your product before it’s gone forever.
- Add Buzz With Limited-Time Offers – Limited-time offers are effective in creating urgency. Whether you offer an in-store discount or an online sale, discounts can boost your sales, especially during non-peak seasons when there isn’t much traffic on your website.
- Lock Down Your Product – Use our inventory management system to limit the quantity of each product type that users can purchase at once. If you have 100 mugs in stock, but you only want people to purchase 1-3 at a time, you can set the limit at 3. If their purchase attempt is successful, your inventory will be updated, and any future attempt will result in an error message. Learn more about e-commerce and Shopify strategies here.
- Create Urgency With Urgency Dates – Using urgency dates gets customers in the mindset of spending money sooner rather than later because they want to get the deal while it’s still available – it takes advantage of our need to get things done while we have the chance.
6. Use Promotional Pricing to your Advantage
Promotional pricing is easily one of the most well-known marketing tactics, but it doesn’t always bring in the best results. It’s essential to make sure your products are well priced in the first place before starting a promotional campaign.
Now, once you’ve come up with your well-priced products, be sure to monitor customer behavior over time. Set up notifications for when customers add specific products to their carts (and take note of removing them to see what works and what doesn’t).
Be sure to monitor how your items sell when they’re on sale compared to when they aren’t so that you can adjust prices accordingly.
7. Personalization
According to a survey by Deloitte, personalized marketing communications can increase sales by up to 27%.
If you offer customizable products, such as monogrammed bags, the value of a personalized message salutation or note can be exponential.
The key is to allow the customer to customize their item and then guide them through choosing their unique message.
8. Brighten The Season With Free Shipping
The holidays are a time to spread cheer and goodwill, and free shipping is a way to share it with your customers. It’s a meaningful gesture that can attract new shoppers, increase conversion rates, and improve customer loyalty.
