The holiday season is well and truly over and won’t be here for another 11 months. While it was a crazy time for merchants everywhere, it did produce a nice bump in sales. That spike can’t be maintained for the entire year, but RepricerExpress does have some tips for you to elevate your sales in the post-holiday season.
1. Get Rid of Stale Inventory
It’s almost impossible to order the perfect amount of products so you’re not stuck with leftovers, and likely you’ll have old inventory that needs clearing. It can feel dispiriting to be surrounded by all this inventory, but the post-holiday season is a great time for getting rid of it.
There’s always a good portion of consumers looking to score a deal, eager to stock up on gifts ahead of time. And if you can provide them with a reason for parting with their money, it can be very easy to move old stock. But in order to do that, you’ll have to look at the second tip.
2. Put Together Some Sales
Pretty much every single retailer looks at January the same way: a time to offer specials on products to move them. Auto retailers do it, computer retailers do it, and clothes retailers do it. But how you do it is largely up to you.
If you’re really stuck on ideas, stick to some of the old classics, like a BOGOF sale, X% off if X amount is spent, free shipping or item over X amount spent, or just a straight up discount on items. Remember, one of the most important things Amazon looks at is conversions, so remember to sell, sell, sell.
3. Take Advantage of the Need for Instant Gratification on Social Media
Websites like Facebook, Twitter and Reddit are designed to give its users bite-sized snippets of information immediately. There’s no waiting around, you just get what you want, when you want. And the beautiful way it can work for you in clearing inventory is you can run ‘blast sales’, the types of promotions that capitalise on people’s impulsive natures on social media.
Inject the product with a lot of urgency, like saying the special will only be available for 24 hours, and watch your metrics spike up. Just make sure you directly link buyers to shopping carts for easy and fast purchasing (and also before they change their minds).
4. Start Up an Exciting Email Campaign
A new year calls for a new email marketing campaign, so flip through your virtual Rolodex and start crafting that first email of the year. What you want to accomplish with this email is a couple of things. First, you want to say hi and happy new year to your most loyal customers.
Second, you want to fill them in on what awesome things they can expect in the coming months. And third, you’ll want to offer them exclusive access to deals on your old inventory (but phrase it more enticingly than that).
5. Branch Out into the Offline World
The trend in the last couple of decades has been to bring commerce online, but why not reverse the trend a little bit? You don’t necessarily have to go completely the brick-and-mortar route like Amazon, but it’s a good idea to have face-to-face contact with some of your shoppers.
It’s a totally different way of buying items, with an added element of intimacy and personality. Plus, you get to capitalise on people’s desire to handle a product before buying it, which ups your chances of moving inventory from last year.
6. Go Entirely Brand-New and Exciting
Okay, so maybe the old stock just isn’t moving as much as you want it to, and you’re worrying about keep high sales up in the post-holiday season. Put last year’s inventory on hold (temporarily) and put the focus squarely on something new, flashy and exciting.
Take careful steps to showcase this year’s inventory in an effort to grab as many new customers as possible (and have your in-place customer base making new purchases). And, if you want to be really on top of the ball, both in the short- and long-term, consider using this time to introduce your own new brand.
