The winter can be tough on small businesses; people switch from heading to the stores and spending plenty to saving and ordering online. It can be challenging as a small business to compete, and even more so if you are seasonal.
Here are a few ways that you can keep people coming to your store and ordering online. Getting your business through the winter and thriving come spring.
Extra, extra
Add extra services to what you already provide. If you run a lash bar, add in brow services. If you usually only work from the salon? Add in a Saturday mobile service. Any type of business can add to a range of other services that can bring in more customers. These extra services should be packaged to be of value but increase your profit over the winter-time.
Mailing list
If you have a mailing list, it is time to double down on your communication efforts. If you don’t have one, then it is time to start building one. There are many tools that you can use to increase your customer base and your mailing list.
- Hub spot
- MailChimp
- OptinMonster
Those are just three of the options you have to help streamline your mailing list. It has been found that customers that are required through referrals have a 37% higher chance of retention, and 81% of consumers are more likely to engage with brands that have a reward program.
Reward programs
Our reward program is beneficial to your customers and clients in many ways. They can accumulate points on each purchase, or they can get money off or free shipping. It depends on what your business sells and what your clients will be most interested in.
Make sure that you don’t offer more than you can give without putting yourself in minus, and make sure that you send out something to let all of your customers know that you now have a rewards program.
Rewards programs help to build loyalty. And loyalty will help your bottom line.
Easy to get to
One of the key things during autumn and winter as it can be more difficult to get to brick and mortar stores. This is even more so for those stores that are a little bit off the beaten path. So it is very important that you make sure you do everything you can so that your customers can get to you. Make sure you check daily travel advice, and perhaps even have that on your website.
Or at least talk about it on your social media. Another critical thing is if you have parking or a long entryway, you can have commercial snow removal services to make sure that people can park with ease. This is an expense, but it is one worth making so that people can get to your store.
And finally, as it is the festive season, join in with the festivities. Run competitions for merchandise, I think outside the box. Is it possible for you to have a Santa Claus at your store? Perhaps you have enough room to have a Rudolf visit. Think about what will be most important to your customers over the winter period.