Tips To Boost Sales This Christmas

The holiday shopping season provides a huge opportunity for increased sales. As shoppers look for gifts, decorations, food and other items to make their Christmas celebration special, businesses that execute the right strategies can end the year with a major boost to their bottom line.

Here are 10 tips for retailers and e-commerce businesses to maximize sales this Christmas season:

1. Launch Christmas Email Campaigns

The Christmas season is the perfect time to utilize email marketing. Create festive email templates and holiday-themed subject lines to grab attention in crowded inboxes. Offer exclusive subscriber discounts, gift ideas, product recommendations and last chance sales alerts tailored to what you know about your subscribers’ interests and past purchases.

According to statistics from Campaign Monitor, open and click-through rates for promotional holiday emails are 98% and 142% higher in the week before Christmas compared to the yearly average. Well-timed and personalized email campaigns can significantly increase sales.

2. Decorate Your Store Holiday Style

Get shoppers into the Christmas spirit from the moment they walk through your doors with festive store decorations and holiday music. From Christmas trees to lighting displays, wreaths, garlands and holiday-scented candles, amp up the seasonal ambience. This puts customers in a feel-good buying mood.

Research by PointSource found 74% of consumers say in-store holiday décor, music and events get them in the holiday spirit and make them more likely to make a purchase.

3. Create Gift Guides

Finding the perfect gift can be tricky. Help customers along by creating tailored gift ideas and guides focused on different recipient types (women, men, kids, teens), relationships (spouse, mom/dad, friend), interests and budgets. Share your guides across your website, store displays, email lists and on social media. Positioning your products as relevant gift recommendations makes purchasing easy.

According to RetailMeNot, 93% of consumers want gift ideas and inspiration from retailers. Catering to this with curated suggestions that eliminate guesswork can pay off handsomely. The study showed consumers presented with gift guides spend 38% more on average.

4. Offer Limited Edition Holiday Products or Bundles

Getting customers excited to buy holiday-specific merchandise can lead to impulse purchases beyond what they originally planned to spend. Create special holiday flavors, scents, colors or designs. Offer Christmas-themed product bundles at attractive pricing for even more irresistible deals.

PointSource‘s holiday research revealed 37% of consumers purchase seasonal products only available at holiday time and 62% say holiday-themed packaging makes them more likely to buy. Limited availability and specialty holiday offerings convert shopper inspiration into higher sales.

5. Spread Holiday Cheer on Social Media

Liven up your brand’s social media presence this season by uploading holiday cheer across all your profiles and channels. Adopt Christmas themes, swap out graphics, create holiday polls and engagement boosting content. Run contests and giveaways and incentivize shares and user generated content.

Sprout Social‘s data shows holiday season social media engagement rates increase by up to 75%. Photos posted in November and December also see a 37% boost in engagement. Leveraging the festive spirit on social media pays off for sales.

6. Sponsor Local Holiday Events

As a retailer or community business you have the opportunity to get involved in seasonal events in your area. Sponsor tree lightings, holiday parades or festivals, donate prizes for Christmas raffles, competitions or fundraisers. This holiday spirit positions your brand as a valuable contributor. The goodwill and exposure gained gives back throughout the Christmas sales season and beyond.

According to Orbit Media, being a sponsor of local events increases brand awareness and improves perception among 77% of consumers. In addition, it found 89% of respondents have a more positive opinion of brands that give back to the community. Portraying your business as a holiday benefactor delivers results.

7. Implement Christmas Countdown Discounts

Leveraging that sense of urgency in the dwindling days leading up to the holidays is an effective way to ramp up sales. Implement a progressive Christmas countdown discount. For example, offer 10% off sales 12 days before Christmas, then increase to 15% off 8 days out, 20% off with 5 days remaining, culminating in 25% off for last chance sales on December 23 and 24. The ticking clock pressures buyers to take advantage of daily deals.

According to Salesforce Shopping Index data, discounts that increase as Christmas approaches are an influential factor for 75% of consumers. These urgency tactics truly pay off, with the average order value for sales between Dec 10-15 last year being 86% higher compared to October’s numbers.

8. Set Up Festive Photo Backdrops

Interactive, Instagram-worthy holiday photo ops in your store give customers another exciting reason to pay you a visit this Christmas. Offer fun scenes with decorative backdrops, holiday props and themed accessories for capturing social media-worthy shots. Some clever ideas include a Christmas tree photo wall, Santa’s workshop vignette, an ornament or wreath selfie station. Their pics will spread holiday retail inspiration.

According to Rakuten data, 67% of millennials and Gen Z shoppers want more interactive and Instagrammable holiday activities from stores. Giving them creative ways to spread holiday spirit with your brand visible amplifies your digital exposure and leads to increased store traffic.

9. Share Personalized Christmas Wishes

Acknowledging loyal customers with personalized holiday messages and special offers helps strengthen brand relationships. Identify top customers from sales data and stats on repeat purchases and loyalty program activity. Segment these VIPs and express your gratitude by sending customized Christmas cards, emails or social media messages wishing them a wonderful Christmas season. Sweetening it with exclusive promo codes or members-only deals rises the response.

Infosys research on personalization finds 80% of consumers are more likely to make purchases when brand communication is personalized. Capturing holiday sales increasingly requires tailored outreach and offers.

10. Support Local Charities

Giving back heightens your standing as a socially conscious and community invested business. Select one or more local charities or community organizations to support this Christmas season through donations tied to sales or special promotions, sponsorships of holiday charity events, fundraisers or drives for items needed. Your generosity and civic pride will elevate your brand and values.

Research by Double the Donation shows 62% of consumers will spend more with brands that donate to causes they care about. Broadcast your holiday community support for maximum impact.

The pandemic years have fueled exponential growth in households embracing online shopping. Retail e-commerce sales hit $870 billion in the US in 2021. Cyber week alone accounted for $35.27 billion during last year‘s holiday season based on Adobe Analytics data. With omnichannel experiences now the norm, implementing the optimal mix of offline and online strategies is key.

The Rise of M-Commerce

Mobile has become an increasingly vital sales channel. Adobe recorded a record $3.6 billion in sales from smartphones on Cyber Monday 2021, growing nearly 50% year-over-year as transactions made on smartphones accounted for 48.5% of online sales. Optimizing sites and apps for mobile use cases is now a requirement. Integrating messaging apps for personalized shopping and customer service also smooths m-commerce experiences.

Managing Cybersecurity Risks

The holiday crush also appeals to cybercriminals looking to exploit vulnerabilities from increased online transactions, enlarged attack surfaces and lowered guardrails chasing sales growth. Inventory management systems, payment gateways, delivery integrations and other digitized operations need hardened security postures to maintain customer trust and operational resilience. Zero-trust frameworks, regularly updated software, AI-powered threat monitoring, and response playbook dry runs build cyber preparedness.

Supply Chain Operations Get Stress Tested

While digital direct-to-consumer models saw tremendous growth during pandemic disruption of traditional retail chains and wholesale distribution, inventory shortages, unreliable delivery timelines and logistics bottlenecks remained challenging. Volatility persists, requiring supply chain visibility tools, safety stock expansion and assessing secondary/tertiary supplier and shipper options to satisfy holiday demand spikes. Agile order routing across distribution centers based on real-time inventory positions also prevents overselling.

Managing seasonal staffing surges

Hiring additional seasonal workers is standard across customer-facing store and warehouse roles along with customer service to manage holiday workloads. However, labor shortages add complexity. Compelling bonuses/incentives, virtual hiring events, referral rewards, and clear promotion of safety/health protocols help attract staff. Investing in streamlined training and onboarding enables rapid productivity. Providing the best frontline support pays off in holiday sales.

The Christmas season delivers a surge of first-time and deal-focused buyers alongside loyal customers. Turning one-off holiday shoppers into lifetime patrons requires customer intelligence to personalize post-Christmas engagement using online browsing patterns, purchase history, product ratings/reviews and loyalty program activity data. Ensuring flawless exchanges, easy returns and speedy issue resolution also makes good impressions. With the right focus, holiday opportunity leads to deeper customer connections and 2023 sales momentum.

Key Post-Holiday Initiatives:

● Launch post-Christmas sales with personalized offers based on purchase history and product interest data culled from holiday shopping behavior

● Segment one-time deal shoppers and target them with tailored promotions to drive repeat purchases

● Monitor product ratings/reviews and feedback forums to address issues and service gaps identified during holiday peaks

● Analyze holiday sales data to discern emerging bestsellers, customer preferences and market trends to refine merchandising, inventory and operations approaches before things get hectic again next Christmas

● Identify top customers from holiday sales patterns and transaction value then enroll them in loyalty programs with special perks and early insights on sales/releases

● Keep holiday helpers like seasonal staff, influencers, affiliates and channel partners engaged post-holidays with performance incentives and sneak peeks at upcoming initiatives

The Christmas shopping season brings immense sales potential, but you need strategies that tap into festive shopper mindsets and turn inspiration into transactions. Implementing the right mix of holiday spirit-stirring in-store experiences, online promotions, inspirational content and urgent incentives will ensure your business cashes in. Extending personalized attention post-holidays also nurtures deal seekers into lifetime brand loyalists. Let data insights lead the way to sales success this season and beyond.