Christmas seems to start earlier every year and if you’re a retail operation, you’ve probably been preparing for months. But whatever your business, the Christmas period can be fraught with as many frustrations as opportunities.
This step-by-step guide to preparing for the festive season will keep your business warm, even when it’s cold outside.
Deliver on your promises
Offering reliable and quick delivery is one area where your independent business can really steal a march from the larger retailers. The last couple of Christmases have been dogged by news stories about late delivery of Christmas gifts and nothing puts consumers off shopping like the risk that parcels will not arrive on time.
If you already offer delivery, make sure you provide as many delivery options as possible. Perhaps free local delivery will set you apart from the competition, or you could offer next-day delivery for late buyers.
For those businesses thinking about delivery options, recent startups like Nimber can be a godsend. Using a business model similar to Uber’s, Nimber connects drivers with small businesses to create networks of drivers to cost effectively deliver your products – no sleigh required.
Make your regular customers feel special
According to behavioural economists, it only takes three purchases from a service or local business to turn casual customers into regulars. And on average these repeat visitors spend up to five times more than first time purchasers.
Creating special offers and personalized deals for your regulars can be a great way to boost your Christmas trading, as well as build loyalty among your most valuable clients.
Now is the time to look through your email lists and customer data and to start sending personalised messages to your most loyal customers with offers and upgrades based on their previous interactions with your business. And don’t overlook the value of a simple Christmas card to make customers feel valued.
Refer, Refer, Refer
Whatever your business, rewarding regular clients for referring you to friends and family can be a great way to reach new clients. Offer your regulars a free incentive for referring a friend to your business - even a small discount for first-time customers can really make a difference to your bottom line.
Stay on top of the financials
Late payment is a perennial problem for small business owners and a study in February, by Bacs [PDF] suggested that more than half of all small businesses wait more than 30 days for late payments. This problem is only exacerbated during the festive weeks as customers rush to purchase, but delay payments until the New Year, presenting cash-flow issues for independent business owners.
Advance preparation can make all the difference for ensuring that cash keeps flowing through the season of slow payments.
Aim to get any outstanding jobs or billing cycles completed by the first week of December in order to get them in front of clients before the Christmas rush really kicks off. Issue invoices promptly, making sure that payment terms are clearly stated and don’t be afraid to start chasing late payers.
Accounting software packages can be really helpful for staying on top of late payers, allowing small business owners access to up-to-the-moment information about each customer’s status.
Negotiate with your suppliers
A survey this year by the Forum of Private Business (Fpb) found that nearly half of all small business owners felt bullied by larger suppliers, with 47% saying they were not open to negotiating terms.
If this is your experience, it may be time to start shopping around. Many independent suppliers are open to discussing preferential terms for new customers or for selected trial periods. Take some time through November to look at alternative sources that may allow you to defer some of your outgoings until Christmas is over.
Control your stock
It may sound obvious, but holding more stock than you need is a common mistake many independent businesses make over the Christmas period. Be realistic about what you will sell and before you place that order, check some of last year’s actual sales figures and order accordingly.
Get social
Despite the reach and opportunity presented by social media, UK statistics suggest that up to 75% of SMEs are still not capitalizing on these promotional channels. If you business isn’t on social, it almost certainly should be.
While Facebook is still the biggest social channels available to businesses, it is not the only option. Twitter is an easy way to keep your customers up-to-date on your latest offers and Instagram provides the perfect platform for pictures of Christmas ideas. Pinterest on the other hand allows you to make holiday specific boards on which to pin products, complete with appealing descriptions and price.
Digital advertising
When it comes to cost-effective, localised advertising, digital channels may also offer a better ROI than the traditional small ad in the local press. Google’s ad tools, Adwords or Google Shopping, offer some great opportunities to get your business in front of highly targeted customers in your local area. Be aware that in the run up to Christmas competition will be tougher for specific keywords, so get your bids in early.
As an alternative, Facebook advertising can be an incredibly powerful tool for getting the word out. Simple to set up and flexible to every budget this is a great platform for getting pictures of your products and services in front of highly targeted local audiences.
A great tip is to increase your digital ad spend over key dates, tailoring your messages to specific Christmas related topics. Big dates to watch out for include:
- Black Friday: 28 November
- Cyber Monday: 1 December
- Last Date for Shipping/Post: 17 December
- Christmas Day: 25 December
- Post-Christmas Sales: 27 December
- New Year’s Day: 1 January 2015
If you work in B2B, it might be worth pausing campaigns altogether during this period and wait until potential clients have come back to their desks.
Check your website
Your website is the digital shop window for your business, so take a little time to ensure everything is in tip-top shape before the panic buying begins. And for those running e-commerce sites, it’s probably worth investing in extra bandwidth for the duration of the festive season to cope with the rush.
It’s also important to put any seasonal deals front and centre of the site and test web pages regularly. In many cases abandoned baskets at check-out are due to unnoticed technical faults. To counteract any potential problems, consider sending follow up emails to customers that abandoned their purchases at the final payment stage.
However you spend the holiday period, just a bit of forward planning can keep your cash registers ringing, setting your business up for a prosperous New Year.
Content on this page is paid for and provided by Kia Fleet sponsor of the Guardian Small Business Network Accessing Expertise hub.
