Short Story 7 Step Guide To A Successful Christmas

Short Story 7 Step Guide To A Successful Christmas

Put Up Festive Decorations
This may seem silly but adding some extra festive decorations to your window can be a great way to attract new customers and tell the world "Hey! We've got something for you this Christmas!"

Make sure your Christmas decorations have a personal and homely touch too - it adds to the feel of your store being an 'independent' business which customers love!

Highlight Your Best Sellers
This is perfect for the frazzled Christmas shopper. You know who I mean - that customer that walks into the store looking very confused, spends ages looking at different items, has no idea who he/she is shopping for, and then leaves the store because they were too stressed to make a decision.

Clearly label your Top 10 products and pre-wrap them so they can breeze in, grab them off the shelf and waltz on through to the cash register.

Create Product Gift Bundles
Whether it's a deluxe gift hamper or stuffed stocking, customers love a good bundle!

Pick a handful of assorted products and wrap them together in one neat, ready-to-gift package or pick a product and create a 4, 6 or 10 pack to sel with a slight discount.

Make Gift-Giving Easy
Throw in free gift-wrapping or a free card ot make your item gift-ready. If your customers tend to only make single unit purchases, consider using it as an incentive to spend a little more: eg. free gift wrapping with purchases over $50, or free card if you purchase 2 or more items!

You could also consider making it a paid service to add an extra revenue stream over the holiday season.

Returns Policy and Gift Receipts
Make sure you have a consistent returns and exchange policy. Be prepared to implement it (especially post Christmas). It may be a very worthwhile to setup the ability to print gift receipts with an extended exchange period. This way customers will have peace of mind in knowing that their loved ones can exchange the gift come January.

Staff Refresher Training
Even if you have had the same team for 3 years, it's always good to do a refresher before Christmas. Do they know all the products? Do they know the story behind the bestsellers? Can they think of good upsells for each product? Are they using the right processes to check stock or process exchanges?

Make Sure You Have Enough...

... of everything! Do you have enough registers if you get too busy? Do you have enough bags and gift wrap to package products in? Do you ahve enough staff to cover extra shifts and to cover the extra half an hour of set-up and clean-up each day? And most importantly do you have enough stock?

Retail specialist say that you should have 4-5 times as much product as you expect to sell for the season. 4-5 may be a bit much if you're a small store but you'll be kicking yourself if you miss out on sales due to stock shortages.