Interview Series: Advice for Retailers Preparing for Holiday Sales

Susan Gagnon
Costumes Heaven

For retailers, devising an email marketing campaign is as essential as water for a parched man. It is a must as emails make shopping more personal. Consumers respond better to various product ideas if they feel like it’s directed toward them. Customers also prefer special promo codes, discounts and free shipping. An email campaign will set an urgency among them, so limit your offers to a few days. You can also use the count down system for notifying the offer deadline. This works exceptionally well during the holiday season as people have more time on their hands. It allows for a decent shopping experience.

Elisa Bender
RevenueGeeks

Hire Part-time Employees. The holiday season is the busiest time of the year. This means retailers may need some helping hands. It’s best to hire extra help to prepare for the holiday sales. You may want to organize your decor items, so bringing Santa’s elves onboard is a good option. This way, you won’t overwork your workforce. Additionally, it has a positive effect on the productivity of your employees. As a result, they don’t lose their holiday spirit while working tirelessly at the shop. Either you can hire people before the start of these holiday sales or amidst it. Due to this, your customer service is up to par.

Jessica Kats
Soxy

Holidays are the best occasion to give surprises. The holiday season can be the most profitable time of year. My advice for retailers is to plan their marketing and promotions wisely. Looking at the current trends, define the taste and needs of your loyal customer. You can also use all sorts of client data you have from previous years. The internet is an excellent resource for finding creative ideas and making them work for your business. Identify the marketing platforms most likely to give you a good ROI. The best way to go is to advertise on social media channels.

Alex Williams
Find this Best

Retailers preparing for holiday sales should create a holiday-themed marketing campaign. This is my top advice. There’s nothing better than this to get your customers in the festive spirit. Create gripping graphics and use a Christmas color palette when designing campaigns. It will attract more customers to your brand. These campaigns should highlight the types of discounts you’re providing during the season. Additionally, make sure to use all channels like Instagram and email to market your upcoming sales. Don’t forget to create a sense of urgency. It will push customers to buy Christmas gifts for their loved ones from you.

Aviad Faruzon
Faruzo

To prepare your store for holiday sales, the best strategy is to create gift guides. You don’t want customers to stay confused about what to buy. Ideally, they should be purchasing exactly what you want them to. These would be your pricier or fast-selling items. To do so, it’s best to write up a stellar gift guide. This guidebook or catalog would contain all the products that you want to sell fast or think will be trendy this season. Create categories for gifts, such as for mom, dad, Thanksgiving, or Christmas. Sharing your guide online will also help increase online sales.

David Lee
Neutypechic

I would advise retailers to set goals for shorter time frames. This can amount to being a weekly analysis or even daily if time allows. Regular sales quotes can give associates and clients continuous assurance and motivation. For instance, daily quotes would help prevent employees from being demotivated. Run a test and trial on your workers before following through with this step. It’s better to compare results once you have a sample. Here are the top 5 actions small retailers should be taking this summer to make sure they have a successful holiday season:

• They should open stores early and close shops later in the day
• Retailers should thoroughly clean the store’s floors.
• Make sure you have ample space to handle increased foot traffic.
• You should run limited-time promotions for summers. 
• Display products at a discounted rate on the top shelf.

Nate Fineberg
Group6 Interactive

The holiday season is the time when the competition for customers’ attention is pretty tough. Their inboxes will be flooded with special marketing promotions and limited deals. To increase your holiday sales, shower your loyal customers with love and appreciation. Gift them Christmas special boxes, exclusive discounts, or referral deals to pamper them. Another important thing is when planning your holiday posts, bear in mind that visuals work best. Use videos, animated GIFs, and images to grab attention.