Well the 2007 holiday season has officially come and gone, but that doesn’t mean the buying and selling has to stop. Oh no, keep those check-outs chinging! Late selling opportunities are really catching on. In fact, I just read a great post on the Retail Touch Points blog. It talks all about how retailers are going beyond Christmas to capture sales. According to the post, here’s what some retailers did:

• Aeropostale offered 50% off several days before Christmas and $5 graphic tees the day after Christmas.
• Nordstrom shoppers can earn twice the rewards points using their Nordstrom credit card during December 26-28
• Bloomingdales is taking 50% off, including sale & value items until January 1.
• Victoria Secret shoppers who buy one bra can get a second half off for the two days after Christmas. 

Great ideas huh! But wait, it gets better… 

Between TV ads, radio ads, flyers, newspaper inserts and our beloved inboxes, we’ve pretty much seen it all. For example, I love how it’s no longer Boxing DAY sales…rather it’s Boxing WEEK sales. Sheer brilliance. But since the good stuff and the popular sizes do go fast, this shopper says “don’t delay” - lol. Anyhow, my point is simple. The deals creep past Christmas and so they should!

January is still a great time to capture sales.  Think about all the people who didn’t get all the presents they wished for. Then think about how easy it might be to entice them with an irresistible offer! Seriously. Who ever gets EVERYTHING they wished for?

As a side note, I consider myself and anyone born in January to be quite lucky. You see we can use our birthdays as subtle reminders to let our friends and family know that we were in fact very serious about wanting Gift ABC…and that to their delight, they should be very interested to get out there and buy Gift ABC because it’s now on sale!

Then there’s the whole surplus inventory thing? What’s a retailer to do? I see two basic choices.

1. Let it collect dust, get dated and be a general annoyance.
2. Blow it out via sales and special bundles.

So don’t sit back and think you’ve finished the holiday shopping potential. Think of strategies that leverage some of the realities I’ve noted. For all you e-commerce retailers, here are 5 ideas:  

1.      Use email to keep your customers informed. It’s the most direct route to your web site and it’s primed for activity.  Plus compared to other channels like TV, it’s a lot easier on the budget.
2.      Develop exclusive deals for email subscribers or customers who shop on the web.
3.      Think about bundles. Free shipping is a sure bet but bundles will sweeten the offer while also clearing stock. People have lots of gift cards so why not reward them with great deals. Bonus: This strategy will also help build that much desired loyalty.
4.      Design targeted landing pages that easily provide the “learn more” information customers are clicking to find. It’s all about the web experience!
5.      Create a click-stream strategy. Remember that customers will click past the initial landing page so use web personalization to ensure you serve consistent, persuasive messaging and offers regardless of what page that customer clicks through to.

Got some other ideas for boosting sales beyond Christmas? Share them with me! Want to bounce around some ideas? Send me a comment and we’ll talk!Happy New Year!  

PS - I also want to send a kudos to BeallsFlorida.com for their most excellent 2-day New Year’s Promo that was sent via email offering an “extra 15% off”!  BTW, this promo is front and center on their home page too. Nicely done!

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