6 Tips for Attracting Last-Minute Holiday Shoppers

It’s the most wonderful time of the year. You’ve hung the festive garland up in your stores, you’ve got the Holiday music pumping, but you can’t help but wonder if there’s another way to attract last-minute holiday shoppers and drive sales.

Well, never fear, Santa has come early! Here are 6 ways you can attract last-minute holiday shoppers:

1. Tailored Gift Guides

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Yes, gift guides are the most ubiquitous tool in the industry. However, the ones that cater to shoppers’ needs and preferences, especially when they are short on time, are indispensable this time of the year. Very few people have time to spend leafing through or clicking through a 50+-page catalogue.

Send out themed gift guides at a regular cadence (but no more than 1 a day) in the run-up to the holiday crunch and make sure you note which items are discounted, specially gift packed, or otherwise unique.

Consider not just “gifts for him/her, but special interests as well: Technophiles, Homebodies, Travellers, Life of the Party, etc.

2. Themed Gift Displays

Set up gift displays that centre on a specific theme, for instance: Dads, Students, Home Chefs, Adventurers, or by gift type, like Secret Santa, Stocking Stuffers, Plane Friendly, etc and focus the entire display around a single theme.

Feature these displays in prominent, high traffic areas. These types of displays can really help confused shoppers who are short on time but want to buy great gifts. Themed displays can usually be seen at-a-glance and will help draw people in, even from outside your store, to satisfy their hard-to-buy-for friends and family.

3. Gift Cards

Gift certificates are a massive business. Last year, shoppers spent $46 BILLION on Gift Certificates and Gift Cards. For those shoppers who have simply run out of time and inspiration, offer them a simple solution to gift giving.

Gift cards are an excellent bottom line booster, too. Up to one-third of all gift certificates never get used, but your company still gets the money upfront, which means it’s pure profit. Of the users who do redeem gift cards, 65% of gift card users spend 38% over the face value of their cards, which means a boost in revenue per transaction too.

4. On-site Gift Wrapping and Cards

Most people dread having to wrap packages, or don’t have the supplies at home, or have simply run out of time. Offering gift wrapping services (either free, for a nominal fee, or for a small donation to a charity) is a great way to attract shoppers to not only shop with you but to do all their last minute shopping with you.

Don’t forget to make greeting cards available too. If you can staff the gift wrapping area with someone with terrific penmanship, you can really delight customers. The more you cater to frazzled customers, the better your odds of increasing not only total purchase amounts but repeat business and word-of-mouth.

A great way to promote these services is through your social media (showing finished packages) and through email campaigns (run a banner that notifies potential customers of this added service.)

5. Customer Data

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Tools like Salesfloor’s associate mobile app helps you be an elf this season. You can look up the types of items a customer usually buys and, when their friends or family come into the store, you can steer them in the right direction. This will also eliminate overlap of purchases, so the recipient won’t get five of the same item this year.

You can also use customer histories to guide you to suggesting items that go with items previously bought by a customer. If a customer previously purchased a set of earrings, you can suggest to their partner or friend they purchase the necklace or bracelet to match. You can make customers look like heroes this year.

6. Wishlist 2.0

Using Salesfloor’s Omnichannel Clienteling Module, associates can create a wish list  that customers can share with friends and family, and drop not-so-subtle hints about what the perfect gift would be. This makes gift buying easy, and ensures the recipient is thrilled, as well.

The Gift that Keeps Giving

Gift giving is never easy, and gift giving under a time crunch can send people into panic mode. The more ways your business can make gift giving a seamless process will help you win this holiday season. Anticipating the needs of stressed-out shoppers and delivering to those needs will make your team heroes this season.

Help your sales associates make gift giving a faster, more enjoyable process with the Salesfloor platform.