If you have a retail or service-based business, you’re likely in the thick of the holiday season, and it may feel overwhelming. Don’t panic! You still have some time to grow your small business this holiday season. To help you achieve a strong finish, here are common small business challenges that you may face in the final days of the buying season and ideas that can help you overcome them.
1. You don’t have enough of the right goods – or you’ve got too many of the wrong ones
If you have an inventory-dependent retail business, you typically have to order holiday-season goods by summer – and predicting which items will be big sellers (and which won’t) can be a tough call. That’s especially true for your small businesses with limited funds available to boost inventory.
Here are a few last-minute steps you can take if inventory levels are a concern:
- Reach out to your customers: Contact existing customers and let them know that you’re running low on popular items. This personal touch, even if it’s a group email, lets them know that you’re looking out for them while generating quick sales and fostering customer loyalty.
- Create special offers for items that aren’t selling well: Rather than wait until after the holidays, offer a promotional deal now. You could reduce the price, offer a buy-one-get-one deal, or tack on a slow-selling item at a lower cost with the purchase of a full-price item. For example, if you have a popular toy and one that’s a bit of a dud, offer the latter at a discount with the purchase of the popular toy – which moves inventory while making gift-givers feel great.
- Contact your vendors: You never know if other clients may have canceled or reduced their orders, so quick calls to your vendors are a good starting point. You may be able to score more of your popular items, and during the holiday season, every sale counts.
2. Your business is short-staffed
For many retail and service-based businesses, this season is busier than the rest of the year – and being short-staffed can have negative impacts that last well beyond the holidays. If you don’t have enough staff for the final weeks of the season, here are a few things you can do:
- Ask your employees if they have additional time available: You may have staff who wouldn’t usually be available, such as college students who are now on winter break or an employee whose holiday vacation was postponed. You may find just enough support within your current team.
- Check with similar small businesses to see if they have team members: For example, if your restaurant is short-staffed, a local caterer may have some employees who’d love the extra work. They can help by running food and drinks, bussing tables, hosting, and doing other tasks that don’t need much additional training but still alleviate pressure from key team members.
- Contact temporary-staffing agencies: Although the hourly cost may be higher due to agency fees, having a few extra people available in your business can be just enough to get you and your team through the holidays, and a temporary agency can be a great solution. For example, you could put temporary staff to work by restocking inventory or wrapping gifts, which frees up experienced team members for essential customer service.
3. Your business is missing a seasonal-marketing strategy
This season is filled with opportunities, but in today’s highly competitive business environment, you can’t assume that people will come to you simply because it’s the holidays. If you find that your business is slower than you had forecasted, it could be because you didn’t implement a seasonal marketing strategy to boost visibility and engagement.
It’s not too late to turn that around. Here are some ideas:
- Use digital channels for promotions: Thanks to the relative ease and efficiency of social media and digital marketing, there are endless ways to reach out to and engage your current and potential customers. Promote new or popular gift ideas, any seasonal sales, festive happenings in your business or district, and more – keep the content fresh and relevant and aim to inspire excitement and joy.
- Update your digital channels: Review your website, social media, and your Google My Business information. Make sure that contact information, hours, and product and service information are updated, especially if you have longer hours or additional dates that your business is open for holiday shopping. Also, be sure to turn on Google Reviews so that happy customers can help spread the word about your business.
- Offer more availability: Consider ways you can make last-minute shopping easier for your customers. Then, feature the availability of those promotions on your website, in emails to your customer list, and throughout your social media channels. If you offer gift-wrapping services, gift baskets, or year-round specials for gift-card purchases, promote these now.
4. You haven’t optimized the holiday experience for your customers
If your business feels ho-hum and your sales reflect that, too, it’s not too late to create a festive customer experience. Simple gestures can ease holiday stress for your customers and boost sales – and they’ll make the season more enjoyable for you and your team, too.
In these final days of the holiday shopping season, show your customers that you care:
- Set the right tone: Remember that a lot of the joy of the holiday season comes from festive visuals and beloved music. Incorporating simple decor, such as snowflakes, ice skates, and mittens, will add cheer without being holiday-specific, as well as the right music.
- Offer fun seasonal items at your store: You can give refreshments, like spiced cider, hot cocoa, candy canes, and cookies, to customers who shop at your store. This is festive and can be revitalizing after a long day of work. You could also offer something for those who have young children with them, like seasonal stickers.
- Initiate last-minute festivities in your store or shopping district: If there are relevant businesses around you, work together to create complimentary cross-promotions, special discounts, and other offerings, hire live musicians to add holiday spirit to your street, or brainstorm other last-minute and engaging festivities.
5. An unpredictable circumstance occurred
Sometimes, despite your best planning and efforts, things happen that throw a kink into your holiday-season sales plans. When something like this happens, your response should be helpful, creative, and quick:
- Offer gift-cards online: If you have a service-based business, contact your client list to offer gift cards or other options for purchase online or over the phone. Then, think about how to get those gifts to them – and if you can make that easier by dropping them off, it’ll go a long way in building customer loyalty.
- Reach out to your customers: If you have a client list or email list, ask customers directly about what you could do to help, and then try to find ways to make that happen. You may get answers that you hadn’t thought of or anticipated. For example, although you may not typically ship goods, you can offer to ship gifts to their recipients.
- Create online options: If a blizzard keeps customers from coming to your brick-and-mortar store and you don’t already have an online shop, use a beginner-friendly e-commerce platform to highlight your most popular seasonal offerings – and then let your customers know via email and digital media.
If your business is running into problems other than these, don’t panic – use this guide to help you brainstorm ideas to solve your specific challenges. There’s a solution for every problem, so don’t let yours keep you from a terrific and profitable holiday season.
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