Tis the Season for the Holiday Shopping Rush
The holiday season is one of the busiest times of year for consumers and businesses alike. Not only are shoppers hurrying to cross off their holiday gift-giving list, but retail brands are trying to keep up with the significant increase in customers.
Even amidst the third wave of the pandemic last year, retail sales for the 2020 holiday season grew an impressive 8.3%.
After almost two years of lockdowns and restrictions on businesses, shoppers are even more eager for a reason to celebrate and keep spirits high.
As one of the most profitable and chaotic times of year for the retail industry, combined with the lingering uncertainty about holiday plans, brands, manufacturers, and retailers must continue to plan carefully for their holiday strategy.
One way retailers can prepare is by hiring additional seasonal employees to help during this busy time.
From personalized in-store experiences to quality online chat engagement, every touchpoint in the buying journey is important to turn a visitor into a paying customer.
Whether it’s for the eCommerce site or brick-and-mortar stores, extra support is always needed to ensure customers are getting their products on time and the service they want.
It’s also important to train holiday staff in the technology platform used to create a more efficient shopping experience for customers. For example, stores need a synchronized team for customers picking up in-store their online orders.
Merchandisers and manufacturers must also be ready for the holiday shopping rush, as they play an important role in the customer journey as well.
Maintaining adequate inventory is always a challenge, and it can be hard to predict inventory requirements during the holiday season.
Getting better access to customer shopping trends and behaviours can help manufacturers and brands better anticipate how much inventory should be produced and stocked at retailers to keep up with demand.
If products are running special promotions or are always popular among shoppers, it is important to plan accordingly as customers are likely to pay special interest to those items.
Brands and manufacturers should also consider automating whatever they can in their processes. Whether it’s restocking inventory or accessing in-store data for increased transparency, automating can help save time and resources.
Conducting retail audits right before the holiday season can also help ensure product displays are inline, the staff is prepared, and customers can easily find your products.
At Storesupport, we’re committed to helping our clients be prepared for the holiday season. We have both online and in-store solutions to help retailers, brands, and manufacturers with inventory management, executing orders, seasonal staffing, retail audits, and more.
Learn more about how you can leverage Storesupport by calling 1-877-421-5081 or visiting www.storesupport.ca.
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