Our Top 5 Tips for Increasing Sales at Christmas

With a little over 3 weeks to go until December arrives, now is the time to ensure your shop is prepared. As one who has worked many many Christmas’s and long hours over the festive season I can tell you that once December hits, the only thing you want to be focussing on is making (and increasing!) sales.

With this is mind, here are our tips for increasing sales this Christmas.

Let’s start from the front!

The sales racks outside your shop should not only entice the customer to the front of your store, but inside as well. Choose items that are a great price point and that you have multiple items of – there is nothing less appealing than a half empty rack at the front of a store. Replenish the frontlines often, and make sure they are clearly marked with the correct price point. Go for a low price point of a great selling item if you can.

If you have enough staff, have a team member at the front of the store to assist customers in choosing their items from the frontlines and also to greet and farewell customers as they come and go.

Be aware of security issues when choosing products for your frontlines. I have worked in shops where entire frontlines of stock have been wheeled away during busy periods – so make sure they have security tags if possible!

Make it easy for customers

Have you ever been that customer in the supermarket that runs in for ‘just 2 things’, then gets sidetracked with all of the other items they need to buy and wishes they had picked up a basket? For me, when this happens and my hands are full, my aim is to get out of the store as soon as possible – if only supermarkets had shopping baskets available throughout the store this wouldn’t be such a problem, and I’m sure I would buy more!

Make it easy on your customers and supply shopping baskets not just at the front of the store, but throughout the store also. Train your staff members to watch for customers who are struggling with multiple items and approach them with a basket. Another idea is to offer canvas/recyclable bags with your stores names printed on the outside, which can be great advertising even after the customer has left the store.

Make it quick.

Although it can be frustrating working in retail at Christmas, it can be just an frustrating for a customer to shop at Christmas. Chances are the customer in front of you has waited in traffic to arrive at the shopping centre, waited for a car park, waited for the lift, waited as the crowds of customers pushed and shoved, and even after all of this they have somehow ended up in your store ready to spend their hard earned money with you – so try not to make them wait longer than necessary.

Aim to have all sizes of products on the shop floor and replenish them as they sell so you don’t have to hunt for sizes with the customer standing in front of you. Teach you staff to multitask and serve more than one customer at a time if needed. Train your staff early to use the register quickly and efficiently. If you are comfortable, empower your staff to make decisions in regards to refunds and exchanges, so they don’t have to wait for you to complete the transaction, or even worse, ‘call the manager/owner to authorise the refund’.

The Price is Right $$

More often than not, customers are looking to save money at Christmas…and every other time of year! Try to merchandise your store to start with the cheapest items at the front, leading to the more expensive ones at the back. This will allow a nice flow of price points throughout your store.

Make sure each price point is clearly signed and that the product on the rack matches the price point. Price points such as ‘From $14.99’ are more enticing than ‘$30 and under’.

Don’t be afraid to add on!

It’s important to merchandise your counter strategically to increase sales at the counter. Don’t try to add on ‘everything’ because your counter will just get messy and cluttered. Choose 1 or 2 key items and set a goal to add on to each sale. Items that work particularly well are those that can be used as a Kris Kringle gifts with a $10 or $20 price point. If a product doesn’t sell well over the course of the day, choose a different item to focus on the next.

Ask your customers questions and listen to the answers – you might just sell what they are looking for. Better yet, ask them if they have a Christmas Shopping List, and help them tick it off in your store.

You can read my thoughts on where I believe a lot of small businesses are missing obvious add on sales here.

And remember to make it fun – provide snacks and drinks for your staff members, offer regular breaks, roster accordingly, congratulate your team on large sales and excellent service, and take a break from playing Christmas music every now and then (don’t worry, no one will forget it’s Christmas, and chances are, customers have been forced to listen to carols in every other shop they’ve been in before yours!).

Merry Christmas from all the team at Shelves for Shops!