Christmas retail business 2020: What if no one comes?

The HDE (German Retail Association) forecasts sales of 104 billion euros for the months of November and December 2020 – and thus a sales growth of 1.2% compared to the previous year. Even though sales will fall short of original expectations due to a lack of (walk-in) customers: What strategies will help retailers to at least get a slice of this year’s “Christmas cake”? How can the Christmas business in the retail sector still succeed?

Willingness to consume as great as ever

The good news first: even though it is difficult to get into the Christmas spirit in city centres this year, a majority of Germans (85%) will not spend less on presents than in previous years. Just under a third even say they will increase their spending. Perhaps the MINUS in Christmas anticipation due to a lack of Christmas market visits and sociable shopping experiences will be invested in MORE Christmas presents?

Pre-Christmas shopping becomes more targeted

Retail shops whose clientele is mainly made up of walk-in customers will have the most difficulty this year in generating Christmas sales. Strict hygiene concepts and a lack of Christmas market romance together with economic concerns will shift much of the pre-Christmas shopping to the web this year or make it much more targeted. Shopping trips based on inspiration are almost non-existent; instead, people determine in advance exactly what they are looking for. What do I want to buy and at what price? In which shop will I find it?

Strategies for the retail trade

But this also offers a certain opportunity for retailers during the Christmas business. Once the customer is in the shop, the willingness to buy is probably higher than usual. This is because the desire to search in different shops for possibly better or cheaper offers is low. Instead, this year the customer, like the salesperson, is very closing-oriented.

The (blog) author Roman Kmenta therefore advises in the course of a 5-point strategy:

Offer the best first!

According to Kmenta, this does not mean that the most expensive product will always be bought. But in the next lower price segment, there is often a good alternative that appeals to the customer with the good feeling of having saved money.

Other strategies from Kmenta’s 5 top tips for more sales in the 2020 Christmas business are, in addition to “classics” such as cross-selling or closing the sale through offensive conversation (“What else do you need?”), quite clearly also unusual gift wrapping.

Unusual gift wrapping

At this point, we usually give tips on how you can still wrap beautifully, valuably and appealingly quickly and under stress. Of course, this year we hope that this state of emergency will also occur before Christmas. But it is rather to be expected that this year it will also be quieter at the checkout and packaging area. An opportunity to also use gift wra pping as a way to deepen the conversation with the customer. Who is the gift for? Ideally, you will have some selection of gift wrap in stock to respond to different target groups. But beyond that, you may also want to find out a little more about the person you are giving the gift to – so that you can then advise them with further gift ideas.

Why gift wrapping has a positive effect on the psyche, but also on your sales, is obvious: A valuable wrapping, for which someone has taken time and effort, signals exactly that to the recipient: Here someone has taken time (for me). Actually, this is already the most beautiful gift you can get.

One topic that is coming into focus even more this year in connection with gift wrapping due to external circumstances: wrapping gifts sustainably! This does not have to be in any way contrary to the “longing” for elaborately and individually wrapped gifts. On the contrary! High-quality gift wrapping becomes sustainable by the fact that it can be reused – either in the actual context or in a different one. Good examples of this are sturdy Gift boxes such as our practical gift box with lid or else: cloth!

No matter what you finally decide on: Pack consciously and with appreciation. Because this year more than ever, your customers are making the conscious decision to buy from YOU. You should definitely value and reflect this decision.

Christmas spirit

As bitter as the reason behind it may be: you will probably have more time for the individual customer this year than you usually do in the run-up to Christmas. You can take advantage of this: Customers are looking for a quick and targeted purchase, but they also crave a little Christmas spirit. Music, scent, appropriate decorations and a few other tricks create a Christmas (market) atmosphere. Along with good, personal advice, this is the best prerequisite for getting into the buying mood.

Are vouchers an option?

Clothing shops in particular are suffering from sharply declining sales. At the same time, boutiques and shops often have quite loyal regular customers and ideally also a well-maintained customer database. There is still time for Christmas mail: write to your customers. Even if you can’t or don’t want to come to the shop in person to browse for gifts, you can give away vouchers. Perhaps you can also accommodate your customers in the design of the vouchers and send them attractively designed and packaged by post?

Another possibility are so-called “private shopping slots”. Arrange individual times with your regular customers when they can browse the shop privately and undisturbed.

At least one digital channel is mandatory

A web shop or at least a well-maintained social media presence has been a must for every retailer since spring of this year at the latest. It is now time to use this channel. Make yourself useful to your customers by posting gift suggestions. Medium of choice: small videos. But image and text contributions are also suitable to bring your own offer into play as a gift. We have found a nice example that also takes up the idea of a voucher:

Here, the voucher becomes a small event: Müllers Hühnerglück offers, among other things, guided alpaca hikes, which have now been thematically packaged as a voucher for different target groups. In addition to the actual voucher, the “children’s package” contains an “alpaca tassel” key ring and the adult package contains alpaca wool insoles or alpaca soap. Similar nice little things can also be thought up for the retail trade: In the cosmetics sector, for example, a small sample box can be put together for the respective target groups. Transferred to the boutique, a small “dress-up doll” made of paper could be used: a selection of clothes to stick on can contribute to playing, trying on and anticipating the visit to the shop – gladly designed for different “customer types” according to the target group 🙂