It’s the most wonderful time of the year. For some small businesses, Christmas is a quiet time to reflect and plan for the year ahead, but for others it’s their busiest and most important period. The pressure is on to make the most of the festive season, which can account for a sizeable chunk of the year’s takings, and it’s no easy feat – cashflow can be problematic, stock management tricky, staffing a headache and cutting through in a saturated market even more difficult.
But there are ways for small traders to capitalise on Christmas and make the best of the end-of-year sales.
It’s never too early to start planning
To ensure the extra demand can be met, your business strategy should be nailed down as soon as possible, says Lucy Patterson, managing director at mobile beauty service MILK. Its 250 corporate clients treat their teams to blow dries, makeup and manicures at Christmas – bookings increased 300% last year and the company expects 2017 to be the same.
“Our key challenge is recruiting and onboarding enough stylists and technicians ahead of the Christmas season,” she says. “We only recruit the top 7% of applicants, so finding superstars to join the team takes advanced planning.”
Tammy Koslowski, director of NAF! Salon, a nail salon in Glasgow with its own product range, places similar importance on planning ahead. “We have quite a large team so we need to start prepping in August, and that’s even too late sometimes,” she says. “Be realistic about what’s achievable and make a plan. Set targets and try to beat them, this will provide some sort of structure within the madness.”
Be bold and unique
You have to be brave enough to offer something different, whether it’s a special service or a unique range of products, says Alice Howard, owner of Botanique Workshop, a London-based flower shop.
“I also take reassurance from buying [stock] that can still be on the shelves after Christmas – I don’t like to depend too heavily on things that are totally Christmas specific as you can lose your margin quickly if you have to heavily reduce what’s left over.”
Howard adds extra product ranges at Christmas: stocking fillers, Christmas cards and decorations, some of which she makes herself.
Anna Clark, founder of mobile food business Anna Mae’s Mac ‘N’ Cheese, is similarly insistent about the importance of originality. “Christmas can be really overdone and cheesy, but keep the fun element and add some of your own originality and it’ll keep you fresh in a saturated market.” She relishes the opportunity to create different flavour combinations at Christmas for private events, which are more frequent at this time of year. “We’ve done Christmas specials from the very classic brie, smoked turkey and cranberry, to mac with mini stuffing balls, crispy sprout leaves and whiskey sauce.”
Introduce special deals
While new stock can pay off, it’s not a straightforward task. Introducing festive deals on your existing offering, however, requires very little effort. This year, neighbourhood restaurant Ben’s Canteen in south-west London will be extending its bottomless fizz offer to Christmas parties, to draw crowds away from glitzy central London locations that people may be more likely to gravitate towards.
“We’re famous for our bottomless bubbles that we run every Saturday from 4-6pm,” says Ben Walton, its director. “We decided to extend this to our Christmas offers, giving people excellent value and a set price, which always helps when organising a group.” In addition, to help boost Christmas revenue, the restaurant will be selling a bottled version of its bloody mary mix, Bloody Bens, as an alternative gift and Christmas party hangover cure.
Extend your existing services
Christmas is a hectic time for shoppers too, so make it as easy and stress-free as possible for them to engage with your business.
“We tend to modify our opening hours and appointment times rather than adding in extra services,” says Koslowski from NAF! Salon, adding that they go further over the festive season to accommodate group bookings.
Triangle, an independent design store in east London, takes a similar approach at Christmas by extending and perfecting its existing offerings. “Offer longer opening hours for after-work shoppers and make sure your online shopping experience and delivery offering is efficient and reliable,” co-owner Mary Wagstaff advises small businesses. “Know your bestsellers and be well stocked.”
Maintain your usual standard – and don’t depend on Christmas
Don’t introduce products or services that you wouldn’t otherwise offer just because it’s Christmas, Wagstaff says. “Stay true to who you are. Don’t panic-buy products you don’t believe in just to fill shelf space. Plan your winter collections early in the year and have a solid buying plan.”
Triangle offers customers specially curated gift boxes, but it doesn’t fill up on Christmas novelty items or things that wouldn’t make the cut the rest of the year. “Christmas is a great time to make extra sales – our turnover doubles in December compared with any other month – but we don’t rely heavily on it or pay it a huge amount of attention as so many big retailers seem to,” she adds. “I’d rather focus on making consistent sales to loyal customers all year round than hang all my hopes on Christmas. It seems a risky strategy for a small business.”
Spread a little Christmas cheer
This starts with your staff. “If you hire staff, make sure you’re clear about what hours they’ll be doing, what holidays they can expect and what you expect from them over the festive season,” says Koslowski. “Reward hard work and good custom, too. It’s the season of giving after all.”
Consider Christmas as a chance to hunker down and enjoy some well-deserved time off after the busy season. “I love the adrenaline that comes from the bustle of the festive period, but then once it’s over the sense of achievement as I lock the doors on Christmas Eve and don’t come back until the new year is pretty good too,” says Howard. “Between Christmas and new year is the only time we close, so it’s the only time I can switch out of shopkeeping mode.
