It’s the holiday season. The retailers gear up to handle the extra footfall while the customers start preparing checklists for holiday shopping.
Being a retailer, you will encounter a variety of customers. Some create their shopping plans months ahead of the holiday season. Others procrastinate to the very last minute. These last-minute shoppers may be in a hurry to purchase and are often indecisive about what to buy.
Let’s explore tactics to attract and win over these last-minute holiday shoppers.
Tips to convert last-minute holiday shoppers
1. Promote your store.
When last-minute shoppers start hunting for products online, it’s imperative that your store pops up. Take advantage of social media to attract customers to your store. Create posts highlighting any promotional holiday deals that you are running. This will inform your existing followers, and by running ads, you can also drive traffic to your store from a new set of customers. If you also sell online, then your online store should be optimized for the season. You can add holiday-specific banners, also highlighting any flash sales that you are running.
During the festive period, customers are emotionally charged. Your store should resonate with them. Decorate your store to catch the attention of holiday shoppers. After all, it is likely that customers would be attracted to a store decorated for the holiday season rather than a dull-looking one. As a bonus, decorating your store also implies that your store can be a good fit for buying holiday gifts.
2. Offer gift guides.
Choosing the right gift for the right person can be challenging. After all, what your 10-year-old niece likes is likely quite different from what your grandmother prefers.
Since last minute shoppers are often in a hurry to buy, having a gift guide can offer them inspiration and take away the stress of shopping. The gift guide should contain ideas to buy items for specific types of people such as moms, babies, toddlers, elementary kids, etc.
Once you create your gift guide, promote it to your email list, post it on social media, and make it available at your retail store.
In addition to gift guides, you may also want to offer a complimentary gift-wrapping service. Last-minute shoppers might be running out of time and resources to wrap the items on their own, so offering the service can help you win them.
3. Stock up on gift cards.
Despite your perfect gift guide, some indecisive shoppers may still be indecisive about what gift to purchase. For such shoppers, gift cards can be the perfect option. Gift cards end the confusion of what to give to others. The buyer purchases a gift card in a given amount of money and shares it with the recipient. The recipient can then cash the gift card to buy something of their choice. Stock up on a variety of colorful gift cards and put them near your check out spot to encourage spontaneous purchases. Gift cards also work well in an online store.
DEAR POS makes it easy for you to generate and manage gift cards for your store.
4. Stretch your working hours.
Last-minute shoppers often start their search in the evening or weekend and look for stores nearby to avoid shipping delays. By extending your store’s hours, you can cater to an audience with hectic schedules. Don’t forget to update your business listing on Google and other online business directories to reflect the changes.
5. Provide free shipping.
Thanks to Amazon, many customers are accustomed to free shipping. And of course, it’s undesirable to see potential customers abandoning their shopping carts after seeing the shipping charges.
By offering free shipping, you can improve your odds of winning over holiday shoppers. Along with free shipping, you should also offer expedited shipping. That is because last-minute shoppers often place their orders too close to the event to receive their goods on time with standard shipping.
Since expedited shipping costs more, either ask your last-minute customers to pay the price, or let your customers order online and pick goods up from the store. This way, they can receive the items faster without needing to pay any premium shipping charges. Plus, when they arrive at your store, your salespeople can use their charm to nudge the customers into buying a little more.
Use DEAR Systems to manage your holiday inventory
During the holiday season, you can expect to have more sales than usual. The last thing you want to do is run out of stock when a last-minute shopper arrives.
By opting for DEAR Systems’ inventory management system, you can get real-time updates about your inventory and how fast it is depleting. With DEAR, you can automate your reordering process. All you need to do is configure a threshold such that whenever your inventory falls below that level, the software will automatically issue a purchase order to your supplier.
In addition to inventory management, DEAR can help you manage your in-store sales during the holiday season. With DEAR POS, you can offer loyalty points to your customers, making them want to buy more from your store. Plus, it also helps customers checkout faster, so no one has to wait too long in line.
Book a demo with our experts to discover how we can help improve your existing operations.