Christmas Advice for Retailers: Over 20 articles!

Get ready for Christmas

This article is here to provide you with great Christmas advice for retail. We’ve collected over 20 great articles from across a number of different websites.

So take a look below, click on a link and have a read.

Here’s the first thing you should know:

“When do people start shopping for Christmas?”

It’s no good planning if you don’t know when your customers are looking for presents.

This article provides a simple to understand infographic; that not only gives you dates but also how much the average person plans on spending.

(I want to know when people start shopping.)

Make money with this Christmas advice

8 Practical tips to grow your holiday retail sales the week after Christmas

Bob Phibbs, The Retail Doctor, shares his advice for what to do the week between Christmas and New Year in order to make the most of the sales opportunity. (Read Here)

This study uncovers how offline retailers can beat the Amazon price war

If you’re worried about Amazon stealing all of the Christmas sales this year then fear not. There’s been a study that’s revealed exactly how retailers can beat Amazon. (Read Here)

Why online retailers not offering Free Return Shipping will lose thousands in sales & future business

“Why is offering FREE RETURN SHIPPING vital to every online retailer? Because not having a FREE RETURN SHIPPING policy has been shown to lead to huge lost additional sales and future business.” – Barry Berman, The Retail Intelligence Blog.

How to balance your retail inventory after Christmas with this rule of thumb.

Another great article from The Retail Doc. This time he offers a rule of thumb for handing stock clearance to aggressivly sell old stock and raise capital to invest in new stock.

“Clearance. A fresh start that makes way for new inventory in your store.
Many merchants tiptoe around markdowns, and it is unnecessary.
Your money is already gone; holding on to it just ties you to the past.”
– Bob Phibbs, The Retail Doctor

Are you ready for Christmas this year? Download IBM’s Online Retail Christmas Rediness Report

15 tips to follow now for Christmas success

20+ Christmas ecommerce tips from the experts

At the end of 2013 Econsultancy asked ecommerce and user experience (UX) experts for their views on the best strategy for the Christmas season. At the time it was too late to make any serious changes to a website so all of these tips are ones you can easily implement between now and Christmas. From our previous article “When does Christmas shopping start?” we know that 38% of shoppers will already be on the lookout for Christmas presents.

Topics include last minute changes that could aid conversions, the importance of mobile, and how retailers can sell right up to Christmas. Read the advice here.

Celebrate an Independent Christmas with a challenge

Christmas Shopping Challenges are created by groups of retailers (or even whole towns!) to encourage families to explore their local high streets for their Christmas purchases, instead of buying from out-of-town and larger retailers.

As November and December shopping traditionally accounts for between 30% and 60% of a retailers annual profits it’s an important time to encourage people to shop locally.