Maximise your sales this festive season
The Government has set out details of the Energy Bill Relief Scheme for businesses, charities and other organisations such as schools and hospitals. From the 1st of October, energy bills will be capped for six months but with this support scheme, businesses are still feeling the pressures of costs.
As we head towards the last few months of the year, this will be the busiest time of the year for many businesses and like the famous saying, fail to prepare and prepare to fail.
It might not be too early to start selling Christmas now
As the cost of living crisis is affecting many of us, some consumers are planning ahead and starting their Christmas shopping now – allowing them to spread their spending over three months instead of leaving it for one paycheck.
It might be worth just adding a couple of your Christmas products or services out now and seeing if there are any sales. If you find that there is interest, you can make more of your festive line available, increase production, rethink delivery to avoid delays and keep up with demand.
If you’re a business that relies on the delivery of materials to create what you sell or to sell further, it may be worth purchasing in bulk. Therefore, if there was a delay in delivery you won’t be affected or won’t be affected too badly as you have already got a backlog.
Hire seasonal employees to keep up with demand
Many businesses hire seasonal employees to keep up with demand during the festive period and to allow their employees to have time off. Hiring new employees will be at an extra cost and whilst you may struggle to pay them when they first start, a finance facility could fill the gap.
Be sure to get paid on time for January outgoings
Once the rush is over, make sure that any invoices are paid on time. January might be a quieter month for you however, that doesn’t mean that bills and monthly commitments stop.
If you find yourself waiting on invoices to be paid, invoice finance is a way of lending money based on what your customers owe to your business. Invoice finance get you money immediately so instead of waiting to get paid, faced with late penalty fees and overdraft charges, you will have the finance that you need to pay your bills.
Extended hours, additional working days or locations
Are there any opportunities in extending your opening hours or adding an additional working day to give more consumers more opportunities to buy from you or to help your team to keep up with the demand?
This is something very unlikely that you will be able to provide last minute, you will need to plan ahead and find out who on your team will be able to work, what days or hours work best for your customers and if you have people working extra hours, will you be able to pay them the additional hours?
As well as extending your hours or days, could you be in an additional location? During the festive season, could you have a pop up in a city or Christmas market or have a stall in a high foot traffic area? Maximising your opportunity to increase sales.
Diversify your business – accept online orders, specialise Christmas products
One method of maximising sales is selling online, whether it be through your own website or a third-party website such as Etsy. Additional costs such as postage can be passed on to your customers so it may not cost you more to sell online but creates an opportunity to reach international customers.
Do you have a product for the festive season? Bringing out a specific Christmas product or offering a festive incentive can increase your sales. A product or service development may take time and money to get to the final product but could increase your sales and profit.
If you’re looking for finance to ease cash flow pressures during the festive period, don’t hesitate to speak to our team. Whatever your plans are, we’re confident that we’re able to arrange a finance solution to meet your business’ requirements. Call us on 01270 443510 or complete our enquiry form and we’ll be in touch as soon as possible.
Address
Amplo Group
11 Mallard Court, Mallard Way,
Crewe, Cheshire, CW1 6ZQ
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