The holiday period is, without a doubt, the busiest time of the year for a merchant. As exciting as it may be, it comes with challenges as well, such as tight deadlines, logistical pressures, and increased competition. Due to the fact it generates a substantial amount of the annual revenue, getting everything right during the holiday rush is crucial. No pressure, right?
But what happens once the decorations come down and it all ends? Do you have a planned post-holiday strategy? Or have you been too busy with the holiday season to think through it? This is the perfect time to build on the holiday momentum. From managing excess inventory to engaging new customers and preparing for the next quarter, there are countless opportunities to keep your business growing in the new year. Find out more about creating the post-holiday strategy in the chapters below.
1. Tackle Post-Holiday Inventory Management
The holiday rush will likely disrupt your inventory balance, resulting in excess inventory of less popular items or shortages of high-demand products. After auditing your inventory, you’ll be able to identify the products that sold well and those that underperformed. Getting a clear understanding of buyers’ behavior can help you optimize inventory for the incoming period and also for next year’s Holiday period.
For the products that sold well, ensure reordering, and for those that left you with high inventory, create clearance strategies. If the numbers allow further price cutting, you can create targeted promotions to move unsold products under the title “Last Chance Holiday Deals.” This way, you’ll be able to clear space for new high-performing products.
2. Prepare for Returns and Exchanges
A greater number of purchases will probably result in a greater number of returns. Complicated or unclear return policies can deter customers from purchasing in the future and lead to negative reviews. To avoid this, offer clear, easy-to-follow return and exchange policies.
Your return policy should be clearly displayed on the website, especially on the product pages and at the checkout. To make it easy to follow, highlight key details like timeframes (e.g., “30 days for returns”), acceptable conditions (e.g., “must be unworn”), and refund methods (e.g., “store credit or original payment method”).
Though it seems like losing a customer, it doesn’t have to be like that. It can be a chance to re-engage with the customer and end a possibly bad situation in a positive tone. That way, you’ll build trust with the customer, and they will feel secure to make additional purchases in the future.
3. Turn One-Time Shoppers into Loyal Customers
If your strategy is successful, the holiday period should have left you with a bunch of new customers. So now you have the opportunity to turn your one-time holiday buyers into loyal customers. Leave experimenting aside and ask your customers about their experience and product reviews. You can use gathered insights to make meaningful improvements to the shopping experience.
Engage with the reviews customers leave you to show them your appreciation for their opinions. And most importantly, use all gathered information from their buying history and reviews to personalize your further offers to fit their needs.
4. Plan New Campaigns
Although many people are buying during the holiday period, there are also those who get money or gift cards as a present. They will continue searching for products even after the holiday period, so make sure to have some awesome offers for them as well. In addition, by the time the holiday period ends, it will remain for a little more than one month until Valentine’s Day. So it is important to start planning new campaigns timely.
It’s Strategy O’Clock
That’s all for today, folks. Hopefully, you learned some valuable information that will help you wrap up one more successful holiday period. Take the time to analyze your data, prepare for the New Year, and use your knowledge to be even more successful next time. Cheers!
