2009-11-30
5 Ways to Drive Sales for the Holidays in 2009

Retailers rely on a strong holiday season to make their year. But few retailers did well at the end of 2008; holiday sales fell 2.2%, the biggest decline in decades. With the recession, many retailers resort to slashing prices. But sales results can be undercut by those discounts. For this holiday season, retailers need to find more ways to attract customers than price. Here are some ways retailers can drive sales during the holidays.

1. Adjust for the reality of shopper behavior
Marketing ROI is more important than ever right now, so spend where you'll get the most results. A recent global shopper study revealed that in the U.S., 39% of shoppers decide inside the store which brand they will purchase. 29% of shoppers buy products impulsively in-store, and a product display triggers impulse buying more than any other in-store activity. Promotional pricing was one of the least effective marketing activities in-store at triggering an impulse purchase or brand choice. Right now, growth in online shopping is still in double digits, but the pace is slowing. Consumers are going online not to just comparison shop but to seek out coupons and discounts to take with them to the store. For example, 22% more U.S. consumers are shopping at retail with coupons they accessed online.

2. Maximize your email campaign's effectiveness
Don’t follow the impulse to drastically increase your email frequency, make it more relevant instead. Remember that many retailers will double or triple their email frequencies during this time. And while you may seem some short term gains, you risk losing valuable contacts by annoying customers; which leads to spam complaints. Use this time to gain valuable knowledge about which emails are your most effective by having single use coupons that can be tracked to the point of sale. When you send your emails this holiday season, remember to send your email as optimized HTML instead of just images. ALL major ISP default their email applications to block images, so it's an extra step for customers to look at your email. Create a sense of urgency, as it becomes closer to the holiday your emails should say for instance, "Only 5 days left!"

3. Make buying on your online site easy to choose and fun to use
Make it simple for customers to shop for others and for others to shop for them with online wish lists. The usage of wish lists online increased from 25% in 2007 to 35% in 2008. Another great tool is suggestion selling …look at your customer's past purchases and send emails that offer great gift ideas in that category at different price points. Allow online consumers to design and send personalized e-cards to their friends and family. Allowing customers to design cards on your site will drive traffic, and is a great way to get consumer attention. Be sure to include the option to opt in to receive your company email newsletters when they create the card.

4. Segment your marketing efforts
Don't give away more discounts than is necessary to motivate consumers to purchase. Instead, make the minimum offer to each individual consumer that will motivate them to purchase. In order to do this, you would have to have done segmentation analysis throughout the year to see how different customers reacting to various incentive offers. Even with the state of the economy, consumer focus on environmentally safe goods cannot be ignored. If you have environmentally safe goods, the holidays are a good time to emphasize that attribute. Concentrate on your loyal customers (20% of customers typically account for 80% of sales). Send cards and emails to your loyal customers for special shopping experiences or discounts on shipping.

5. Create excitement by providing in store demonstrations
Studies show that the choice of brand in-store is triggered by a product demo more than any other promotional activity. Customers want to try before they buy and those who do are more likely to be satisfied with their purchase. Did you know that CosPro can provide experienced make up artists to give in-store makeovers with your product on a national level? Call the CosPro Agency for details on our demo programs.