Holiday sales are the best! Customers are in a great mood and excited to score a great deal. Some holidays already have established sale expectations, like Christmas, Mother’s and Father’s Day, Canada Day, and Back-To-School (hey, it’s a major holiday for parents so we celebrate!). But your bottom line doesn’t have to live and die by Boxing Day if you strategize carefully. Truth is, you can spin any holiday into a saleable celebration.
For a small business, it isn’t always sensible to run weeks-long promotions along with all the big guys during high sales times like Christmas or Valentine’s Day. To remain competitive, you should do something, but it can be a one-day treat, or a deal on free shipping. Sometimes all you need to do is attract customers in with an open house or Free Hot Chocolate Day to get them in the door and shopping, regardless of sales. But you need to boost your quarters, we get it. What you can do is design additional flash sales around lesser salesy holidays like Easter, Family Day, or Walk Act a T-Rex Day. Make up a holiday, run an anniversary sale, or celebrate your founder’s birthday with a special promotion. Just like greeting card companies capitalize on a holiday and turn up the earning potential full blast, so, too, can your small business. After all Valentine’s Day and St. Patrick’s Day festivities as we know them are popular largely due to corporate sponsorship, and look how well those turned out!
Before you jump into your sale, take a look at the last few years’ worth of sales and examine the times of year when your sales are strong. This may indicate times when your customers are particularly affluent, or when they have run out of your product and need more. It could also be that your products or services particularly suit well for weddings gifts, making summer a strong selling season. Analyze your sales jumps and analyze the calendar and look for cause-and-affect. Do your customers come see you before they travel? Then February, March Break, and June – August might show high sales times. If you provide services B2C you may find January particularly fruitful, perhaps because budgets have renewed or subscriptions expired. Use a fun flash sale to encourage shopping during your down times, too.
Whatever holiday you’re helping customers celebrate, plan smart. As with any sale, make sure your company can afford it: promotional materials, online ads, lowered prices or BOGOs (buy one get one free or 40% off, etc.), and additional staff. Cut your overhead costs by running your sale for one day or a weekend instead of a full week or more. This also leverages your customers’ of FOMO (fear of missing out), which isn’t a bad thing. And have fun with it!
We can help you with the fun, and the flash sale. Jelly Triangle can help you get set up with an online advertising campaign to make your holiday sales be seen by your ideal customer. Take a look at our list of services and give us a call at 519-624-8888 to get the conversation started.
