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Deck the halls with holiday sales
By Jenny
C. McCune • Bankrate.com
 The
economy seems to be picking up and most forecasters expect this
to be a jollier holiday for retailers.
But a good business person leaves
nothing to chance, especially in the crucial seasonal sales period.
The actions you take now can make the difference between
a Merry Christmas and a Nasty Noel.
So here's an early present from Bankrate.com to your
business: 12 simple and cost-effective ways you can boost your holiday
sales.
1. Provide outstanding service.
In today's age of declining service standards, just offering good,
old-fashioned customer assistance can help set you apart from competitors
and ensure that shoppers patronize you rather than somebody else,
says Richard Buckingham, president of GoalStar
Business Strategies in Bethesda, Md. Make it easy to do business
with you, and customers will want to keep coming back.
2. Offer low-cost, high-value
services.
Free gift-wrapping and personal shopping "elves" can help
convince customers to shop with you vs. another company. Shipping
-- it doesn't even have to be free -- can help customers get presents
to faraway loved ones with a minimum of fuss. Display tables can
offer gift suggestions, and gift registries can let people make
their Christmas wishes known to family and friends. Both methods
help shoppers and can increase sales. Your store could even offer
special shopping nights to help husbands (or wives) choose presents
for their spouses.
3. Think comfort.
Today's times are uncertain, and people are stressed. Provide a
comforting environment that will draw purchasers to your store.
It could be as simple as comfortable chairs where people can take
a break, or maybe a massage therapist performing free massages for
the weary. Perhaps a holiday open house, complete with Christmas
cookies, could draw customers to your door. The comfort factor can
also play a part in what gifts you highlight and recommend to customers.
4. Give and you'll receive.
Offer a small gift that must be picked up personally at your business
to draw customers in and get them buying again. "This is true
even if you are a B2B (business to business)," says David Hennessey,
an associate professor of marketing at Babson
College in Babson Park, Mass. "People will want to reciprocate
if they receive a gift from you, or they'll remember you when they
need your product."
5. Join with other merchants
for special promotions.
"Allow 20 percent off of any one item in each store, with a
shopping bag where merchants can cross their name off when the discount
is used," says Shel Horowitz, author of Grassroots
Marketing. The downtown areas of some small communities
offer Christmas Strolls, with Main Street turned into a pedestrian
mall featuring special displays, street entertainment and early
season shopping.
6. Hold a special event.
A toy store could have a clown, a magician, or invite a local radio
station to broadcast from the premises. The goal is to get people
into your business by making it fun. Maybe a philanthropic event
is your ticket to holiday sales. "A bookstore could do a charity
read-a-thon on the anniversary of a famous author's birth,"
Horowitz says. "Readers could get pledges from their friends
for some charity like the Red Cross, and the bookstore could donate
a portion of sales."
7. Stay in touch with your
best customers.
Send out special offers by e-mail or snail mail. Limited-time offers
requiring prompt action are the best. Such mailers don't even have
to have an overt sales message. Wally
Bock, a Wilmington, N.C., author and business consultant recommends
"a series of regular mailings with hints and specials for the
holidays."
8. Offer promotions to people
that celebrate other holidays.
Families that celebrate Hanukkah or Kwanzaa may feel left out in
all the Christmas craziness, Horowitz says. Help them with their
holiday purchases, and they'll reward you with sales.
9. Hold a contest.
The key to Christmas sales is getting people into your store or
office. One way to increase traffic is by having a contest that
requires people to drop off entry forms at your business, says Denise
O'Berry, president of the Small Business Edge Corp. in Tampa, Fla.
10. Look for cross-selling
opportunities.
One of O'Berry's clients, a catering business, aligned itself with
an office furniture retailer. The connection? Businesses would buy
furniture from the furniture retailer and then would receive a brochure
on the caterer's services. Try to think of similar promotions that
can help boost sales for the holidays. Maybe a ski store could team
up with a local ski area by selling a discounted lift ticket with
every pair of skis.
11. Put together the perfect
package.
John DiFrances, managing partner of DiFrances & Associates in
Wales, Wisc., recommends taking a cue from the gift-basket industry,
which makes a bundle ever year by packaging items as gifts. Do the
same with your offerings. "Offer complimentary products in
groupings, preferably prepackaged with holiday ribbon and wrapping
paper. This makes it easy for the customer to make a quick selection,"
DiFrances says. And the trimming for your business tree? Usually
such bundled gifts offer higher margins and bigger average sales
than unbundled products.
12. Call the auctioneer.
Most retailers placed their Christmas orders by early September.
Sometimes, however, those early orders aren't accurate, and some
businesses could find their shelves overstocked. If you've over-ordered,
or even if you haven't, your business might want to consider listing
inventory on an Internet auction site. People love getting a bargain
and feel they're doing just that when they make bids on a product.
Don't want to deal with a middleman? Consider
setting up your own auction Web page or devote a section of
your current site to auctioning.
Follow these 12 tips and your business can have a
merry -- and profitable -- Christmas sales season.
Jenny C. McCune is a contributing
editor based in Montana.
-- Updated: Nov. 11, 2003
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