retail guru<\/a> Debra Templar.<\/p>\n\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cCreate demand for your discounts. I know a jeweller who offered $30 discounts to top customers, which put them in a draw to win $10,000 of diamonds. But they had to be at the store at 10.30am on Christmas Eve to be in the draw. The street was packed out.\u201d<\/p>\n
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2. Gift cards<\/h2>\n
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A close ally of discounting, gift cards or certificates are another way of sparking interest among customers. Make sure you rotate stock to make your offering look fresh and consider limiting the gift cards to a particular range of your stock.<\/p>\n
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Decide on this by working out where your best-sellers are and carrying excess stock in this area for the Christmas period. \u201cGift cards can be drawn up quickly but you need to know what your customers want,\u201d says Templar. \u201cYou also need to ensure that come December 26, you have fresh stock in store.\u201d<\/p>\n
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3. 12 Days of Christmas<\/h2>\n
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Why not tie an overtly Christmas theme into your promotions? For example, launch a \u201812 days of Christmas\u2019 drive. Offer a different discounted product on each of the 12 days in the lead up to Christmas.<\/p>\n
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This will allow you to expose a broad range of your stock to customers and push loyal customers towards new products. Just make sure you carefully plan ahead for this.<\/p>\n
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\u201cMost retailers in Australia don\u2019t do this kind of thing because they don\u2019t think in advance \u2013 they don\u2019t have a marketing calendar to refer to,\u201d says Templar.<\/p>\n
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4. Cash in at the cash register<\/h2>\n
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When providing a receipt to your customers, why not use the opportunity for an innovative promotional offer? For example, you could ask big-spending customers to bring their receipts to an in-store auction where they can bid for products, starting at $10.<\/p>\n
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5. Consumer-created offers<\/h2>\n
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Customers love choice, so consider letting them loose on a variety of products by allowing them to create their own gift cards.<\/p>\n
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Target your best customers with an offer that gives them $20 off any product in your range, entirely of their own choice. Don\u2019t automatically replace bought items with exact replicas \u2013 you need to keep your stock fresh and of interest to buyers.<\/p>\n
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Also, consider your brand before offering blanket discounts on your goods. If you are a premium brand, it\u2019s better to add value with the addition of complementary goods to purchases rather than slash the prices of your top stock.<\/p>\n
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6. Target your best customers<\/h2>\n
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You don\u2019t need to wait until your customers are in-store to reward them. Send reliable customers a flier or, especially if you\u2019re an online retailer, an email to offer them a personal discount in the lead-up to Christmas.<\/p>\n
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Making customers feel special is an ideal way of getting them to open their wallets and purses during the festive season. But make sure that your customer engagement doesn\u2019t only take place once the advent calendars are being prised open.<\/p>\n
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\u201cIt all depends on the previous 47 weeks of the year,\u201d says Templar. \u201cIf your only contact with your best customers is a Christmas card once a year, people will say \u2018so what\u2019? You need to engage with them regularly throughout the year.\u201d<\/p>\n
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7. Hold a special event<\/h2>\n
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Another way to make customers feel valued is to hold an invite-only event. You can create a Christmas feel to the event while driving sales with well-targeted discounts.<\/p>\n
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\u201cI know a garden nursery business that makes around $80,000 in sales through a night event,\u201d says Templar. \u201cThey offer Champagne and finger food, made by a hospitality school so it\u2019s free. It\u2019s invitation only with a plus one, so that new customers are introduced to the business.\u201d<\/p>\n
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\u201cThey offer 25% off on the night and come October customers are asking them whether they are on the list for the Christmas event.\u201d<\/p>\n
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8. Treat your customers<\/h2>\n
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Knowing your customers means understanding what they like and dislike. Therefore, you should be in a good position to provide a treat that reflects their tastes.<\/p>\n
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Your top clients or customers may appreciate a special Christmas dinner or they may want tickets to a sporting event. Whatever you choose to do, make sure it reflects the business you are and the brand you want to represent.<\/p>\n
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9. Hampers<\/h2>\n
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Another traditional favourite, customer hampers can be tailored to suit individual customers. They also provide an opportunity to market your business and any offers you want to push to the fore.<\/p>\n
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\u201cYou can go as small or large as you like and it doesn\u2019t need to be expensive,\u201d says Templar. \u201cYou can even offer a slab of beer, if that is appropriate for the kind of business you\u2019re in.\u201d<\/p>\n
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10. Team up with another business<\/h2>\n
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Christmas is the ideal time for packaged offers. Identify another business to team up with in order to provide a joint service or experience that is offered to customers at a discount. You should also consider contributing to the work of a charity. Both of these activities will boost the image of your brand while extending the reach of your offer.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
With Christmas looming, most start-ups should already have plans in place to capitalise on the festive spending season. \u00a0 \u00a0<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2,1],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.startupsmart.com.au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/31948"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.startupsmart.com.au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.startupsmart.com.au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.startupsmart.com.au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.startupsmart.com.au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=31948"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.startupsmart.com.au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/31948\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.startupsmart.com.au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=31948"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.startupsmart.com.au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=31948"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.startupsmart.com.au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=31948"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}