For a small business or e-commerce website, the holiday shopping season can be a lucrative time. The average American plans to spend $935 this year during the holiday season. That’s a lot of money and a huge opportunity for retailers. While you may feel that it’s late in the season to be planning or running holiday sales, it’s important to note that only 9% of shoppers finished their holiday shopping the weekend of Thanksgiving.

What that means is that there are still plenty of procrastinators out there waiting to spend their money. Below are some ways your business can cash-in on the holiday shopping season!

Taking Advantage of the Holiday Shopping Season

Offer a free shipping day. The word “free” anywhere gives your customers extra incentive to shop with you. Shipping is sometimes an unexpectedly high expense that causes customers to fall off the conversion path. Make sure you publicize the deal on all of your social media outlets so your customers know the best time to shop with you. Obviously make sure that free shipping will make you more money than it’ll cost you, first.

Promote, promote, promote. Now is the time to get on social media and talk about all of your sales and promotions, while spreading holiday cheer. There are so many fun things you can do to promote your brand during the holidays. Additionally, your customers will want to engage with you this time of year. Leverage all of your outlets and be sure to respond to any social inquiries you receive.

Give your customers options. One of the best ways to get people in the door is to give them lots of shopping options. If you’re an online retailer, now is the time to be flexible. If it’s more convenient for someone to pick something up from your store rather than having it shipped, offer in-store pickup. If your customer is worried that something won’t ship on time, consider upgrading to next day shipping for free. You may earn a customer for life.

Prepare yourself and your employees. The weeks leading up to the holidays are a mad rush for everyone, but no more so than the postal service and retailers. If you’ve already planned your holiday sales and promotions, make sure you’re ready to handle it. Prepare to be busy to the point of exhaustion, and remind your employees that there will be downtime to celebrate a good season in January.

Have a Good Marketing Strategy

From the get go, the best thing you can do to cash-in on holiday shoppers is to market your products strongly throughout the year. Create My Newsletter can help. Contact us to learn more about how to stay in touch with your customers year round.