Ready for the busiest and most emotional time of the year?
1 Jan 2023
Happy new year! Pick up where you left off: Stay close to your customers and turn Happy Christmas into Happy New Year - in your shop window and in your store. You can score points online with extra services that will be remembered positively.
Now the "second Christmas business" and the redemption of gift vouchers is in full swing. Good catch!
Spoil your customers with sweet and original gifts for a happy new year - in Germany lucky little pigs made of marzipan are very popular - and an extended exchange periods, for example. And think about your own checklist for next Christmas: What went well? What didn't? And put it on your order list for the next Christmasworld, Creativeworld and Ambiente.
Now important for the POS
Christmas is over, but we are still in the cold winter season, so you should make it invitingly cosy for your customer in your shop. How about a small decorated seating area with cushions and blankets made of cosy and woolly materials, tea lights, candles, felt coasters, hot water bottles, large tea cups, pretty tea tins - everything that radiates cosiness and warmth and invites your customers to stay with you a little while longer.
„Snowflakes, forest animals, and winter sports elements may still decorate the products now, but remove glamour and glitter along with Christmas elements from the decoration. Everything that we associate directly with Christmas belongs on the table with the reduced goods from now on.“
A small wellness corner with wonderfully scented bath salts, soaps and room scents are also interesting for your customers now, because they are treating themselves to a relaxing time-out, a private beauty oasis in their own home.
Let yourself be inspired by these photos and develop your own winter decorations, possibly with wellness products incl. bathrobes, towels etc.
Now important for online trade
Online, it's time to go full throttle again in January to make the most of the Christmas shopping. Because now the "second Christmas business" and gift vouchers will be redemmed galore. In addition, returned gifts are reinvested in the purchase other products.
For this, a renewed mailing on trend articles is recommended - along the lines of "This was the big hit under the Christmas tree" or "This was the top gift". You could also start a Facebook campaign asking about experiences with the products.
It is best to send a mailing to your voucher recipients with a reminder of how long the voucher is valid in order to forsee any future disappointments.
„Now is also a good time to get valuable product reviews: Many users have some time now and like to share their experiences with their Christmas gifts with photos or on social media. To encourage positive reviews, you can also include small gifts with a "thank you" postcard in the packages.“
Send a thank-you card to your customers - as an alternative to the Christmas card in December - with best wishes for the New Year. Post the "thank you" on all the social networks you use. This is also a great way to list the products that were most frequently bought at Christmas, which in turn creates new incentives to buy.
Finally, you should look at the channels separately in the final evaluation: The channels that "worked best" in terms of sales can be return killers on balance at the same time. Now it is time to take stock soberly and optimise the coming business in such a way that it works promptly, especially in times of turmoil.
In January, focus on: Post-Christmas business
Plan for prolong your Christmas business with vouchers, cash gifts and exchanges
Design appropriate marketing campaigns
Collect product reviews
Send a thank you card to regular customers
Start final evaluation of Christmas business and check all distribution channels
Interested in the complete checklist?
Then click here (PDF).
The checklist is only available in German - if you are interested, please use online translator or contact us for support.
The 2019 checklist from shopanbieter.de is considered an evergreen and provides online traders with a practical roadmap that lists the current steps to be taken month by month. You can find out what you should pay attention to in this exceptional year due to supply bottlenecks etc. in Peter Höschl's personal tip.
In addition, you will find further interesting information, white papers, specialist articles and e-commerce guides at shopanbieter.de.
Gabriela Kaiser - Trend Expert
Gabriela Kaiser has been advising companies from industry and commerce since 2002. She gives lectures at international trade fairs and regularly publishes articles in various trade journals on the subject of trends, design and lifestyle. Apart from the specific seasonal trends, she always keeps an eye on the overriding megatrends, which she compares with the wishes and needs of the end customers. Learn more here
Peter Höschl - E-Commerce Expert
Industry companion from the very beginning with 25 years of practical experience. Main focus: Strategy, brand building and e-commerce controlling & analysis. As the operator of the e-commerce portal shopanbieter.de, he has already written several books, practical guides and over 1,000 professional articles and is in demand as a coach and speaker. In his opinion, the profit and turnover for online traders in e-commerce is buried above all in the area of controlling and analysis.
About shopanbieter.de
shopanbieter.de is an information portal that provides operators of small and medium-sized online shops with up-to-date and concentrated information relevant to daily e-commerce: A comprehensive provider directory, a daily news service, background articles, free guides as well as interviews with specialised solution providers and service providers. To shopanbieter.de
