Summer is almost over, and before we know it, the holiday season will be upon us. For most manufacturers, distributors, wholesalers, and retailers, the last month or two of the year is when the most sales are generated.
If you want to help your business get ahead, then, it’s essential to start thinking today about the best ways you might maximize potential sales. You can set your organization up for success by following a few key tips.
Spend Time Planning
Planning is one of the best ways to help yourself get ready. The more prepared you can be for the busy time of year, the wiser your choices are likely to be and the less you should have to outlay on many elements. For example, plan out how much stock you need to order in or start thinking about where to source new products now.
Keep in mind, too, that shipping is much slower than it used to be, so it’s worth placing orders sooner than you might have done in other years. In addition, many consumers start looking for deals from late October and onwards, so it’s helpful to plan out months’ worth of offers, ads, sneak-peeks, and other enticements to take advantage of the busy time of year.
You may also need to consider your upcoming packaging needs for the weeks and months ahead and if you need to change or get additional shipping services set up. Think about the potential for alternate returns policies for the holiday period, especially if you’re creating some significant deals, and plan out your staffing needs so you can give your team as much notice as possible and hire and train additional employees or contractors as needed.
Security is another factor. Since the holiday period generally requires such a bigger-than-normal investment in stock, you may want to hire security guard services for the period to ensure all those goods are protected from thieves. On a digital level, now is the time to increase site security for your website and other online security factors and ensure all data gets regularly backed up to the cloud to mitigate hacking outfall.
Analyze Data
Next, take the time to analyze the business data you have available to you. Use analytics programs to learn about your customers, which devices they use, when they shop, the keywords they search for, and when they might put items into an online cart but not complete a transaction.
Check the click-through rates of digital advertisements you’ve run to see what works and what doesn’t and examine the frequently asked questions that shoppers have that you may be able to answer more effectively through your website or other content.
Also, track your site’s search engine rankings, analyze backlinks coming to it, and consider using a website heatmap tool to learn what shoppers do when they’re on your site. This kind of software will show you the pages people look at, the time spent on each, where consumers click away, and which images, products, and text pieces, for instance, prove most popular. The more information you can glean about areas to maximize and things to work on in the coming weeks, the better. You’ll enjoy increased leads and conversions and maximize those holiday sales more effectively.
Ensure Your Website is Updated and User Friendly
Whether you have an online store or use your website to generate leads and help build customer trust and engagement, this digital platform is vital. In the leadup to Christmas and the holiday period, this space is critical when people are busy and searching for gift ideas or deals at any time of the day or night.
Fit in some time to test out all the various links, forms, and processes on your site to ensure they’re all operating correctly and make changes if pages don’t load quickly. You may need to change internet or hosting platforms and reduce the number of large files on your website if it takes too long to load. Conduct a speed test regularly to check if it’s running optimally or not.
Ensure that your website is mobile-friendly since so many use smartphones and tablets to browse and buy these days, and ensure the site has optimal navigation with straightforward checkout processes. Your site needs Contact details so browsers can discover your email, live chat, phone, or other contact information, and enough white space on each page that the website avoids looking too cluttered and unprofessional. Add as many quality product photos and videos as you can, too.
Other ways to maximize sales are to create targeted content based on the specific niche your business is trying to appeal to, set up holiday gift guides for people to browse, and improve your customer service levels. Also, if you don’t already have them, customer loyalty and referral programs can be great marketing tools to generate more business. 
Every step you take to work on these variables will help make a difference, and if you make strategic changes in multiple areas, you should soon start to see some radically positive results.
