It’s been a hectic year and Christmas is approaching at a frightening pace
It’s been a hectic year for small biz owners and customers alike, and for many, Christmas is approaching at a frightening pace.
There’s millions of potential customers who’ve left their Christmas shopping to the last minute. That means a huge opportunity for small businesses to step in and turn around a damp autumn sales with an early winter boom.
Some customers will be buying last-minute gifts; others will be waiting strategically for last-minute sales. Either way, the last-minute shopping rush is a Christmas ritual – as 40% of shoppers wait until the last 10 days of Christmas to buy gifts.
That means it’s up to you to make it as easy as possible for rushed buyers to make their purchases. Here’s 4 tried and tested ways to make the most of last minute Christmas shopping:
1. Extend your hours.
It’s tempting to close up shop early as the holidays loom, but those last ten days are a peak time for last-minute buys. If your shop is the last one left standing as Christmas Eve looms, you could wind up making sales by default.
2. Make sure you have a decent, preferably portable payment system.
Time will be short in the Christmas run-up, so you need to be able to take payment on the spot. This is especially important in the case of contactless payments, which have seen a 180% explosion in transactions this year.
XLN has a range of card payment terminals that will make sure your customer checkout is obstacle free.
3. Set-up a gift-wrapping station.
Customers in need of last-minute gifts will also be customers in need of some quick gift-wrapping. Learning to wrap up a parcel is easy, and could be the edge that tips the customer into making you their Christmas go-to.
4. Make sure your e-commerce is up to scratch.
If you can, offer expedited delivery. In the age of Amazon Prime, consumers expect 1 or 2-day delivery, at low cost. This isn’t something you can compete with all year round, but it may be worth upping your delivery game in the last gasp of the year.
There are also dozens of ways to optimise checkout for online stores, so if you haven’t optimised your store yet, now’s the time. Check out Econsultancy’s guide to checkout optimisation.
