The holiday season can make or break the year for many businesses, especially in retail, hospitality, and e-commerce. As November arrives, the holiday rush is right around the corner, and being prepared is the key to making the most of it. Proper preparation ensures a smooth experience for customers and staff while maximizing profits. In this blog, we’ll provide a brief list of things you can check off when it comes to getting ready for the holiday rush!
Marketing & Advertising
- Finalize holiday offers and sales
- Finalize holiday marketing graphics and copy
- Start running holiday ads
- Plan out marketing strategy
- Run tests of your website if you’re utilizing e-commerce
- Update your website to reflect your current stock and sales
- Develop a post-holiday plan for staying in touch with customers
- Prepare deadline posts and emails to remind customers how much time they have left to get certain products by a holiday
- Advertise any holiday events you’ll be hosting or attending
Remember, whether your marketing team is in-house or an outside agency, holiday marketing campaigns take time. It’s important to start these campaigns as early as possible. Also, the end of the year is busy for everyone, so work with your team to get your end-of-the-year sales marketing planned and scheduled ahead of time to ensure there are no delays!
Inventory & Shipping
- Stock up on inventory
- Assess last year’s sales data
- Double-check that your inventory management system is effective
- Make sure your shipping and delivery system is in place and efficient
- Establish hard shipping deadlines for each major holiday
While it might be a little late to order more inventory, there are still plenty of things you can do to prepare your inventory. Ensuring that your inventory is being properly managed, your staff is familiar with new inventory, and your shipping systems are optimized for the holiday rush will help save you time and sanity as the height of holiday shopping grows closer!
Staffing & Procedure
- Prepare your staff for the holiday rush
- Train on any new systems or offers
- Hire supplemental staff if needed
- Create a clear procedural guide to help any temporary staff
- Make sure that you have a customer service plan in place, whether it’s in person or online
- Mitigate overloading your staff – holidays will always be busy, but make sure you’re not burning out employees
Embrace the spirit of the season when it comes to your staff. When it comes to celebrating your staff members, give back to them in meaningful ways that are attainable for your business. If they’re coming in early, provide coffee and breakfast for the team. If they’re staying late, bring in dinner. Give them gifts that are meaningful to them as individuals, whether it’s tangible items, holiday bonuses, or flexible scheduling after the holidays to say thank you!
