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5 Key Holiday Sales Tips

Need some holiday sales tips?

The big holiday gift buying season is already starting, so here are 5 key holiday sales tips you need to know.

1. Start Your Black Friday Sale Now

I personally believe that this year’s holiday sales will be a mix of retail AND online because one of the biggest problems last year was the postal system was not prepared for the huge increase in online shopping.

As a result, many online stores had numerous customer complaints about packages not arriving in time for Christmas, even though the store themselves had shipped in plenty of time.

A lot of customers got burned by this, so they will either be shopping online MUCH EARLIER this year (way before Black Friday) or they will return to shopping in stores to ensure they have gift in hand.

This might be why Google searches for “Christmas gifts” have DOUBLED in the past week.

As such, I have been advising my ecommerce clients to offer their Black Friday sales as soon as possible, even now, and not make people wait until Black Friday. Even Amazon has already started.

The key is to let customers know this is the SAME OFFER you will be making on Black Friday, so if they are holding out for a better deal, there won’t be one. This way you get the early sales and not lose out to the bigger brands. So email all of your customers THIS WEEK with your early bird Black Friday offer.

2. Do Not Overestimate Demand

You might not want to base this year’s inventory on last year’s sales, since 2020 was an abnormality with retail shopping not being an option. Retail is not only back this year, but the number of online stores has also drastically INCREASED.

There are now 1.75 million Shopify stores, with 680,000 new stores opening in 2020. Etsy stores also increased from 2.7 million in 2019 to 4.3 million in 2020. On Amazon, 1.3 million additional sellers joined the marketplace last year.

So, I am advising my ecommerce clients to base this year’s holiday sales estimates on 2019 holiday sales to make sure they have enough in stock, but are not stuck with overstock, unless you think you can still sell your inventory for Valentine’s Day sales.

That being said, do DO NOT let Etsy listings get down to “1 in stock” or the listing will deactivate, fall out of search results and take forever to re-rank, and you will miss out on those holiday sales.

3. Fill Orders Quickly

Last year, a lot of Etsy shops had their shops temporarily put ON HOLD by Etsy, during the big Christmas rush, due to having too many outstanding orders. I am not sure what the magic number is before your shop is put on hold, but you will want to fulfill and close orders as quickly as possible, or else it could cost you days of valuable holiday sales.

4. Change Up Your SEO Game

You would be amazed at how many people search for Christmas gifts using the following adjectives: GOOD, BEST, COOL, THOUGHTFUL, HOTTEST, TOP, POPULAR, 2021, so incorporate these keywords into your holiday SEO. Discover hundreds more top holiday search phrases in my Best-Selling Etsy Holiday Sales Planner.

5. Up Your Social Media Game

If you want your business to get noticed on social media, try answering the Most Searched Google Questions in November, such as:

When does Diwali start?
When to thaw out turkey?
When was the first Thanksgiving?
When does Hanukkah start?
Find more in my best-selling 365 Day Social Media Posting Calendar

Or even just post the top searched recipes in November:

Pumpkins scones
Pumpkin bread
Hot buttered rum
Apple cider mimosa
Spiked hot chocolate
Thanksgiving leftovers

Always make sure that your shop url is on the post graphic!

Big Opportunity!

Last November, I wrote about Why Having Your Own Advent Calendar is an Amazing Marketing Tool. Well Etsy announced that searches for pet advent calendars have gone up 137% in the last 3 months, Google also shows that dog, beauty and kids advent calendars are breakout searches for the past 30 days. In fact, demand for advent calendars has DOUBLED in the last 4 years. Advent starts November 28th, so you need your advent calendar in your store today.

Book a 30-minute phone consultation with me to get personalized advice on how you can maximize sales this holiday season.

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If you sell online and are looking for some creative marketing ideas to help increase holiday sales at your online shop, try some of these:

Don’t Just Promote Gift Ideas

Position your products not just as potential gifts, but also sell as part of the holiday experience. For example, include a fly-out on the product photo that says, “Ideal Christmas Party Outfit” or “For the Holiday Table” or “Perfect for Santa Photo”.

Offer a Flat Shipping Rate

High shipping costs do turn customers away. However, if you can’t offer free shipping, then offer a “Holiday Flat Shipping Rate” such as $8 or $9.95. This way there are no surprises at checkout and no abandoned carts.

Screen shot 2013-12-08 at 7.31.57 PM

Add a Little Holiday Décor

I love these animated “snowing” photos on West Elm’s site and the holly decorations at Ones Kings Lane.

Allow for the Creation of a Wish List

Give customers the ability to make a wish list and email it to themselves or the potential gift giver. If you can’t do that, then encourage them to pin your products to their Christmas Gift Wish Board (if they don’t have one, you just gave them the idea).

Promote Gift Cards

You should have a separate listing for a gift card and at the end of each product listing remind buyers again with either a link or icon that tells the buyer, “Can’t Decide? Go for our Gift Card, available here…”.

Holiday Promotional Ideas for Your Online Shop

Create Gift Inspiration Boards

Get together with some other complimentary online stores (not competitive) and create a Gift Inspiration Board. Then all of you circulate it on your social media sites extending the reach of it even further.

Holiday Promotional Ideas for Your Online Shop

Gift Inspiration Board at Eat.Drink.Shop.Love

Get Found on Social Media

Use your hash tags when promoting your products on Twitter, Tumblr, Instagram and Pinterest such as #gift, #Christmas, #GiftForHer, etc.

Holiday Promotional Ideas for Your Online Shop

Remind Buyers of Less Obvious Recipients

Not all gifts are for him or her. There are a lot of searches such as, “gifts for boyfriend’s parents”, “gifts for Dad who has everything”, “gift for employees” (get those volume sales!), and “ideas for stocking stuffers”.

Holiday Promotional Ideas for Your Online Shop

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