Retailers Guide To Win Holiday Sales in 2020

The holiday season is all about spreading happiness. It is also the season of big sales for retail stores. Retailers have high hopes of ending the year with big profits. But just like many other things, holiday shopping will be different in 2020. And that’s why retailers have to adjust their holiday sales strategy to achieve their year-end goals. 

If you own a retail business, this is how you should be planning for holiday sales.

Make sure your physical store is safe

Since the coronavirus pandemic has hit the world, people have abandoned physical stores and started buying online. But they miss the good old days of driving to the store and picking up things. I am sure you do too. 

The good news is customers still like to shop in person. So chances are, this holiday season, you’ll see some of them back in stores. But before you do, first you have to make it safe for them to visit by corona-proofing your store. 

Clean, clean, and clean your storefront, shelves, counters. Make hand sanitizer available to every walk-in customer. Make sure everybody maintains social distancing — your team and your customers. Minimize human contact with a contactless payment system. 

Set up your online store

With the closure of physical stores, people are shopping online like crazy. According to a new forecast from Adobe Analytics, US online holiday sales will increase upto 33% from 2019. With Black Friday and Cyber Monday already off this list, the prediction is coming very much true. 

It’s almost Christmas and New Year and the online sales situation is going to get even crazier. What does that mean for you and your retail business? Well, for a starter, you need to get your online store up and running. 

It’s not even that hard. All you need to do is use an e-commerce integration in your point of sale (POS) software and you’ll have your online store in a few minutes. You can then set it up, feature your best deals, and get in the game of online holiday sales.

Create holiday gift guides 

Marking your physical location safe for in-store doorbusters, check! Setting up an e-commerce store for online deal-hunters, double-check!

After playing it safe, it’s time to play smart. You have to attract customers to your physical and online store and win their sales. Here’s the first move: create holiday gift guides and share them with everyone. 

Take all of your products and services and feature them in a gift guide. Make sections like “gift ideas for mom”, “gift ideas for dad”, “gift ideas for teenage kids”, etc to help the readers see your products and services as things they can give their loved ones as presents. 

Once done, share your gift guide with everyone in your email and phone contacts. Don’t forget to post it on the social media pages of your business as well as your own personal accounts. Spread the word! 

Offer special discounts to first-time shoppers

Now that you have done a great job designing your retail store’s special gift guide and sharing it with your potential customers, it’s time to really pull them to your store with special discounts offers. Do everything in your power to make it super hard for them to say no to your awesome holiday deals, especially the people who are shopping with you for the very first time. 

Win new customers by offering exclusive discount offers for first-time buyers. From flat discount on all items, bargained products and services bundles, and buy one get one free offers, pull every marketing tactic to lead them straight to your store.  

Host a holiday-themed contest

Another smart move to attract holiday shoppers is by giving away free stuff. Hosting contests and giveaways are not only fun, but they also show your customers that you want to share the holiday love and happiness with them. What can be more beautiful than that?

So, this holiday season, host a fun and cheering contest on social media. Ask people to buy something from your store to enter the contest and you’ll offer free products or services for three winners. Invite people to join in by tagging family and friends in your post and sharing it. The more audience for the post, the more participants for your contest, the more sales for your business. High-five!

Steal hearts with free gift wrapping and shipping services

As customers are shopping online, they expect you, the retailers, to deliver their orders at their doorsteps. But here’s the catch: they don’t want to pay extra for the delivery charges. But that’s okay because it’s the holiday season and they can act a little spoiled. 

Customers also have a lot of options to shop from. So what do you think they will prefer? A brand that offers free shipping or the one that charges them for delivery? Of course, the former. So be that. 

Want to throw an even better surprise? Complement the free shipping service with a free gift-wrapping service and make their holidays. 

But wait, all these extras will require you to be hyper-active with your job. From wrapping up all the gifts to adding the right shipping details and getting them delivered, get your team ready for the holidays. 

Collect tons of reviews

Customers these days are smart and sharp. They always do their research before buying a new product or service. Do you want them to get yours? Impress them with customer reviews. Show them how good have you been to other customers and they’ll take their word for it. 

So, after all is said and done and you have closed your holiday sales with customers, don’t forget to take their reviews to bring in more and more sales. You don’t have to put too much effort in it. Just draft an email with your POS software and set it up as to be sent to every new customer and that’s it. 

While all these customers trust your business with their personal data, make sure you take all the necessary steps to prevent holiday data breaches.