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Key Takeaways
- Small businesses thrive during holidays by focusing on emotional connection and curated seasonal offerings.
- Personalized promotions, omnichannel readiness and flexible strategies outperform giant retailers’ broad discount tactics.
The holiday season is always about a rush, and for businesses, it’s a billion-dollar battleground. While corporate giants catch the wave with their huge budgets and already infrastructure, smaller businesses often stumble, with one in three losing up to 20% of revenue due to stock shortages or shipping snags.
Meanwhile, U.S. holiday sales in 2024 hit $960 billion, with over half coming from just three categories: electronics, apparel and home goods.
Still, smaller businesses have their own unique advantage – agility, creativity and a personal touch. Today, I will share five proven strategies to help small businesses thrive amid the festive rush and turn the holidays into their most successful season yet.
1. Adapt your product offerings to seasonal changes
The easiest yet the most effective tip while getting ready for the high season is to stay focused, prioritising precision over quantity. Use your previous years’ sales data and current trend reports to narrow your inventory. Instead of trying to offer everything, spotlight your top products and create high-demand, limited-edition offerings or gift sets.
Key categories during the Christmas 2024 season were electronics, apparel and home goods, which accounted for over half of holiday sales, with groceries, cosmetics and toys also ranking high as gifting destinations.
Last Christmas, IKEA curated 3 limited collections around three themes: Vinterfint, a cosy range inspired by Swedish folklore that tapped into the interest for tradition and warmth; Stråla, a simple collection of LED lights perfect for creating a festive atmosphere; and Vintersaga, which offered traditional Swedish consumable goods like gingerbread.
By focusing on these emotional seasonal product lines, IKEA successfully fulfilled demand, all while creating a unique and festive experience for its clients.
2. Be flexible about pricing and discounts
Small businesses simply can’t, and shouldn’t, attempt to match the discount levels of commerce giants. Your competitive edge lies in using creativity and personalisation to make every promotion meaningful. Zendesk report confirms that this approach pays off: 77% of business leaders believe personalised offers directly drive customer retention.
Experiment with different formats: exclusive discounts for your most loyal customers, time-limited offers or special shopping experiences. This strategy is even more critical this year as external factors, like the 10–20% increase in import costs on popular decor, squeeze margins with retailers being cautious about overbuying the stock.
Maveron created an interactive gift guide, categorising products by interests, like ‘foodie’, ‘cat-person’, making it so much easier for customers to find a perfect present for their friends or for their own wish-lists. Offerings from this list seem more relatable, thus boosting both sales and brand loyalty.
3. Invest in omnichannel stability
The holiday season is that exact time of the year when customers get extra picky over their service expectations. Any friction, slow delivery, out-of-stock items, poor communication — can kill future purchases. At the same time, nearly 80% of holiday gift spending is likely to happen before Cyber Monday, pushing brands to stretch the season with early promotions starting in September and October.
This data calls for quality preparations even before the beginning of the holiday season. Stress-test your logistics, packaging and payment systems as early as September. If you only have a physical shop, offer delivery or, at least, an online reservation feature.
For e-commerce businesses, implement a Click & Collect. It’s also worth it to start overthinking potential Plan B’s for any occasion: stock problems, additional courier services and technical support.
Before the Black Friday rush, F&J Outdoors expanded its customer service team and upgraded its CRM systems to handle the increased volume of queries efficiently. Furthermore, they successfully implemented Click & Collect at their physical shops. These steps saved the brand from delivery issues and made shopping more convenient for clients, resulting in higher sales and greater customer satisfaction during the peak period.
Related: 5 Black Friday Strategies to Turn Holiday Browsers into Instant Buyers
4. Get ready for returns and the post-holiday slump
The holiday season doesn’t end with Christmas; it simply shifts into the high-stakes period of returns and the inevitable January sales slump, especially in categories like fashion and electronics. In 2023, shoppers returned a massive $211.76 billion of online purchases, a large share purchased during the holiday season.
Knowing this, small businesses must get ready for this ‘return wave’ as part of their holiday strategy, not as an afterthought. After-holiday sales can be a great opportunity to beat the revenue lull.
Take Macy’s ‘New Year, New Style’ clearance events that bring up to 70% off winter merchandise. They highlight the whole sales season as a time to refresh and get ready for the warmest days. The limited-time offers and messaging around fresh starts drive strong revenue recovery after Christmas.
5. Monitor retention, not just purchases
The festive season always comes with lots of new customers, but long-term growth depends on retention. Consider this key statistic: during the 2025 holiday season, 40% of all purchases are expected to come from loyal repeat customers.
Even a simple CRM strategy can make all the difference in turning first-time buyers into brand lovers. Think targeted email campaigns, loyalty schemes, tailored ads and deeply personalised offers to nurture those new relationships.
Outsmarting big brands isn’t about competing on scale — it’s competing on emotions. When small businesses make people feel something, that’s when they win.
Key Takeaways
- Small businesses thrive during holidays by focusing on emotional connection and curated seasonal offerings.
- Personalized promotions, omnichannel readiness and flexible strategies outperform giant retailers’ broad discount tactics.
The holiday season is always about a rush, and for businesses, it’s a billion-dollar battleground. While corporate giants catch the wave with their huge budgets and already infrastructure, smaller businesses often stumble, with one in three losing up to 20% of revenue due to stock shortages or shipping snags.
Meanwhile, U.S. holiday sales in 2024 hit $960 billion, with over half coming from just three categories: electronics, apparel and home goods.
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