How to Get Your Small Business Ready for the Holidays
While the holidays are still months aways, it’s never too early to position yourself to begin the holidays on the right foot. While the holidays traditionally are the busiest time of the year, one key to successfully navigating the holiday is to distinguish yourself from your competitors and keep your customers happy. Make sure the shoppers are flocking to your store rather than the neighbor that’s selling similar items. Some things to consider when setting up for the holiday rush include decorating your store, giving to charities, setting up or polishing your website, promotional offers, and upgrading your payment process.
Your Website
As e-commerce has become a prominent player for a lot of small businesses, one thing not to overlook is your website. Even if your business operates out of a physical store, customers often visit websites before they commit to shopping in person. Your web content should be up-to-date and valuable. What’s more, your design and style should be clean, user-friendly, and easy to navigate. Finally, your message should be consistent and on-brand. And of course, your links should be working properly.
Promotions
A great way to market your business during the gift-shopping season is to offer holiday promotions. This could include discounts in percentages or dollar amounts, freebies and samples, complimentary gift-wrapping services, or coupons for current and future purchases. Make sure your social media and emails are actively posting about these deals and specials, and take out print and digital ads if your budget allows it. A marketing strategy and sales strategy go hand-in-hand, and how you decide to increase holiday sales will affect your marketing plan.
Hiring Additional Employees
As business picks up, many businesses find that they have to bring on extra employees during the holiday season which can make scheduling and time tracking more difficult. For shift scheduling made easy, considering investing in scheduling software. Effective software will allow your business to easily assign shifts and use repeat schedules, and it will instantly notify employees of any schedule changes.
Payment
One potentially overlooked element is the consumer’s desire for efficiency and ease of use, which extends to the process of checking out. It’s imperative to have a solid, reliable payment system in place before the holidays so you don’t lose out on sales. Also, ensure your system is current and up-to-date to provide a better experience for your customers during the checkout process. Credit card payments don’t have to be processed through traditional credit card machines anymore. Updated systems offer security, PCI compliance, chip and swipe options, and portability. Look for these features so you can upgrade to the best payment system for your business’s needs.
Décor
Give customers a reason to walk through your doors by getting your store in the holiday spirit. Your décor could include traditional decorations such as trees, holly, string lights, wreaths, pinecones, and all things red and green. Decorate your storefront to show that your business is holiday-ready, and post seasonal signs to indicate sales and specials. Top it all off with holiday-inspired music to keep the mood going inside.
Gifts
Everyone loves giving and receiving gifts for the holiday season, and your customers are no exception. Send holiday cards in the mail to your client or customer list. Offer a small holiday token when customers complete a transaction. To activate their love of giving and to get yourself into the spirit of giving, consider making charitable donations on behalf of the business. There are many ways to give back to your community:
Set up a donation jar with a sign for the charity to which you’re donating.
Set up a holiday drive in your store for clothes, food, toys, books, etc.
Get the entire staff involved in a volunteer event as one team.
Partner with local community organizations by donating proceeds from sales, sponsoring a fundraising event, or working on initiatives together.
Make monetary donations.
Donate goods, supplies, and equipment to organizations in need.
These steps are only the beginning of having a successful holiday season, and it’s never too early to get started. The hard work continues when the customers step through the physical or virtual door and start shopping for goods. Great customer service, an effective sales approach, and an excellent product will ensure that your customers keep coming back and spread the good word about your wonderful business.
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