Holiday Retail Checklist: Are You Prepared?

By Cathie Ericson

As children are crafting their holiday wishlist, retailers too should be making their list and checking it twice. If the holidays snuck up on you don’t despair.

It’s not too late to get your retail plans in order. If you’re dreaming of a “green” Christmas, consider this your ultimate week-by-week checklist for making sure you’re set up for success.

November Week 1: Prepare Your Business for the Holiday

№1 rule of retail: You need products to sell and someone to sell those products to.

While you’ve likely already got your inventory hooked up and ideally have staffing plans in place, now is the time to do a final tune-up in both areas.

Step 1: Double Check Your Stock

Make sure you have an adequate supply of your best-selling products to meet demand. Discuss replenishing options with your distributors or suppliers so you can add more stock as needed as the season progresses.

Step 2: Increase Your Staff as Necessary

Keeping in mind that the labor market is tighter than ever — retailers are expected to hire up to 650,000 seasonal workers for the 2018 holiday season, so you will have lots of competition for employees.

Consider looking in nontraditional places, such as advertising at local moms’ groups or high schools and colleges to find employees who might love a little extra spending money over the holiday season.

Step 3: Train your New Staff

One distinctive edge that small businesses have over large retailers is the personal touch, so make sure that you are using this to your advantage. According to PwC, nearly 80% of consumers say that knowledgeable help and friendly service are two of the key elements that make a positive customer experience.

While you can’t help all your customers yourself, robust training can help ensure that your staff is an extension of you.

November Week 2: Make Sure Your Technology is Ready for Higher Volumes

Your tech has to be ready to keep up with the influx of orders. Here are some items to check:

Step 4: Ensure Your Inventory System is Up to Date

Make sure your inventory tracking system is equipped to update in real time, so you don’t have to send the dreaded message to a disappointed customer that the item really isn’t available after all.

Step 5: Speed up your technology

Consumers are a pretty impatient lot….A 2016 Google study found that if your site takes more than three seconds to load, more than half of customers will move on.

The same can be said for your point of sale system. While your customers may not leave because a sale is taking to long to process, they may not come back. Likewise, long lines to check out due to slow or malfunctioning P.O.S. can scare away potential sales.

Step 6: Consider Your Mobile Content

Now is the time to make sure that your content is optimized for search. Also, consider creating special landing pages with gift ideas or special promotional items so customers can easily find what they need.

November Week 3: Ramp Your Holiday Social Media Marketing

You know where to find your consumers — on social media. This week focus on planning out your social media strategy for the entire season.

Step 7: Decide Which Platforms are Best for Reaching Your Ideal Customer

It’s one thing to post on social media, it’s another knowing which social media platforms have the highest concentration of your prospective customers.

Whether it’s Instagram, Facebook, Snapchat or a combination of different social media platforms, identifying your target market isn’t useful for your holiday preparation, but all year round.

Pew Research conducted a study in March that breaks down social media platforms by demographic which can serve as a good start for your research.

Step 8: Create a Calendar of Themes You Want to Highlight

Promotional specials, gift lists or bundles, shopping tips, contests… get organized on what you want to promote. Include plenty of visual content — maybe behind-the-scenes photos of your “elves” busy on the store floor or in the warehouse. Use holiday hashtags to help your content earn extra discovery.

Step 9: Write and Schedule all Your Social Media Posts for the Holiday Season

Using a tool like Buffer or Hootsuite, you can schedule and adjust on the fly as needed. It’s easy to underestimate the relief you will feel at having this task completed and knowing you will have a robust social media presence all season — automatically.

November Week 4: Kick Off the Retail Holiday Season

This is the week it all gets crazy — Black Friday and Small Business Saturday. During the five-day period that encompasses Thanksgiving to Cyber Monday, nearly 70% of Americans planned to do some shopping in 2017 — and that number could even be higher this year. So, buckle up.

Step 9: Double-Check Your Inventory

Make sure your inventory is appropriately merchandised on the floor and organized in your warehouse so you can easily find what you need. Revisit your staffing plans to ensure they are adequate.

Step 10: Coordinate With Other Local Merchants

If you’re planning to work with other businesses for Small Business Saturday, it’s not too late to put together a hasty cross-promotion to co-brand with other retailers.

Even trading simple coupons with a nearby merchant can generate cross traffic.

Step 11: Enjoy Some Down Time With Your Family

This is truly the calm before the storm, and the best way to start the season with a positive outlook is to take time over the

Thanksgiving holiday to relax with your family and friends. As you look ahead to the upcoming holiday hoopla, enjoy the quiet and relative calm of the Thanksgiving holiday to give thanks for the success you’ve had so far this year and that which is about to come.

December Week 1 Theme: Regroup and Refresh

You made it through the craziness of Black Friday all the way through Cyber Monday. Shoppers are taking a breather, and you can, too.

Step 12: Assess your Remaining Inventory

Did you have some unexpected hot items that need to be replenished? Check with suppliers to see if you can double down on the merchandise that’s moving.

Sometimes their stock might be spoken for, but otherwise, they might be able to offer you more from the warehouse or even buy back wares from other retailers who are seeing different traffic patterns and might have an excess of exactly the items you need.

Step 13: Regroup with your staff

Plan a meeting to discuss their insights from the front line. Maybe they have ideas for reorganizing the store to improve traffic flow or shine a spotlight on some merchandise that’s being overlooked. Have them share questions they received from customers or discuss any problems in a group setting so they are better equipped for the next shopping weekend.

Refresh yourself so you are ready for the December onslaught. Consider taking an entire morning or afternoon off to take a hike, get a massage or meet a friend — whatever rejuvenates you.

December Week 2 Theme: Tweak Your Marketing

Now that you are partway through the season you likely have a terrific handle on what’s moving, what’s not and where you need to focus. This is a great week to recalibrate to maximize success.

Step 14: Revisit Your Social Media Plan

How your social media posts are performing?

If you find certain platforms or types of posts are working better, see what changes you can make to maximize those successes. It’s great to have a plan in place, but it’s also wise to fine tune.

Step 15: Consider New Promotions

Now that you know what the hot sellers are, figure out if you have enough stock to go all in, or if it would be wiser to shift your promotions and attention to products that haven’t gotten as much attention.

Step 16: Reassess Your Merchandising

Once you’ve pinpointed items that are languishing, put some additional merchandising muscle behind them. Consider combining a slower-selling item with a more popular one in a bundle or create a gift basket with fancy packaging.

Or, move displays around to redirect traffic or create micro-targeted gift guides that look at specific demographics like college students, new moms, travelers, etc.

Step 17: Plan Events or Promotions That Drive Traffic

Make a point to get shoppers into the store by offering some last-minute events. For example, you might attract the after-work or weekend dinner crowd with a late afternoon “happy hour” where you offer hors-d’oeuvres and beverages.

Those who spend the day desk-bound in an office might appreciate an early morning shopping opportunity where you open an hour earlier than usual and offer a light breakfast. Free gift wrap or delivery are also appealing perks.

December Week 3 Theme: Hang in There!

Nerves are frayed…and we don’t mean just yours. Make it easy on your shoppers to finish their holiday shopping lists.

Step 18: Vow to Stay Cheery and Calm

Pass the vibe on with an extra perk for your staff, whether an on-the-spot bonus, catered lunch or something else that will put a spring in their step.

Step 19: Identify Shoppers’ Needs and Meet Them

Nothing will endear you more to harried shoppers than lending them a hand when they need it most. And it could just be common courtesy: If you see their hands are full, offer to help carry packages to their car.

If someone calls for a last-minute item, offer to meet them at the curb so they don’t have to deal with parking. Keep a stash of snacks in the back for weary moms and their kids. When you see a need, fill it if you can; shoppers will remember.

Step 20: Roll Out a Last-Minute Marketing Push

The last Saturday before Christmas is “Super Saturday,” (also known as “Panic Saturday”). Use social media and targeted mobile advertising to let customers know they can visit you to wrap up all that last-minute shopping.

And now, you have reached the finish line! Enjoy the final week with your family and friends.

One other way to ease the stress of the holidays? Use QuickBooks to make sure that all the revenue you are earning will come rolling in, effortlessly.

And, if you know a fellow entrepreneur in your life, a subscription makes a great gift!

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Originally published at QuickBooks Resource Center.