Preparing for the Festive Season: 10 Creative Ways To Boost Sales

The festive season is known to be one of the busiest times of the year for retailers, rivaling the likes of Black Friday and count-down Christmas shopping for spikes in consumer demand.

According to the National Retail Federation, consumer spending is expected to be $902 per person on average in 2024.

(Source: NRF)

If you find yourself scrambling to make the most of this potentially lucrative period, you need to focus on delivering the best experience for your customers and coming up with creative ways to increase your sales.

In this blog post, you’ll discover 10 ways to set yourself up for success with your store at Christmas so you can reap the rewards at the turn of the New Year.

Christmas Shopping Trends To Look Out For In 2024

Before we jump into the list of creative ways to boost your festive sales, let’s take a closer look at some of the shopping trends shaping the high streets this Christmas.

Brick & Mortar Vs Ecommerce

One of the most influential changes we’ve seen during the festive season each year is the rise of e-commerce-based shopping.

As customers swap brick-and-mortar browsing for late-night scroll sessions, ecommerce stores have raked in revenue in the past few years. The persistent dominance of online shopping has changed the way many people view the high street.

With options for next-day delivery, global shipping, and buy-now-pay-later available in just a few clicks, it’s no surprise that e-commerce-based shopping is so popular during a busy festive season.

This said experts at BDO have reported a 1.7% increase in in-store sales in the run-up to the 2024 festive season. This suggests that more retailers are adapting to a phygital future of shopping.

This includes introducing omnichannel shopping options such as click-and-collect, adding interactive shopping elements such as AR/VR experiences, and turning the store into a vibrant holiday destination an Instagram story won’t want to miss.

Grocery Spend Is Up

As we get closer to Christmas, major supermarkets have also expressed some cautious optimism leading up to the big day.

Christmas food spending is predicted to rise by 4% this year as shoppers begin to indulge once again after some tighter, post-COVID years. 

“Inflation and concerns over the cost of living dominated the consumer’s minds during Christmas 2023, and there were clear signs that customers were holding back,” claims Forbes retail expert Catherine Erdly. “Now, in 2024, with the Consumer Price Index showing inflation back down to the low single digits, customers appear more prepared to spend.

This could encourage more competition between major supermarket brands and influence numerous generous offers from store to store as they battle it out to win over the festive food shopper.

The Festive Build-Up

This year, Christmas Day falls on a Wednesday, which has shifted consumer shopping behavior on the build-up to the big day.

Unlike last year’s Monday Christmas, a mid-week date allows for a more gradual festive preparation.

We’ll likely see a busy final weekend where customers rush to the high street to make use of heavy discounts and indulge in last-minute gift buying.

Monday and Tuesday will offer one final window for late shoppers, food prep, and stocking fillers, offering online and in-store retailers one last chance to score a festive conversion. 

The Impact of Luxury Promotions 

Did you know that the average price of luxury products has increased by 52% since the onset of Covid-19?

While the quality of products has remained largely the same, designer brands such as Gucci, Chanel, Prada, and Hermès are becoming more exclusive by the day.

However, when it comes to Black Friday and the festive season, some of these luxury brands offer killer promotions that attract a new wave of high-end shopping.

Take Net-a-Porter, for example. After offering up to 50% off on their winter season stock during the Black Friday sales, they attracted bargain-hunters galore. The question is, how could this affect the high street?

As high-street retailers try to win back shoppers, we’ll likely see a rise in ‘dupe culture’, a phenomenon centered around creating high-end style products without the luxury price tag. 

How To Prepare Your Own Store For Festive Success

Now that we’ve covered some of the most influential trends likely to shake up the high street this Christmas, let’s jump into a list of strategies you can use to improve your holiday marketing.

From personalizing your shopping experience to setting up a seasonal loyalty bonus scheme, here are 10 ways to prepare for Christmas 2024.

1. Create Limited-Time Holiday Bundles

With consumers set to pay, on average, $25 more per person in 2024 than in 2023, you need to think about what consumers are looking for.

When presented with several options to buy a particular product, many consumers will default to what they think is the best deal. It’s at times like this that you need to get creative and offer limited-time product bundles that feel like gift-wrapped Christmas specials.

That way, consumers are far more likely to opt for the same product/s from your store than your competitor’s. By strategically grouping products, you can curate gifts that customers can buy for loved ones to solve their Christmas shopping woes.

The urgency of offering it as a Christmas limited-time deal can help you seal the deal.

2. Present Festive Discounts 

Since 62% of consumers plan to finish their Christmas shopping in December, it’s important to meet consumers where they’re at. Many are looking for last-minute cut-price deals during the festive period, especially since Christmas can be an expensive time of year for families.

To appeal to these consumers and turn on-the-fence store visitors into buyers, you can set up festive discounts or flash sales to appeal to their pursuit of a cost-effective deal.

You can also set up separate deals that are exclusively available to members of a loyalty program, which can encourage sign-ups and more sales.

3. Personalize the Shopping Experience

Christmas is often sold to us as the time of year when it pays to be thoughtful. As a result, focusing on personalization is an excellent way to encourage store visitors to make a purchase. 

Better still, why not leverage AI-powered personalization? Target past customers with automated tailored product recommendations and exclusive offers, using the data you collect with your POS to personalize the shopping experience.

Consumers want to feel as if you know what’s relevant to them. If they often look at certain fragrances, Christmas is a great opportunity to send a personalized email showcasing any deals you have on perfumes.

4. Set up a Festive-Themed Loyalty Bonus

If you don’t already have one, setting up a festive-themed loyalty bonus is a great way to incentivize consumers to make purchases at your store.

If you already have a program set up, you can offer an exclusive deal during the festive period, such as bonus festive points when they buy holiday-themed products. That way, you can appeal to both existing members and pique the interest of non-members.”

5. Offer Gift Wrapping and Personalization

Sometimes, a little goes a long way. If you’re looking to convince consumers to buy from your store, why not throw in a free gift-wrapping service or personalization option?

Whenever you remove friction from the consumer’s life, you make it easier for them to say yes to your offers. If you take the stress of gift wrapping presents and personalizing presents away from them, they’re much more likely to choose your store over an alternative.

6. Take a Hint From Netflix 

Just like Netflix has built a business model around showing you what’s trending and what “others” are watching, you, too, can leverage social proof to sell more from your store.

(Image Source: AdWeek)

Consumers are often led by the behavior of others, so if you let them know what other people are raving about or recommend, it’s easier to be decisive and make a purchase rather than sitting on the fence and ultimately choosing nothing.

7. Make it Easier to Pay From a Mobile

Since 57% of all adults are shopping online, it’s important to know that many consumers will be looking at your store on their mobile devices. To capitalize on this growing trend, learn how to target mobile buyers and make it as seamless as possible for consumers to explore your store and checkout from their mobile devices.

(Source: NRF)

Dive into your POS system to optimize the checkout process and streamline the mobile experience in your store.

A POS (Point of Sale) system is the software (and hardware) you can use to manage transactions, collect sales data, and streamline your operations.

8. Create Gift Bundles

Gift bundling is something that can be done online or in-store to increase your average order value during the festive season.

Whether you create physical gift sets of your most popular products or introduce a gift-bundle deal that allows a customer to purchase a number of specific items to redeem a discount offer, gift bundles always sell well during the holiday season.

Gift sets are some of the best sellers during the run-up to Christmas, as they are often packaged in festive boxes and are themed around the festive period with seasonal scents and holiday colors.

In order to create a successful gift bundle scheme, ensure that your POS inventory supports product bundling. This will allow checkout cashiers to complete the transaction in a single scan and will automatically re-sync your stock levels as multiple items fly off of the shelf in one purchase.

9. Use Email To Drive Sales

If you want to skyrocket your sales in the lead-up to Christmas, it could be time to take your targeting strategy one step further.

A great place to start is your existing customer base. If you’re planning on offering discounts galore, targeting your loyal, repeat buyers will raise your chances of securing a sale.

One way to do this is to release an email marketing campaign to your subscribers, offering them a personalized, exclusive offer to be enjoyed before the big day.

“Holiday email marketing this year is all about personalization and exclusivity,” claims Jamie Domenici, chief marketing officer at Klaviyo.

Segment your email database and send content relevant to your multiple buyer personas. For example, if one group of buyers frequently purchased beauty products from your store, offer them an exclusive offer on hair care products or a last-minute 25% off on Christmas party makeup.

This not only increases your open rate, but a large percentage of your customer base may also benefit from an added abandoned cart reminder to help you secure some more conversions.

10. Customize Your Site Design

Your website landing page is your online shop window, so it’s important to customize it regularly to reflect seasonal trends and festive holidays.

Using this opportunity, why not add simple CTA buttons to your online storefront that help guide customers to your Christmas promotions?

(Image Source: Sephora)

Take Sephora, for example. Their festive homepage is designed to attract engagement from online shoppers. From holiday set bundles to the ‘Latest Line Up’, they have segmented popular gifting options for easy navigation.

By adding a ‘Shop Now’ CTA, customers can easily identify the category they are looking for and immediately start browsing. This type of convenience breeds conversions, making for the perfect holiday-selling technique.

Tailoring your website to the holiday season helps foster a more positive customer shopping experience, especially in a competitive online high street.

Capitalize on the Christmas Rush

Don’t let this year slip you by - capitalize on the Christmas rush by optimizing your store so you can make more sales.

Consider what the consumer is looking for at this time of year, and use that perspective to tailor your offers to their needs. 

Dig into your customer data to see what sells well during the festive period, build out festive bundles, and incentivize loyalty program sign-ups to make the most of this busy period.

The Christmas period may be competitive, but those who prepare ahead of time will reap the benefits of mass consumerism.