10 Tips to Scale Your Sales This Christmas Season

As the Christmas season approaches, businesses are in for a rollercoaster. It is undoubtedly one of the most crucial times of year for retailers to gain more customers, maximise sales, and establish long-lasting customer relationships. Businesses worldwide offer special deals, unique product hampers, and promotions during Christmas to increase sales and revenue.

For customers, the Christmas season is a time of joy and happiness. They buy gifts for their friends and family as a gesture of love and affection during this season. In fact, the Global Data survey of more than 55,000 consumers found that shoppers spend 6.5% more during the Christmas season.

However, an increase in demand can lead to unorganised business processes, hampering sales. That’s why we bring you the top 10 tips to help improve sales during the Christmas season.

Top 10 Tips to Improve Your Sales This Christmas Season

Below, we share some of the most effective ways to increase sales during the Christmas season:

Start Early but End Later: 

Most people love shopping. But this craze rises even more during the holidays. Shoppers are constantly on the lookout for deals and discounts. Hence, you can easily win the match by starting your holiday marketing earlier than your competitors and even prolonging your promotions and discounts to last longer than theirs. 

Generate Buzz with Promotions, Discounts, and Bundles: 

Buyers’ excitement during the Christmas season hits the roof and is accompanied by a feeling of urgency when there are sales and promotions. They are strong inducements to buy that satisfy both sellers and buyers; the seller generates more sales, and the buyer gets more for their money. According to a recent customer poll, 79% of respondents said that promotions, discounts, and deals have the most influence on their holiday shopping decisions.

Several marketing techniques and strategies are extremely advantageous to clients and help them meet various objectives and goals. You can attract bargain hunters, promote repeat business, and increase overall sales by providing customised incentives for different consumer types. Giving gifts can be made simpler by bundling comparable things.

Release Hourly Sales: 

Another strategy that entails running a pop-up sale with internet deals can be used to elevate sales during the peak Christmas season. Using this enticing trick, you can extend your discount or provide a special offer valid for a limited time. For example, you could raise your 30% discount to 50% off for a single hour. You can use the same strategy repeatedly throughout the sales day to maximise your profits. 

Several retailers deploy this trick about 2 to 3 times throughout the sale period to enhance revenue. Businesses can easily make their highest revenues during holiday discounts using this tactic. 

Here are some other pointers for utilising time-limited or hourly sales:

• Employ countdown clocks and pop-ups to inform buyers and consumers of your temporary sales.
• Using distinct discount coupons and other promotional deals for every sale to keep tabs on very well-liked offers or window periods.
• Employing social media and your website to advertise the sale.

Sell related items:

When customers buy something, offer them other products that go well with it. For instance, recommend good phone cases or chargers if you sell smartphones. This is called cross-selling. You can do this online or in physical stores by putting related items close together or having staff suggest them.

Cross-selling helps you sell more by meeting customer needs. Market research shows that cross-selling is about 20 times more effective as compared to selling something new to a customer. It tends to increase customer satisfaction by 20-30%. A perfect real-world example of cross-selling is ‘Amazon,’ which claims that 35% of its revenue comes from cross-selling.

Use words that sell:

Good words can make people want to buy. Use words that describe your products well and encourage buying, like “Buy now” or “Best deal.” Moreover, 68% of online buying experiences start with a search engine. So, using relevant and frequently searched keywords in your content can also help your products appear in Google searches. Adding keywords is a part of Search Engine Optimisation (SEO), which helps secure high search engine rankings for your page or website. According to BrightEdge, SEO brings 1,000%+ more traffic than organic social media.

But don’t overdo it – too many sales words can turn people off and hurt your search rankings. Avoid using terms or words you think might be relevant for Google; conduct thorough research on the right keywords to use for your brand or product.

Be active on social media:

About 63% of the world’s population uses social media, making it the perfect place for brands to advertise their products and bond with their audience. Leverage those lucrative social media platforms, like Instagram, Facebook, etc., to connect with customers, especially during busy times like Christmas. A recent survey by Sprout Social reveals that the primary reason for nearly 68% of consumers to follow a brand on social media is ‘To stay informed about their new offerings.’ It highlights how users expect brands to share this information on social media handles promptly.

But don’t just post about your products and sales; consider sharing some fun, festive content too. It helps people like and connect with your business and can even increase sales. Mixing product information with entertaining posts is best to keep followers interested. 

Offer Competitive Pricing: 

Shopping during the holidays is a time of increased consumer expenditure that inevitably makes people price-sensitive. Buyers must get the most for their money when they shop and always search for the best deals, discounts, and offers. You can attract both new and existing clients by providing reasonable prices. Moreover, low pricing can stimulate demand for goods and services, increasing the amount of transactions and income generated. Since customers can quickly compare costs across platforms and marketplaces with a single search, pricing wisely is crucial for online shopping.

By selling goods and holiday-oriented products at affordable and competitive prices, a seller can gain a customer’s trust and confidence for the foreseeable future by showcasing their dedication to delivering value for the money. 

Create a Solid Return Policy: 

The Christmas season also has a downside. The biggest drawback to this happy gift-giving season is that not every gift will satisfy the requirements and tastes of the one receiving the present. Customers are likely to return their purchases. Even though this opportunity could seem tedious and overwhelming, it actually offers you a fantastic chance to establish a lasting relationship with the clients.

However, buyers ensure that your return policy is sound before purchasing the presents. Providing an efficient, prompt, and effective solution to their needs- locating a more suitable item in-store or returning their money—is ideal for building enduring relationships with your customers. 

Forecast Your Inventory and Set Yourself Up for Success: 

Planning for the worst is a strategy that applies to everything and is not really a new concept. It is a plan that allows you to prepare for anything that might happen, and it makes you a lot stronger and able to keep up. Similarly, inventory replenishment and stocking require preparing for the worst during Christmas. During the Christmas season, several vendors experienced a significant increase in sales. 

If you are unaware of your backstock, you could potentially suffer from your success during the busiest selling season of the year. No seller wants to run out of goods during this time. Consult your suppliers as soon as possible to ensure you have sufficient inventory to maximise holiday sales.

Make the Post-Purchase Experience as Enjoyable as Shopping: 

The Christmas season is often accompanied by many problems like misplaced or delayed gifts, order discrepancies, or even product loss during shipping. It could be a result of any number of circumstances. That is why making the post-payment or purchase experience enjoyable is crucial. Providing features that enable you to resolve any matter within a few minutes with the proper internal customer service procedures helps you do so easily.

Establishing a three-fold consumer service that is effective and emotionless might just do the trick. There’s no need to start a yelling war with your clientele to blow the fuse. You can recommend one or more of the following customer service options to your client: a cutting-edge online claim management platform, a dynamic live chat feature, or a traditional customer care service (such as an email address or phone number). 

What To Sell In the Christmas Season?

The Christmas season attracts customers to explore new items and brands as they are on a shopping spree, looking for gifts and decorative items. So why not be their Santa and deliver some of the top-selling Christmas products to capture the season’s spirit?

Here are some of the best-selling Christmas items that can spike your sales volumes and profits:

• Christmas Apparel and Accessories

Clothing and accessories could be your key to unlocking high sales this Christmas. Market research by experts shows that festive garments are the most bought fashion item globally in the last two years, with about 37% of consumers purchasing these items.

Shoppers look for trending apparel and accessories to gift their loved ones in the festive season. If you want to clock higher sales in the Christmas season, consider selling cosy Christmas-themed sweatshirts, t-shirts, hoodies, pyjamas, slippers, socks, and more. They are usually a big hit during that time of the year. Customers love to boast their festive spirit by wearing or gifting such fun and quirky designs embedded in clothing or accessories. 

You could do reindeer motifs, Santa Claus patterns, snowflakes, and other related things to present your customers with perfect Christmas gift ideas. Christmas clothing with catchy or witty slogans or adorable designs is also very popular among kids and adults.

• Christmas tote bags

A practical and eco-friendly option could be Christmas-themed tote bags, which make for excellent and trendy gifts in holiday shopping. Many consumers are hyper-conscious about preserving the environment these days. So, brands nowadays pay more attention to sustainably procuring their materials or producing products that are gentle to the environment. A report by Deloitte says that 50% of Christmas shoppers now prefer brands that have sustainable practices.

You could get creative with these tote bags and embed festive motifs or customisable messages for Christmas to make them stand out in the market.  

• Christmas Decoration

Christmas decorations are in constant demand during the holiday season. Experts expect the Christmas decorations market to grow from US $6.8 billion in 2021 to over US $9 billion by 2026. 

The more creative you get with your festoons, the better chances of increased sales since people like to embellish their homes with new styles and themes every year and barely re-use previously used decorations. That’s why you must introduce new ornaments to capture your customers’ everchanging interest. You can make them even more lucrative by adding personalisation elements, like customers’ names, dates, or other text to ornament designs.

Besides ornaments, other decorative stuff that sells well in the Christmas season are Christmas trees, Christmas-themed wall art, stockings, and candles.

• Christmas phone cases

Another customer favourite these days is decorative smartphone cases. They love to change their phone covers to match the festive theme. It’s also a great gift, and the popularity of these phone covers makes it a profitable item to add to your holiday product lineup. 

• Christmas Gifting

Customisable Christmas cards have always been a timeless holiday product. The best part is you can play around with the designs as much as you like and offer personalisation. People often want to add an adorable card with their gifts for their loved ones. 

Apart from cards, Christmas-themed hampers, wrapping paper, gift bags, and stickers are also a great addition to your items list. 

• Home and Kitchen

When you think of Christmas, you can’t skip the thought of warm and fuzzy dinners or gatherings with loved ones. Customers are high on this emotion during Christmas and want to meet their families and friends, and often plan to invite them over. They’ll want to decorate their dining tables, living rooms, and Kitchen with fancy tableware and other decorative items. Therefore, the demand for home and kitchen items rises during Christmas time. 

Some examples of profitable products that you could think of selling under this category are Christmas-themed table Runners, coasters, mugs, cutting boards, crockery, glassware, etc.

Updating your product list with a Christmas collection brings you some extra profits and more new customers. Overall, clothing, custom shoes, and books are among the best Christmas products to sell, and the six top-selling categories at this time of the year are:

• Clothing and Accessories (73%)
• Food and Beverage (70%)
• Health and Wellness (70%)
• Toys and Hobbies (64%)
• Electronics and Accessories (47%)
• Home and Kitchen (36%)

ShiprocketX: Drive Your Sales Up This Festive Season

The happiest time of the year is probably Christmas; people ship and buy presents for their loved ones worldwide. With ShiprocketX, you can handle all of your supply chain and logistics requirements and the holiday market’s unpredictable and changing demands. They have implemented a complex and all-encompassing end-to-end solution model for retail and eCommerce firms, made possible by AI and ML-based technology to optimise their operations. 

Their B2B and B2C operations are designed and divided to maximise efficiency and provide a superior customer experience. With timely, reasonably priced, and secure delivery, ShiprocketX effortlessly meets all your objectives. 

Conclusion

Christmas certainly is a time for joy and happiness across the world. However, it is an extremely difficult time for most businesses. Businesses need to use dynamic demand planning techniques to effectively estimate inventory requirements during the Christmas season when there is a sudden rise in demand for certain holiday-based products. You can also use the above tips and tricks to determine stock levels. 

You may find out your best-selling products, how many units you’ve sold, and more by using data from previous sales. Retailers and merchants resort to manual methods to forecast demand. However, this manual process is tedious, time-consuming, and prone to human errors. But if you implement the best practices mentioned above, you can increase sales this Christmas season.