MEDIA |

NOVEMBER 2022

9 Tips to Match or Beat Holiday Sales Numbers

Andrea Lucille Pooler

In my experience of managing a retail and e-commerce jewelry store, my secret weapon during the holiday season was ALWAYS creating a gift guide for my customers.

Creating the gift guide:

Planning, researching, and data collection are needed to create a gift guide that will increase your profits and ROI.
Planning your gift guide in advance of the holiday season is ideal. You will have the time to create a curated collection of pieces you want to feature based on your research. Research is needed to collect the data you will use to create the gift guide. I have my go-to people for this: employees and customers.

Creating a gift guide will lead your customers down the path you want them to take.

Sales Team:
• Ask your team what they would like to feature in the gift guide this year.
• Which pieces/collections are customers gravitating towards?
• Always make sure your sales team is asking your customers: “What are you looking for/ interested in for this holiday season?”

Customers:

• Create a poll you can post across social media platforms. You can create multiple polls and post your questions over multiple days.

Ask the key questions:
• What jewelry are you looking for this holiday season?
• What are your favorite collections/pieces/ designers?
• What jewelry trends are you drawn towards?
• What are your favorite metals/ types of jewelry?

All data must be compiled, assessed, and analyzed to create your holiday gift guide.

In my experience, you should include the following in your holiday gift guide:
• Multiple price points.
• Jewelry you want to feature based on in-stock inventory or pieces that are easy to manufacture with materials in stock.
• Jewelry pieces that would be attractive to as many age groups as possible.
• Consider providing additional perks: free shipping, gift wrapping, or a free gift.

Designing and layout for your gift guide:
• Use your branded logos, fonts, and colors.
• Do not clutter the space with too many pieces. If it is hard for the viewer to understand what they are looking at, they will be confused, and you may lose a potential sale.
• Group pieces together on a page that make sense and are visually pleasing.
• Add in only the necessary details to avoid losing your viewer’s interest.

Once you create your gift guide, it is time to promote, promote, promote!
• Posting across all social media platforms is a must. Make sure to answer all comments! You do not want to miss a sale.
• Create a cadence for your posts and stick with the schedule.
• If you have enough time, you may want to create a printed version of the gift guide to send out to your VIP client list or have it available at your retail location.

A holiday gift guide is an essential aspect of your marketing strategy. Creating a gift guide will lead your customers down the path you want them to take. Presenting a curated selection of jewelry will make it easy for the consumer to absorb the information and, hopefully, an easier sale.