The holiday shopping season is off to a rollicking start. According to the National Retail Federation (NRF) 189.6 million consumers shopped the five days from Thanksgiving to Cyber Monday—a record number. Projections are that trend will continue—in fact, eMarketer predicts will ring up sales of more than $1 trillion over the holidays.
But does all this largess in November and December mean January sales will suffer, getting your New Year off to a less than auspicious start? Not necessarily—with a little effort you can lay the foundation for success in 2020.
Consumers often need extra incentive to spend in January. They’re dealing with the credit card bills from their holiday shopping sprees, trying to keep New Year’s resolutions to spend less and fighting frigid winter weather.
So, what can you do to fight all that? Here are 10 tips that might help:
1—Plant the seeds now. Cultivate customers. When your store is crowded with December shoppers, start cementing your relationship with them—both your regular customers and the new ones that discovered you for the first time. Capture their names and add them to your email lists. Once you have them signed up, craft more engaging emails with these tips from AWeber.
2—Get involved with the community. Host a fundraiser for a local school or charity. Donate a part of your profits to the cause. This will not only bring people into your business but will show your community you’re giving back.
3—“Woo” your new customers. How do you lure first-time holiday shoppers back into your store in January? Send them a thank-you email this month while their shopping experience is still fresh in their minds. But you’ll likely need to sweeten the pot a bit—include a promotional offer that starts in January.
4—Promos. Speaking of promotional offers, consumers are always looking for a bargain these days. Offer all of your customers a reason to come into your store in January, whether it’s a clearance sale, a product that complements what they purchased during the holidays, or just a simple “we want to get to know you better” discount.
5—New year, new look. Is it time to give your marketing messages a New Year’s makeover? Check out the AWeber Smart Designer, which can help you create new email templates in a flash—while reflecting your brand and saving you money on design. This great tool works so quickly, you can create your new look this month and be ready to launch in January.
6—Embrace the future of email marketing. It’s now possible to incorporate dynamic, interactive elements in your email marketing with AMP for Email. AWeber recently added one of the most popular AMP for Email features—an image carousel—to its drag & drop email builder, making it easy for marketers to provide more visual context without taking up additional space in messages.
7—Help people keep their resolutions. Depending on what type of business you own, you can tap into common New Year’s resolutions. If you own a restaurant, promote the healthy options on your menu. If you’re in the wellness, fitness or beauty business, you can craft a campaign around the idea of “taking some me time.”
8—Out with the old. Clear out your slow-moving merchandise. Bundle products together creating bargain packages.
9—In with the new. January is the perfect time to “test” some new products, menu items, services. Don’t shake things up too much but look for items that are complementary to your current merchandise mix. Service businesses should consider adding retail products.
10—Gift cards. As we mentioned in our last post, gift cards are a popular gift item this holiday season, with the NRF predicting 59% of consumers plan to buy gift cards. So, for the rest of this month, promote the sale of gift cards. You could offer a small discount, or a larger one if people buy a multi-pack. Gift cards are the gift that keeps on giving. They not only bring people back into your store or onto your website, but people generally spend more once they’re there than the face value of the card.
Whatever you do, you need to promote it. An integrated campaign of social media and email marketing can be crafted quickly this month and deployed in January to reach the most customers.
In partnership with AWeber.
January stock photo by MidoSemsem/Shutterstock
