Get Your Business Holiday-Ready With These 3 Steps
Although you might still be enjoying some rays of sunshine thanks to the last days of the Indian Summer, it does not mean you should ignore the fact that winter is around the corner. No matter what business you own you should start preparing now for winter holiday season so that you can capitalize on increased consumer spending. Here are three steps to get your business ready for the holiday sales season.
1. Plan Ahead for the Rush
Make sure your business is ready to handle the sudden increase in business that the holiday season inevitably brings about. That could mean different things to different businesses. Whatever preparations you need to plan, do it now. For example, interview, train and establish holiday season contracts with the additional staff that you will need during holiday season right now, so that both they and you are ready to deal with increased sales. That could also mean ordering in extra inventory to make sure that you have enough of the most popular products and do not run out during holiday season. If you deliver products ensure you have enough ordered enough packaging far in advance to deal with the influx of holiday season sales.
2. Plan your Promotions
Marketing to clients is a vital part of holiday season sales success. Do not wait until November to rush out a plan. Prepare your detailed marketing plan now for the holiday season. This should include planning your visuals, blog posts, flyers and whatever other materials you use, now. You should have your advertising strategy for social media, email and traditional media ready to roll out. Plan your deals and discounts, and think about some incentives that reward customer loyalty. You should also work on strategies to outdo your competitors, such as offering free deliveries for purchases within Canada.
3. Polish your Website
Do not wait until holiday season to make changes to your website; now is the time to update it and test its capacity to handle heavy traffic. What needs to be focused on will depend on whether you use your website as a marketing tool or use it for e-commerce. If you use your website as a marketing tool, make sure that all the information on the site, from business listing to physical address and offerings is up-to-date and SEO-optimized. Make sure that your website is mobile-friendly. Shoppers tend to use their smartphones during holiday season to find nearby stores while on shopping sprees. Make sure your site loads quickly on a phone and is optimally formatted to be browsed on a mobile phone, otherwise customers will not visit you.
If you run an e-commerce site do some load testing to make sure that your site will stay up during holiday season, even if it experiences heavy traffic. Also ensure your security software is updated to keep the site and customers safe during holiday season. Make sure that your checkout process is optimized, it should be simple and fast so that customers can rapidly purchase their holiday season gifts and view the cut-off dates for a holiday season delivery. You may lose business if the process takes too long or is confusing.
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