The weather is cooling down and fall is in the air, which means gift giving season and the holidays are right around the corner. It also means that team dealers, decorators, and distributors will soon be thinking about the best route to take when pitching holiday stores to customers.
Online stores can be used to drive sales any time of the year, but they’re especially effective for the holidays and year-end events. Whether your customer wants a simple way to show gratitude to their employees for a successful year, or needs to generate excitement for a special year-end event—online stores are an easy solution to spread cheer with custom gifts and apparel.
Let’s unwrap three easy ways you can start pitching online stores to your customers to support any holiday, seasonal, or year-end program.
Get started early
With the hustle and bustle of the holiday season, it’s important to get started early! Whether this is your first online store or you’re a seasoned expert, you’ll want to discover what your customer needs as soon as possible. This helps ensure that there’s enough time to build and launch the store, and that orders can be fulfilled in time for the holiday or event. Here are some key questions to discuss with your customer before getting started:
- What is the store’s purpose?
- Will the products be purchased at checkout or given as gifts?
- What are your branding and design expectations for the storefront?
- How will shipping be managed?
Check out our Online Store Discovery Checklist for a full list of questions you can ask customers.
When pitching holiday stores to customers, asking the right questions and gathering important details upfront is crucial. This enables you to get organized and launch stores more efficiently. This can even help you gain an edge on the competition and start selling more quickly. Now that you have your key questions covered, let’s unwrap how to perfect the pitch.
Perfect the pitch
Odds are, many of your customers could benefit from running a seasonal online store – whether they’re a large or small company, school, or organization. By providing guidance along the way, you can offer helpful tips and ideas to spark inspiration for your customers. Here are a few considerations to get your customers thinking about their year-end online stores:
- Make it personal. Delight recipients with the autonomy to select their own gift. This can also help employers reduce money spent on unwanted gifts by allowing recipients to select exactly what they want in their preferred style, color, and preference.
- Offer a variety. Instead of offering one or two items, give shoppers a selection. Select 6-12 pre-approved curated items, considering more premium products such as gift baskets, blankets, and other high-quality items recipients will want to use.
- Pick your payments. Show your gratitude by allowing recipients to redeem a gift free of cost, or offer a gift card or coupon so recipients can pick exactly what they want. Additionally, giving shoppers the option to purchase additional items on their own dime can unlock sales that may otherwise have not been received.
When pitching holiday stores to customers, providing educational tips about online stores can help create an engaging shopping experience for their entire team. Now that your consultative expertise has convinced customers that there’s a more innovative way to approach holiday orders, you can prove to them that online stores are the easiest solution for ordering branded gifts and apparel. Keep reading to explore the top use cases to pitch and run for your customers this holiday season.
Explore Top Use Cases
Holidays & Events [see sample store]
The holidays are a popular time for celebrations, seasonal events, and gifting branded merchandise and apparel. In fact, a Coresight Research survey indicated that 55% of respondents ranked ‘Holidays’ as the top occasion for giving corporate gifts.
Online stores are an efficient way to take advantage of the high demand this time of year. For short-term seasonal opportunities, Pop-up Stores can be created in minutes to help you drive sales and generate excitement for holiday parties, year-end meetings, fundraisers, team outings, and much more.
Your customers will also have peace of mind knowing that shoppers can check out safely with our secure payment methods. Choose from credit cards, gift cards, purchase orders, or choose from options like Redemption Stores, which allow shoppers to redeem a product free of charge by entering a code. Since budgeting can be top-of-mind for shoppers around the holidays, payment options like Klarna (Buy Now, Pay Later) offer the flexibility to pay over time, making more premium items budget-friendly during the holiday season.
Corporate Gifts [see sample store]
Corporate Gifts are perfect for creating and growing connections any time of the year, but they can make a special impact around the holiday season. Online stores are an easy way for companies to say thank you to customers, partners, and prospects with a personalized gift, which can help build relationships and make recipients feel appreciated.
Research by the Incentive Federation shows that branded merchandise is the most common type of corporate gift, with 75% of companies gifting branded products. Even more so, U.S. companies spent $27M on corporate gifts for customers and prospects.
The bottom line is that a personalized online gifting experience makes a much more lasting impact on recipients compared to a one-size-fits-all approach. Corporate gifting has become a highly effective marketing strategy, and is only growing in demand. Ensure you’re making the most of the upcoming season by creating memorable online shopping experiences that drive sales and repeat business.
Employee Recognition & Incentives [see sample store]
The end of the year is a time when individuals reflect on their goals and accomplishments over the past year, and plan for what’s to come. Employee Recognition & Incentive stores help companies reward and incentivize employees with a gift, whether it be reaching a new goal, achieving tenure, or celebrating a major work milestone.
Online stores are a great way for companies to motivate employees for the next year, stay connected with staff, and retain top talent. In fact, a study by Coresight Research found that Employee Recognition & Incentives is the number one occasion for companies to provide gifts.
The incentives market is growing rapidly. Research by the Incentive Federation indicates that 70% of U.S. companies have employee programs that offer non-cash incentives, such as branded merchandise.
One way you can support this type of program for your customer is by offering a points store, which displays the cost of the item as a point value rather than currency value. By removing prices from the storefront, you can keep recipients focused on the quality of the products instead of the price.
Resources & Getting Started
Regardless of what program your customers are running this holiday season, our team has all of the tools and resources to help you succeed. We recommend starting here:
- Sample Stores – Browse our sample stores to get inspiration, or use them as a sales tool for pitching holiday stores to customers.
- Sales Sheets – This resource provides an informational overview and comparisons of our online store solutions, features, benefits, and more so you can determine the best fit for your needs.
- Online Store Use Cases eBook – Our helpful eBook offers a detailed analysis of the many use cases and programs you can support for your customers via online stores.
What’s next?
Reach out to us! Are you ready to create an online store or have questions about the OMG platform? Schedule a one on one meeting with our team here: Contact Us.
