Black Friday is the traditional start of the holiday season. This annual shopping day, which occurs the day after Thanksgiving, brings retailers into the “black” for the entire year. Black Friday is not enough to make a profit and compete in the market today. Many business owners instead run holiday sales in order to boost their business during the busiest season of the year.
1. Start with the Math
There is a business concept that involves selling certain products at a loss in order to increase sales of products with high margins. This “loss leader” strategy can be effective in boosting the bottom line. However, you cannot run a company solely based on revenue. To succeed in business, you need to make a profit.
Calculate the margins of the products that you are most likely to sell and then figure out how to convert lower margin customers to higher margin ones. You will be well-positioned if you can convert or upsell low margin customers to high profit products.
2. Enhance the Customer Experience
During the holiday season, many shoppers visit new stores both online and off-line. The National Retail Federation reports that 27,4 percent of retail sales in 2015 took place over the holidays. Most businesses expect around 20 percent of their sales to be during the holiday season.
The holiday season is a time for you to shine. It’s not the time to let your customer service slip and just expect sales to come in. You can make a great first impression on new visitors during the holidays. Be sure to make a great first impression and ready to convert unhappy customers into happy ones if something goes wrong.
3. Consistent branding and marketing
Don’t waste your time or money advertising your business. To maximize the impact of your advertising, use consistent branding and marketing . It is better to create a long-lasting brand affinity than just boost sales.
All of your media assets, including logos and color schemes, should be consistent and adhere to the same set of rules. Learn how to create your brand style guide to ensure consistency in your marketing.
4. Upgrade Your Business Technology
If your customers are checking out through a store cashier or an online shopping cart, ensure that it’s a quick, easy, and pleasant experience. Retail’s worst nightmare is to get a customer to the checkout, only for them not buy! For the highest conversion rate, eliminate all possible obstacles at the checkout. Modern systems make it easy to manage and track sales, since you can set time limits on certain deals. This means that your staff won’t need to worry about the details.
It may be difficult to believe, but having a POS system that is integrated with inventory, order processing, and other business functions can make a huge difference. It may seem like a big investment, but it will pay off in monthly savings. You may be tempted to upgrade your home before the holiday season, but you’re worried about the cost. Check out the Nav Market for 45 different loan options.
5. Advertise where your target customers hang out
Consider your target market. Are they retired? Is it a Millennial? You should tailor your marketing to the type of customer who is most likely to shop at your store.
Facebook is the place to focus your advertising if your clients are heavy Facebook users. This is common for younger adults, Millennials and other Millennials. For retirees, social media is not a popular place to be. You would therefore want to advertise the sale somewhere else. Put your ads in front the most targeted audience to get the biggest bang for your money.
6. Turn loyal customers into evangelists
It’s likely that your business has both a core of loyal customers as well as a large group of occasional clients. Your sale is a great opportunity to convert occasional customers into loyal customers and loyal customers into evangelists.
Referral programs and rewards are great for this. An app like King Sumo automates much of the selling process and rewards existing customers who refer new customers.
7. Retaining customers for repeat business
Plan ahead to find opportunities for this. Plan ahead and find ways to achieve this by offering incentive programs and providing amazing customer experiences.
Consider the businesses that you visit throughout the year. What do they do to keep you coming back? You can make your customers loyal and repeat customers by offering the same quality in your business. Every business owner wants to achieve this.