Most small businesses that sell products will recognize the holiday season as a significant percentage of their annual sales. In fact, without holiday season sales, it's likely many businesses would not survive so taking advantage of the season is essential. 

Often, new businesses are not properly prepared to take advantage of high consumer spending that occurs and lose out on the additional profits. 

Statistics show that only 5% of Canadians do not plan to spend money on gifts over the 2021 holiday season. That leaves 95% of Canadians who will be purchasing gifts for others. 11% reported intending to spend $1000 or more on gifts. 15% reported intending to spend $600-$999. It is pretty clear that the holidays come with a huge amount of consumer spending and it is your responsibility to try and win a portion of that spending. 

In addition, this season also provides you the opportunity to gain new customers, especially if your business is a membership style of payment. This means retained income for the entire year through time-limited discounted memberships to sign-up bonuses. 

No matter what type of business you own, it's most likely you could take advantage of the holiday season to supplement your profits. Here are my tips on how to boost your sales during the holiday season:

Tips to Boost Your Holiday Season sales

Stock up on products

It may seem obvious but many people don’t realize how much they might sell. In particular, if you are putting certain items on sale, stock up on them especially. There is nothing worse than losing sales due to lack of products to sell because people will go elsewhere. 

Website for Online Sales

If you don’t have sales set up on your website or don’t have a website, you are losing out on nearly 50% of your sales. Statistics show that online sales in Canada went from 28% in 2019 to 42% in 2020. Obviously this increase was motivated by the Covid-19 pandemic and as the pandemic is still continuing in 2021, research shows 37% of Canadians intend to spend online. If you are not set up online, you are missing out. 

Offer Gift Wrapping

The simple service of gift wrapping purchases could be the difference between someone buying from you or your competitor so adding this minor benefit could be helpful for sales as the consumer sees this as a saving in time and materials. 

Promote special offers

Special offers are a great way to boost sales and to gain new customers. One method is to run a holiday competition. Social media shares are a simple and free way to gain exposure to a variety of products. Even those who don’t enter the competition, may simply want to buy the product as it's a suitable gift for someone. It also may direct potential customers to the other products in your product line. 

Festive Decor

During a festive season, people want a festive experience and the festive experience not only will bring people to your location, but it also encourages them to buy. Decorate your store to be as festive, employee costumes, santa pictures and holiday music are all techniques you could employ. Make sure you maximize the exposure of your efforts and promote it on social media and your website. 

Start Early

People often have an idea as to what gift they want to get someone. In that case, once they see it, especially as a special offer, they will purchase it and ‘tick the box’. If your sale starts later than a competitor, you are likely to lose out on the sale. Each year, sales seem to being earlier and earlier. However, black friday is a sale that many people wait for as an opportunity to catch a bargain. If you don’t have a sale on for black friday, you are missing out. 

Gift Cards

Gift cards are an excellent way to give a gift of choice. Gift cards allow people to choose their own gift. The best part of a gift card is that no matter what they choose, the card’s value needs to be spent on your products. To try and boost the sale of gift cards, you could offer an added bonus for the person buying the gift card as they see this as a win-win. 

Festive Gift Bundles

Again, to fill the gap of people who don’t know what gift to give, you can potentially fill that gap with an assorted gift bundle commonly called a gift basket. In addition, there are times when people buy back-up gifts to keep in case they need something to give someone they forgot about or didn’t expect to see. Either way, gift bundles are a great idea to fit that gap.

Returns Policy

A good returns policy is about giving people confidence to buy a product and if it doesn’t suit, can be returned/exchanged afterwards. Offering gift receipts encourages the sale of products which might not be fitting as the gift receiver can change it. If you don’t have a good return policy, consumers may not take the risk or take the risk on a competitor instead. A good returns policy gives consumers the confidence to make the purchase as there is no penalty if they were wrong. Make sure your returns policy is highlighted during the festive season. 

Holiday Opening Hours

With everyone scrambling to get their holiday shopping done, they appreciate being able to go after work, outside regular hours or on days where the store is not usually open outside of the festive season. 

Get More Help

Through the use of the above tips, you could boost your annual sales and find the holiday season to be your most profitable months of the year. If you need any help with boosting your business profits, contact business coach David D’Silva.