For salons, the holiday season is generally the busiest and most profitable time of the year for both service and retail sales. To capitalize on the opportunities that abound during the final weeks of the year, here is a planning checklist to make the most out of the holiday surge.
Already started your holiday planning? Cool. Double check below for anything you might have missed, and consider incorporating these 5 ways to boost salon sales tickets during the holidays.
Set Your Holiday Sales Goals.
Use your retail and service sales from seasons past to determine ambitious, but realistic, holiday goals for the business overall and for individual team members.
Set both a regular goal and stretch goal (and make sure you reward team members who hit them).
Determine Holiday Offers for Services and Retail.
Create one or more holiday promotions for retail items or salon services. Gift-card promos are a solid choice — offer a special deal on a gift card that the buyer can keep or give away.
Other giftable ideas are a service series (such as 4 services for the price of 3) or bundled retail packages that contain slow-moving merchandise along with best-sellers.
Caution: make sure gift cards or services sold as part of a holiday promo are redeemable after Dec. 31, so you don’t cannibalize your holiday profits.
Upgrade Your Tech.
If you’ve been thinking about adding new or improved technology that will streamline and encourage sales, now is the time.
Recommended upgrades include: online shopping capabilities for your website, mobile payment processing, and color or inventory management systems.
Order Holiday Merchandise Now.
Top up on what you’ll need as far as gift cards, gift wrap, popular retail items, and anything sold as part of holiday gifting. Make sure your backbar will be stocked for a heavy service season.
Plan For Black Friday & Small Business Saturday.
Whether it’s a special offer for those days only, an in-store event, or simply an acknowledgement on social media: remember to promote your business on those days.
Organize Your Holiday Open House.
A festive in-salon event is a great way to engage your clients and get them spending. Standard fare is lively music, nibbles and sips, and your holiday promos.
Also recommended for a holiday open house: first-come-first-serve swag bags, complimentary mini services, and special offers available at the event only.
Set Up Your Philanthropy.
If your holidays include giving back, start planning for that. Do you need to set up an angel tree or a box for donated items? Do you need to add a donation option at checkout? Are you raffling off anything for charity? List what you need to do to get your giving off the ground.
Launch Your Holiday Marketing.
Once you come up with holiday specials and events, it’s time to deploy marketing messages to your clients and community. Blast these messages anywhere you reach your clients: your website, social media, email, SMS texting, and in the salon.
Order in-salon signage and mirror/ window clings. Update your website with a homepage header, promo page, and click-to-buy holiday items loaded into your e-commerce system.
Plan and schedule out social media posts, emails, and marketing texts to be delivered throughout the holiday season, starting in early- to mid-November.
Not sure what to say? Here are the main holiday messages you should be promoting!
if you plan it right, your holiday season can make up for slow sales during other times of the year, or provide a nice cash flow boost going into the new year. Either way, it's worth taking the time to plan — and it's never too early to start.
Got any other holiday planning tips? Let us know on Instagram!