Christmas business gets under way

In just a few days, supermarkets will be laying out their first Christmas items. It heralds the start of one of the most important sales seasons for the retail sector. And it’s one that online retailers should start preparing for soon.

Revenue from the weeks leading up to Christmas can turn around what may have otherwise been a modest business year depending on the category in question. For this reason alone, retailers need to be at their best for their customers in the run-up to Christmas.

Optimize the product range

Short-term trends are by their nature hard to predict. Who can forget the hype around the small and fairly useless toys, fidget spinners, which triggered huge demand? But by using data analyses from prior years, every retailer should be able to predict what items they need to have in stock in large quantities to meet demand from customers.

Toy sellers, for instance, know that Lego blocks and Playmobil figures are ordered far more in the weeks before Christmas than at any other time of the year.

Being able to deliver is never more important than during the Christmas season. So talks should be held with suppliers early on to reserve the necessary stock. Also consider the option of short-notice orders to top up stock levels.

Review processes

For customers, it’s vital that the gifts arrive in time to be placed under the tree. Talk to both logistics providers and suppliers: what is their final guaranteed delivery date before Christmas?

This also applies if using dropshipping: when does the supplier need to receive the customer data so that the goods arrive on time?

It’s important to ensure that the shop can cope with heavy traffic, just like with shopping events such as Singles’ Day. If you experience huge numbers of customers, you may need to order a higher tariff or service package from your provider.

Imagine if a few days before Christmas you were the only retailer to still have a popular product in stock. Can the technology and staff handle huge additional numbers of customers?

Produce content

Naturally, the shop should also look festive. Besides decorative Christmas banners, a range of content can be used to attract customers to the shop and entice them to make a purchase.

It could be an advent calendar presenting a product or category each day, a special discount, or giving customers the chance to win a prize. Or how about a gift advisor to guide visitors to a suitable product step by step? You can also promote yourself daily on digital networks. Don’t forget your existing customers when sending out promotional mailshots!

If you run ads on Google or marketplaces, it’s now time to prepare banners and various advertisements, consider where to place them, and draw up budgets.

Win over the customer

Start thinking about Christmas business now and persuade festive shoppers to become returning customers. Offer a gift-wrapping service (stock up on wrapping paper in good time) bearing in mind that items may be posted to addresses other than the billing address. You can charge an extra fee for this.

If you’ve not already not done so, create some vouchers for last-minute gifts. You can also place a free gift in each parcel to ensure customers have a memorable shopping experience.

Offering an extended returns policy for Christmas customers is always popular as it allows those who’ve received gifts they’re not happy with to swap them for something else without any hassle. Bear in mind that those receiving gifts will not get a chance to try them out until Christmas Day.

By offering an extended returns policy, you can show customers that you’re an understanding partner. The same is also true of extending opening hours for telephone enquiries to customer service in the last few days before Christmas.