This year’s holiday season is fast approaching. The final months of the year feature a variety of golden opportunities to earn significant holiday traffic sales.
According to recent estimates by the National Retail Federation (NRF), “retail sales during 2023 will grow between 4% and 6% over 2022 to between $5.13 trillion and $5.23 trillion. Last year’s annual retail sales grew 7% over 2021 and totaled $4.9 trillion.”
This can be good news for small businesses, including online retailers. The NRF expects online and other non-store sales to “increase between 10% and 12% to a range of $1.41 trillion to $1.43 trillion. This figure is up from $1.2 trillion in 2022." However, brick-and-mortar locations are predicted to still be the primary point of purchase for consumers, making up about 70% of total retail sales.
Many small business online retailers are also finding that, as they make their seasonal marketing plans, focusing on mobile sales can be critical. Mobile retail is increasing as consumers use their phones to research, compare prices, and make purchases, including via social media platforms.
This is the case at Fetched, a dog health and wellness website. “There’s a clear trend dominating 2023 e-commerce of an increasing number of customers using their smartphones to research and buy products,” says the company’s founder Nicholas Dragolea, a medical doctor and entrepreneur. “More than two-thirds of our customers are coming from mobile, so we have designed our website, promotions, sales strategy, and marketing campaigns to be focused on mobile first.”
Holiday Shopping Season Comparison
When do holiday sales start? Many small-business owners are finding that holiday shopping starts earlier every year, which gives them the opportunity to increase cash flow at traditionally slower times.
“We take advantage of the increasingly earlier holiday shopping season by adapting our strategies and launching holiday specific products (for example, advent calendars) months in advance,” says Dragolea. “Even if you don’t have stock yet, this is a great way to capture leads with a ‘coming soon’ page that invites customers to sign up for email alerts when products are in stock.”
The trend to earlier holiday shopping each year has been reinforced by events like ‘Black Friday in July’ and ‘Cyber Monday’ deals, believes Linda Johansen-James, founder and CEO of International Retail Group, a specialty retail management service and consulting firm. She is also publisher of International Retail Magazine. “Such events and the need for consumers to spread out the burden of costs due to inflation encourage purchases well ahead of the traditional holiday season,” she says.
“Other trends we’re seeing are consumers using multiple channels in their shopping journey,” continues Johansen-James. “They might research products online, visit physical stores to see items in person, and then make the final purchase online or offline.”
“Checking out your competitors’ marketing tactics can give insight into what works and what doesn’t, or simply give you inspiration.” — Linda Johansen-James, founder and CEO, International Retail Group
Tips to Help Increase Sales During Holidays
In addition to year-end holidays, there are a variety of minor holidays and awareness days and months that give small-business owners seasonal marketing opportunities. Consider identifying upcoming events that align with your company’s brand and mission, and then create a content calendar to leverage those occasions.
Here are some holiday marketing strategies that can help you maximize your sales, both online and off, this season.
1. Consider publishing helpful and holiday exclusive content.
Content is truly king when it comes to engaging customers and providing an avenue for seasonal marketing campaigns.
When planning holiday exclusive content, it can be a good idea to define what you want to accomplish with your holiday traffic. Do you wish to increase sales or boost blog traffic? Defining your goal can allow you to devise a more strategic approach to posting helpful content.
One type of content that can be particularly effective in acquiring new customers and enticing existing ones is to create a holiday gift guide.
“Posting holiday gift guides can be a vital part of your holiday content strategy,” says Dragolea. “Guides can help you rank higher in search engines for those specific keywords, thus gaining traffic with high purchasing intent, which could translate to increased holiday sales.”
To make the most out of organic traffic, Dragolea suggests writing and posting the guides early so they have time to rank and you get the greatest number of visitors. “If possible, write evergreen content that you can tweak every year to save time, instead of writing from scratch,” he says.
When focusing on how to increase holiday sales, consider writing superior content, suggests Alex Robinson, founder of Novus Digital, an SEO optimization company. “Create compelling content that resonates with the holiday spirit,” he says. “Tell stories about your products, the people behind your brand, or heart-warming customer experiences. Also consider sharing user-generated content that showcases how your products are being used during the holidays.”
Help ensure your holiday content resonates and leads to sales by making the call to action clear and easy to initiate. It can also be effective to use countdown timers to create urgency and spur sales.
2. Try to prepare for supply chain slowdowns.
Though global supply chain challenges have improved, there can still be the distinct possibility of slowdowns that could hamper you getting the products and raw goods you need. Try to prevent problems with sales during the holidays by paying careful attention to inventory and fulfillment.
“You should always be aware of the possibility of supply not meeting demand and manage inventory well in advance,” says Johansen-James. “Identify which products were bestsellers during previous holiday seasons and make sure you have enough stock to meet the anticipated demand.”
Your marketing campaigns may not be effective if you don’t have products in stock. “Customers don't want to hear excuses, especially after you have already collected their funds. Make sure you have a solid plan for receiving inventory and other items early to prevent any potential delays,” says Danielle Reid, owner of DR and Associates Creative Agency, a marketing, branding, and consulting agency.
“Prepare for the surge in demand by fine-tuning inventory management practices now,” adds Shaunak Amin, co-founder and CEO of SwagMagic, a global corporate swag platform. “Having access to real-time inventory data helps us identify hidden gaps in our inventory replenishment process that may have caused stock-outs in the past. Tracking key metrics such as inventory-to-sales ratio and backorder rate helps us determine which items are slow-moving versus those that sell fast. We then use this info to improve demand forecasting and refine safety stock quantities,” says Amin.
“It's also a good idea to use inventory forecasting software,” adds Michael Nemeroff, CEO and co-founder of the custom T-shirt company Rush Order Tees. “Such software informs you as to which products will likely see spikes in sales.”
3. Try to capitalize on last year’s holiday traffic.
When planning for the holiday shopping season, consider recycling prior successful marketing efforts. For instance, try to update and reoptimize last year’s holiday landing page rather than creating a new one. The webpage may already be indexed by search engines and ranking on Google for keywords and have built page authority.
Another tip for how to increase sales during the holidays is to consider looking at the previous year’s sales to determine what products to highlight. “Use feedback from prior months and years to determine what your customers want. Also look at trends in your space for this upcoming holiday season,” says Reid. “If you have a product that has been very popular or that customers are raving about, highlight it. Also consider reusing great content.”
4. Learn from past holiday marketing campaigns.
Analyzing prior holiday marketing strategies can help assist you in pinpointing campaigns that worked and avoiding those that didn’t.
“Holiday marketing campaigns are a great test for what can draw customers in,” says Johansen-James. “Collect and keep track of comprehensive data through website analytics, email campaign metrics, social media engagement, and sales reports. Notice customer behavior patterns. Are there common themes that resonate with your audience? What about the timing and frequency of your campaigns? Are they appropriate or overwhelming for your audience?”
A holiday marketing strategy requires data, agrees Reid. “Always keep track of what worked and what didn’t to inform future holiday campaigns,” she says. “Using predictive analytics in various areas of your business can help you identify what you should do this year with everything from email send times to potential customer spend.”
5. Consider your target audience.
Holiday marketing campaigns can do best when they're engaging and relevant to your target audience. Thoroughly understanding the purchasing behaviors of your customers can help guide your marketing strategy regarding what to offer your audience during a seasonal sale.
For additional ideas regarding engaging with your customers, consider checking out your competition.
“Comparison may be the thief of joy in some cases, but when it comes to business, it’s necessary. How can you be the best if you’re not comparing?” says Johansen-James. “Checking out your competitors’ marketing tactics can give insight into what works and what doesn’t, or simply give you inspiration.”
Keeping an eye on the competition is essential for a couple of reasons, believes Tony Angeleri, vice-president of business development at Lone Wolf Paintball, a paintball company. “First, it helps you gauge where your own campaign stands so that you can introduce tweaks and improvements if you find it falling short. Second, if one of your competitors comes up with a winning idea, you can take quick steps to latch on to it and share the advantage.”
6. Help ensure excellent customer service.
Holiday traffic may not be sustainable without satisfied customers. Try to emphasize to all employees the importance of addressing customer queries quickly and effectively. To help ensure that customers receive top priority, consider assigning very specific roles among staff members so they can focus on work and avoid spreading themselves thin. If you’re an online business, try to leverage live chat to help ensure that customers are responded to in a timely manner.
“A positive customer service experience can significantly impact customer sales during the holiday season,” says Johansen-James. “Responsive customer service that promptly addresses any questions or concerns reduces friction in the buying process and makes it more likely that customers will return. Clearly communicate shipping times, return policies, and any potential delays. This helps manage customer expectations, minimizing frustration and increasing overall satisfaction.”
Returns can be common during holiday shopping, and excellent customer service in this area makes all the difference, according to Tobias Buxhoidt, CEO and co-founder of parcelLab, an operations experience management platform that focuses on post-purchase and customer service.
"Ninety-two percent of consumers are influenced by a brand's return policy, according to our research, and an additional 62% will not become a returning customer after a challenging or inadequate returns experience,” says Buxhoidt. This data comes from parcelLab’s The State of Online Order Returns in 2022, which surveyed 1,320 people regarding their sentiments around their experiences with returns.
“Ensuring your brand has an efficient returns management strategy to process returns during the holiday season will build lifelong customers,” advises Buxhoidt. “Brands can prepare ahead of time with self-service returns and parcel drop-off options and send proactive communication post-purchase."
7. Consider planning an exclusive holiday corporate event.
Shoppers say elite status is one of the biggest benefits of a loyalty program,” says Hilda Wong, CEO of Content Dog, an SEO content writing company. “Hold an exclusive online (or in-person) holiday event just for your VIPs. Give your special guests a coupon they can use only during the event. Also offer holiday-themed beverages, free gift wrapping, and give a loyalty point for every $100 spent.”
Try to make the event an exciting and engaging experience that your best customers are sure to remember. During the festivities, consider communicating that you greatly appreciate their business.
Capitalize Web Traffic Beyond the Holiday
November and December may get the most attention when it comes to boosting holiday web traffic, but any holiday seasonal sale may increase online and brick-and-mortar revenue.
Consider keeping the party going beyond sales during the holidays and leverage repeat customers by trying to focus on customer retention strategies such as loyalty programs.
“As we move into the age of the purpose driven shopper, customer loyalty is key,” says Reid. “Show your customers their brand loyalty is appreciated. This is also a great time to introduce new affiliate and referral programs and to offer incentives such as early access and additional savings. Most importantly, be genuine, be responsive, and be thankful. Your customers are what keep your business alive and profitable during the holidays and throughout the year.”
A version of this article was originally published on November 12, 2021.
Photo: Getty Images
