How to profit from this festive season

The month of December brings a stampede of high-intent shoppers. [Courtesy]

The holiday season is great for businesses. It’s time to connect with your customers, hold sales and promotions, and move slow stock. The month of December brings a stampede of high-intent shoppers. If you tap into the seasonal high when buyers are in going crazy with spending, you can maximise your profits and finish the year with a bang.

The challenge lies in finding innovative and effective ways to capitalise on the season’s shopping rush. So how can you, as a small business owner, take full advantage of the holiday boom?

Here are a few strategies to help you optimise outreach to target audiences and generate effective holiday campaigns to deliver exceptional results and bring you holiday cheer.

Start early

If you’re waiting till to have your big sale on Christmas Eve, you are losing out. Most people begin their Christmas gift shopping as early as October! According to data from AdRoll, retailers who started their Christmas-geared sales in October had seven per cent more ad impressions, a 12 per cent drop in cost per click, and 15 - 20 per cent decline in Cost per Thousand (CPM) compared to those who started their campaigns later.

Since it’s already December, you don’t wait any longer to have Christmas and New Year themed aggressive sales and promotions. If you start late, you have to make the sales really worthwhile for your customers to notice. For example, you can capitalise on 50 per cent discounts and buy-one-get-one-free deals, which rank among the highest-converting promotions.

Last minute deals are also a great way to target late shoppers. There are still some people who will wait till the 24th or even the 26th  of December to buy Christmas gifts for their loved ones.

 Reward loyal customers

No business can survive for long without loyal customers. Recognise what these customers mean to your business by giving them special discounts. This will incentivise them to buy even more from your and give glowing reviews to potential customers in their circles.

Here are some ideas for rewarding loyal customers:

· Give them significant discounts on large orders

· Give them a mystery gift when they hit a certain amount in spending

·Give them a free gift bag with goodies that aren’t available to everyone

·Gift them with a loyal-member only discount coupons

· Give them a personalised holiday card with a gift

Since deals for loyal members are only available to a select group, you don’t have to advertise them to everyone. Instead, you can send email newsletters, targeted emails, text messages, loyalty club social media pages, and on your website.

Engage on social media

Data shows that the average daily social media usage of internet users worldwide amounts to 145 minutes per day. Holiday shoppers might be using a fair amount of that time to look for deals that will help them save money. Many customers start their purchasing process on social media before they visit specific online or brick-and-mortar stores to make a purchase.

Don’t let go of this opportunity to connect with your target customers. Share your holiday deals on your social media channels. Don’t forget to boost the relevant posts to the type of audience it might attract.

You can also use social media to document your preparations for the holidays – getting your customers into the holiday mood. Coin special hashtags for posts that are related to the holiday to help your customers find and engage with you.

Cross-sell your products

Do you have slow-moving stock? Or are you introducing a new product? The holiday season is great to get them moving. One of the best ways to do so is by suggesting them to customers to go with items they’re already purchasing. You can also bundle such products together at a discounted price to attract customers.

For example, if you sell hair products and have a shampoo product that isn’t a popular with your customers, you can bundle it together with a more popular product. Then you can sell the two at a 75 per cent discount. Customers may realise that they actually like the less popular product and buy it later.

 Suggest gift ideas

The truth is that many people are stumped on what to gift their loved ones. You can help your customers decide on the perfect gift by suggesting gift ideas.  Send them an email newsletter full of gift ideas. To the extra mile by putting your ideas in categories such as “Gifs for Mum”, of “Gifts for Co-workers” or “Gifts for the Special Lady.”

This gives you an awesome avenue to advertise your popular products and even introduce new ones. If you have a brick-and-mortar shop, you can print fliers to hand to customers as they walk into the store.

 Prepare your employees

For many businesses, this is a very busy period. Prepare your employees for the extra work the season might bring. Let them know that you appreciate their efforts in both word and deed – share your profits by giving them an end-year bonus!

The happier your employees are, the more inspired they’re to give their best at work. They’ll serve your customers cheerfully, which translates to positive reviews and loyal customers. If possible, you can also hire a couple extra employees to handle the pressure of the holiday sales.