Are you caught up in the busy Christmas season, and yet dreading the impending January slump? We’ve come up with three easy ideas for you to implement right away to give yourself additional opportunities for sales during this period.
1. Create digital gift cards.
If you don’t already offer gift cards or vouchers, you should. If you don’t offer digital gift cards or vouchers, you really should.
Why? Over 89% of consumers in the UK do some part of their christmas shopping online (2015).
You’d think that this was largely due to all the millennials and centennials that are actively shopping, right? Not quite. While millennials and centennials are the most frequent online shoppers, the largest rise in adults buying online was in those aged 55 to 64 years, where there has been a rise of 30 percentage points since 2008, to 75 percent in 2017.
EVERYONE is shopping online with increasing frequency – why not make it easier for them to buy from you?
Need more reasons?
You’ll be saving the hides of all the procrastinators who’ve left their shopping too late, or the ones who have no idea what to get their difficult aunt. There’s always one.
Chances are that receivers will window shop and browse your website first, which will increase traffic. Who doesn’t love that?
Three-quarters of consumers with gift cards spend more than the value of the card, which means more money for you. Even more yay!
And finally, it’s a brilliant way to get your branding out there. Customise the card so that it showcases you, and if it’s digital, it’s available in a jiffy.
Don’t forget to tell your customers where to buy your gift cards. Put it out there!
Denby Natural Canvas set
2. Like attracts like.
Pair similar things together.
It’s a perfect way to show off a range. Do you have a hand soap which is simply inseparable from that body lotion? Suggest it.
For the indecisive buyer, this is a great idea. They will value your expertise and if they loved their first purchase this is a great way to nudge them into additional purchases.
You can go beyond products that naturally go together and pair others of a similar price, colour, look or theme.
Try to work in sets of three, and keep symmetry in mind – it is after all, eye catching!
Organic Surge Natural Promise set
3. Make a plan for Jan.
Reward loyal customers by offering deals on remaining stock in preparation for your new collection. You’ll bring people into your space (whether physical or virtual) during a time of year that’s generally very quiet or full of returns and exchanges.
Remember that not everyone is looking for marked down items. If you find a way to grab their attention, they may purchase something they love at full price.
Focus on issues that people tend to embrace in January, which include wellbeing, organisation/decluttering, fresh starts, healthy living etc and plan your marketing around that!
…And if you took our advice and created gift cards, we hope that at-least some of those will convert into sales for you in Jan.
If you’re keeping an eye out for interesting gift card options for Christmas gifts, check these ones out: Shoe-making with Juta Shoes, Screen printing with Fable&Base, 4160 Tuesday perfumes, Denys&Fielding homewares, The Soap Co bodycare products, Bike-building with Bamboo Bicycle Club.
Do you have a tip for us? Let us know in a tweet!
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Preeti is the Marketing Manager at Blue Patch. Born and raised in India, she spent some time in the US, completing a degree in Psychology and Biology, after which she moved to the UK in 2010 to study an MSc in Finance and Management. She can often be found obsessing over her plants, trying to clamp down on an ever-increasing collection of nail polish or exploring and taking photos of random corners of London. While she isn’t a sales expert, she is always interested in ways to improve business.
