Another year and we find ourselves in the best season for retail, the Christmas Campaign, Thanksgiving, and Black Friday. It’s good to remember that a big part of the success or failure of what has been worked on during the year will play out in these last two months.
We have to start with the precise concept that to increase our sales compared to last year’s; it will be necessary to maintain our clients and get new ones.
We should plan with discipline the steps to take in this campaign, both operationally and strategically, as well as commercial and marketing.
Let’s keep in mind five key points for the Christmas Campaign:
1. We should learn from the past.
Review the records and analyze how staffing, inventories, and marketing were handled in years when the Christmas Campaign coincided with the same days of the week. What works and what doesn’t?
2. Start marketing sooner.
Our clients may probably have already started with their Christmas shopping. In a recent Nielsen survey, more than 27% said they started shopping after Labor Day, and even though many citizens in the United States still don’t like to start buying so early, they are becoming more accepting of it.
63% of consumers surveyed say they do not feel motivated to buy Christmas items in stores before Halloween, but that’s less than 71% from two years ago. Millennials are still less bothered by the early display of Christmas in stores, with only 51% saying it bothers them.
3. Educating our clients about the Christmas calendar and its days.
With a simple but direct marketing campaign, we should direct our clients with the clear message that they should not wait until the eve of the exact important dates to make their purchases.
4. We study every location of our stores.
For example, do the schools in the area where we do business start the winter holidays the week before Christmas or the week after? Having children at home can affect the buying behavior of parents the week before Christmas, as they may be more likely to be doing family activities instead of shopping. On the other hand, the week after Christmas, we can detect an increase in family clients to keep the children distracted during the holidays and, therefore, we will obtain an increase in sales.
5. Promote our stores as a last-minute solution.
Still, promoting for our customers to make enough purchases with enough time in advance, we will always have a significant mass of visits on crucial days, so do not dismiss them and let’s work with our marketing department to prepare our clients, informing them that we are ready to help them find the perfect last-minute gift.
Other factors that influence our customers to buy products in one establishment or another, regardless of the price and which will be determinants, are their shopping experience, the location and accessibility of our stores, our attention to them, the after-sales services and the facilities of payment that we offer. We must insist on the development of our channels on social networks.
Through them, we can interact with our customers and know their demands and concerns.