10 retail business tips for a successful 2022 holiday season

But it doesn’t have to. It can instead be creative, energizing, and fun. If you are prepared with a set of solid strategies for how to approach and tackle the holiday rush, you’ll be able to stay calm, make great sales, and simultaneously save time and money.

The team at SKU IQ has sourced 10 tips to manage your business this ho-ho-holiday season. Download the full report for more details on each tip!

1. Reimagine selling avenues

Customers these days are using online research before they buy, even if they want to pick up an item in the store. Offering them the chance to order online and pick up in-store helps them get what they want right away in a way that feels safe to them.

2. Customize your promotions for each holiday

It’s a good idea to be specific with your promotions instead of creating generic “holiday” offerings. That way you can create multiple deals, giveaways, events, or other holiday-themed hype to inspire sales on a continuous schedule. Customers can choose to engage with the promotions that are meaningful to them — or, in the best-case scenario, with all of them.

3. Sync your inventory

Customers will be seeking out your inventory on every channel you maintain, so it’s essential that you keep them all synced up in real-time to reduce canceled orders and out-of-stocks.

Luckily you don’t have to sync your systems by hand or spreadsheet. Instead, use a tool like SKU IQ to connect your Clover system with your ecommerce platform so the two will be coordinated and up-to-date. SKU IQ is offering Clover merchants a FREE 30-DAY Trial so you can get your inventory, orders and catalog information syncing this holiday season.

4. Manage your inventory across your channels

Once your systems are properly synced and you have real-time visibility into your inventory, this solid organizational base can allow you to expand your sales to more channels. If you’re currently selling in-store and through your website, you can now start selling via social platforms or ecommerce sites.

5. Plan and organize

The pace of the holiday season can easily have you swinging wildly from issue to issue, putting out fires and celebrating success with few moments to take a breath in between.  For that, you actually need some strategic plans, which is where the “plan and organize” phase of the holiday season comes in.

6. Communicate with your team

Once you’ve got your plan in place, it’s important that your team gets to know it as intimately as you do. Each of them needs to know where they fit in — which tasks they’ll be responsible for, when those things need to happen, and what they need to do to prepare.

7. Get creative

The holiday season should be a time when you can be playful and have fun running your business. While it can be busy and stressful, it is also a festive season that provides ample opportunity to get creative.

8. Take advantage of your loyalty program 

Many people are doing some shopping in the lead-up to the holidays. Your previous customers may return to you to buy something new. Help them remember you by sending out communications early and often.

9. Look for partners and collaborators

While any time of year can be ripe for joining with partners and collaborators to create something new and interesting, the holiday season provides a lot of “hooks” on which you can hang a new joint initiative.

10. Don’t panic!

The holiday season doesn’t have to be intimidating. As a retailer, you’ve got a lot to do, but you also have a lot to be thankful for and a lot of people to work with to make it all come together.

Try to appreciate the good in the season. Take things one step at a time, use tech tools that can help you sync your channels, be open and generous with your staff, seek out good partners… and don’t forget to drink a little eggnog.

If you are interested in learning more about how SKU IQ can your Clover POS with your eCommerce website, click below to learn more.

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