The holiday sales are upon us. Whether you sell at craft shows where holiday gift items are already selling or online where sales will soon start coming – in it’s time to think about how to set a stage in order to entice customers to buy from YOU.
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While there is a whole industry out there devoted to enticing customers to pull out their wallets at the mall during the peak holiday sales things might be a little different for a small creative business. After all, few of us have the foot traffic or the dollars to spend on the reports generated by this industry.
Here are some things to consider when it comes to setting the stage in your online shop…
Make a couple of lists. What do you think of when you think of Winter holidays? Snow, twinkling lights, fire in the fire place, hot chocolate, candy canes?
Now, think about window displays that you’ve seen leading up to those holidays? How was store merchandise displayed? What were the feelings that the display evoked? How were the items in the display arranged or lit?
Make some notes about some of the sights and sounds that you enjoy about the holidays, make a list of things you’ve seen in displays that you truly enjoyed and then think about your target customer.
Go back through the customer profiles work we’ve been doing in these posts Creating Audience Profiles and Using Pinterest to Create Customer Profiles and think about your customers and add to the list or create a separate one for each profile.
Now it’s time to set the stage.
Online sales
Keeping in mind that there are only so many hours in the day try not to stress out about this and spend hours and hours setting up a photo station. Simply pull some of the items you’ve listed from your stash of holiday decorations and set them in a box near the area where you photograph your online offerings.
Think backgrounds like fluffy snow, snowflakes on paper, Christmas fabrics – items that will help your goods stand out – not items that will drown your items in pattern and color.
Add items like little flocked deer, large colored light bulbs scattered or in a dish in the background, a strand of lights in the distance, bells, snowflakes and other items.
Keep in mind that if you sell jewelry with a vintage vibe or using vintage jewelry consider including some vintage or vintage looking elements into your stash of props. Or if your items are more modern you’ll want to set the stage accordingly.
Do you sell to the whole wide world? You might want to take a little time to research holidays and traditions from all over in order to include your international customers.
This is your window display for online shoppers. Set the stage according to who your customer is and what they most want to see and remember about the holidays.
Art/Craft Fairs
Just like with the online sales you will set up displays in order to evoke feelings of nostalgia and all of the good things that come with celebrating the holidays.
Think of using sheets of snow for your tabletops or white fabric the is reminiscent of snow.
Bowls of rice dotted with cloves, cinnamon sticks or allspice berries will add a warm fragrance to your displays while holding smaller items (pendants or rings for example) for customers to look at.
Don’t forget about packaging. Adding a little holiday cheer to your customer’s purchases will add a little something extra and help keep you at the top of their mind for other gifts they may need.
Have fun setting your holiday stage, try not to let it stress you out. Your customers will appreciate the extra effort and hopefully your bank account will too!
If you’ve ever dreamed of being one of those people who creates displays in store windows, now is your chance!
What’s your plan for the holiday season?
By: Vicki O’Dell, The Creative Goddess
You can find more of Vicki’s articles right here on her profile page!
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