5 Things You Should Do to Prepare your Business for Holiday Sales

5 Things You Should Do to Prepare your

Business for Holiday Sales

The biggest shopping days of the year are around the corner and the holiday shoppers have started making their rounds. This is the perfect season to grow your business and gain increased revenue. Preparation is key when dealing with the holiday season, so we’ve compiled a list of 5 things you should be doing to prepare for this fast approaching holiday season.

Enhance your  service experience

Focusing on customer experience is key. A quick way to lose holiday sales is terrible customer service. Everything should be designed with the customer in mind. If you have a physical store make sure you have enough employees to cater to holiday foot-traffic. You want to make sure you bring people on your team who will internalize your company’s goals and mission. Make sure you have enough time to train new employees so that they are knowledgeable about the product and company policies.  If your business is based solely online make sure all policies are detailed clear online and make sure there is updated contact information accessible to customers. Also, ensure that someone is monitoring the contact lines. Answer all phone calls and reply to emails in a timely manner.

Plan promotions

Holiday shoppers favorite part about the season are all the sales and promotions.  Develop a strategic plan to help you determine what promotions will be offered. Try scheduling your promotions around important days; you want to take advantage of Black Friday, Cyber Monday, and Small Business Saturday. You also want to develop a unique selling proposition to tie into your promotions. This is going to be what sets your business apart from the rest – free holiday shipping, gift with purchase, extended return policy.

These promotions and discounts will definitely send the holiday shoppers in your direction.

Optimize your website

Each year the percentage of online holiday shoppers has been steadily increasing. You don’t want your business to be counted out because your website wasn’t up to date.

Approach this with you in mind. You wouldn’t want to shop on a website that has slow load times, wasn’t organized, or hard to navigate. Neither does your customer.

Websites should aide in easier holiday shopping, not add hassle.

• Make sure your website is mobile-friendly
• Make sure your search function is efficient
• Clearly state customer service and contact information
• Load test your website – make sure it still functions during high traffic periods

Start preparing for the holiday season by making sure your business’s website is updated and optimized.

Create an advertising strategy

What good is a deal if no one knows it’s going on? How do customers know what you have to offer? Creating an advertising campaign is important for the holiday season because you need to put your business on the map. In order to take advantage of the potential holiday sales, shoppers have to know that you exist. The way to do this is effective marketing. Take time out before the holiday season to determine how you will market and promote your brand to your target. Social media is a great way to start, and email marketing has also proven to be effective. Whichever route you choose to go make sure you have a plan.

Ask yourself:  

• What do I want to promote?
• How do I want the public to view it?
• Which channels will I use to promote it?

Get into the holiday spirit

Whether you have a storefront or your business is strictly online, make sure the holiday spirit shines through. Make sure you are decorating for the holiday season. You can do one holiday at a time or do one big holiday theme. Whatever you choose make sure you do something. Decorating makes shoppers more attracted to your business and more inclined to shop with you. Businesses that take the time to spread a little holiday cheer and decorate make you feel more welcomed during the holiday season. If your business is based online make sure you have some holiday graphics and sayings visible as customers browse through your website. Decorating makes for a better environment for your customers and employees alike, so add some holiday cheer to your business this year.

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Written by Winer Intern Loryn Hairston