The competition for market share this season is fierce. Marketing budgets are stretched thin. Fortunately, there are some things that you can do to increase sales without breaking the bank. A couple of days ago, we posted “Five (Almost) Free Ways to Increase Your Sales This Holiday Season.” This post is for the people who emailed me with “Got any more ideas?”
- Improve your inventory management. It’s hard to sell from an empty pushcart. Focus on getting hot items restocked as quickly as possible. And, when you can’t get any more, go to number two on this list.
- Provide substitute item suggestions for out of stock items. Granted a no-name MP3 player may not satisfy a customer looking for an iPod, but a blue sweater in a different style may do the trick. Suggest, don’t insist. The objective is a happy customer.
- Use text2save SMS technology to increase brick-and-mortar and ecommerce sales. It’ll allow you to bump up sales while capturing additional contact information. Always provide a way to opt-out.
- Give “come back” coupons when people make a purchase. Offering a deal if they return a few days later encourages people to do more of their holiday shopping with you. Continue the program until after Christmas so they will look to your business first for after holiday shopping.
- Promote “last day to order and receive delivery” deadlines. People procrastinate. Let your fulfillment team show off and increase sales at the same time. Note: Don’t do this if you can’t deliver on the promise.
Love the ‘come back’ coupon idea! You can also add, ‘bring a friend so they can get the same discount benefits’ too.
.-= Barbara Ling, Virtual Coach´s last blog ..Determine your MOST PROFITABLE product to promote for the holidays – Day 3 of Day 25 =-.