With the holidays fast approaching, most retail businesses will see an uptick in foot traffic and sales. While holiday business can be critical, it can also be overwhelming for business owners. The good news is that with a little planning and forethought, you can help reduce stress and maximize your sales potential this holiday season.
Here are some tips to help your retail business handle the holiday rush:
1. Evaluate your inventory. You should identify any products that are likely to see increased demand this holiday. Reviewing sales from past holiday seasons can be helpful in determining which of your products might be at risk of selling out. Review your existing inventory and place additional orders as necessary to help ensure you’ll have the stock needed to meet this year’s holiday demand.
2. Set holiday hours and consider seasonal staffing needs. It’s worth considering that many people do their holiday shopping at night or during the weekend. If your business is not typically open during these times, you may want to expand your hours in November and December to meet the needs of holiday shoppers. You may also consider hiring seasonal workers to better handle the expected holiday rush.
3. Offer gift cards. Gift cards are the number one present given during the holidays, and can be a great way to easily boost your sales. If you don’t currently offer gift cards, you should consider implementing a gift card program. Many POS providers offer gift card programs and make it easy to get one off the ground. However, if you don’t have enough time to launch a gift card program prior to this year’s holiday rush, you can always order gift certificates to sell instead. Many companies like Vistaprint and Staples will even allow you to customize your own gift certificate design.
4. Make expectations clear to your team. Don’t wait until you’re swamped to let your staff know your expectations for the holiday season. Establish and communicate concrete sales goals, discuss any changes to employee work schedules, and let your staff know of any special promotions or holiday products so they can confidently suggest them to customers.
5. Keep your socials and website up-to-date. Social media is an essential marketing tool for many small businesses and can be especially important during the holiday season. Use your social accounts to communicate with your customers about holiday hours, seasonal products, promotional offers, discounts, and more. If you run a website for your business, you should also ensure it reflects any holiday updates.
6. Develop holiday marketing materials. If there are certain products or promotions you want to push for the holidays, start planning for them now. You might consider creating flyers or posters for your physical store, graphics for social media and your website, or emails for your past customers. There are some great free and low-cost tools available to help you create holiday marketing materials.
The holidays are an exciting and potentially lucrative time for small retailers but can be chaotic without sufficient planning. By developing a sound holiday strategy, you can help to minimize stress for you and your employees and ensure success for your business this season. At BankFive, we’re committed to helping small businesses in our community thrive. If you’re a business owner in MA or RI, learn about the BankFive difference and see how we can help meet your business needs.