How to Market Your Business For Christmas

Every year, Christmas seems to roll around faster and faster. And with the end of the year being so close, now is the time to get prepared for the all-important pre-Christmas trading period. To help get you ready for the busiest time of year, we explore some holiday season marketing tips that you can easily implement to boost your revenue and delight your customers over the coming month.

Why is Christmas marketing so important?

Shoppers are set to splash plenty of cash in the lead up to Christmas. Retail Ireland has predicted that an additional €1.2 billion will be spent by Irish households in the retail sector this Christmas but the competition will be fierce.

So how will you make the most of the holiday shopping season? The answer lies with strategic marketing - and here’s how to execute it this year.

Offer Holiday Promotions

Plan your promotions and sales ahead of time, and take advantage of social media to get the word out.

Facebook is a great marketing tool that can help you reach your customer base and beyond. Utilize Instagram to offer customers an image-rich overview of your business, products, and promotions. Or if you run a customer loyalty program, create special holiday discounts and market them through an email service with time-limited offers that encourage spending.

TIP: Epos Now integrates with Mailchimp - explore the benefits of these two systems here.

Encourage new customers to your business

Since the industry is flooded with customers searching for gift ideas around the holiday season, this is an excellent time to try and bring new customers into your store.

Think about some incentives that would not only entice new customers to shop with you, but also look after your existing customers as well. Offering perks like free samples, discounts, vouchers, and competitions are a great way to reach out and attract those Christmas shoppers.

Offer Gift Cards

Don’t underestimate the power of gift cards. Gift cards and certificates will continue to maintain their status as the No. 1 gift holiday consumers plan on giving, and their popularity continues to rise.

If you sell physical gift cards, make sure you have them displayed at your counter, and put up ample signage advertising their availability for customers who are browsing. If you don't sell physical gift cards, and only offer your customers paper or email versions, make sure that you either have it well signed for the customer or have your staff trained in selling them to the customer.

Plan ahead and learn from last time

Since a lot of the yearly sales are riding on this busy period it’s important to remember you can never be too prepared.

Managing your stock levels effectively is fundamental to your holiday season success. Reviewing detailed reports on the previous year's sales and stock levels is a crucial tool in understanding how you traded and how you can improve. Maybe you sold out early, so order more for this year, maybe you had too much stock last year so tone it down this season. Never underestimate the power of reporting through your POS system.

TIP: Utilise the reporting capabilities of Epos Now. Read here about 8 reports that can help you this holiday season.