The holiday season can be a make or break time for most consumer based small businesses. This includes restaurants, grocery stores, retailers and of course, franchise enterprises. Franchise owners face a unique set of challenges since they may need to create a marketing plan that can work effectively across multiple locations, and sometimes in different states.
In a November 2014 story in Zcubater.com, The National Retail Federation reported an expected gain in sales of 4.1 percent in November and December 2014. That’s a staggering $616 billion dollars over 2013 totals. Mastering your customer’s mindset is a great place to start your holiday strategy to fully capitalize on these incredible revenue opportunities.
One noticeable trend is the fact that consumers are spending more time researching products, and using mobile devices for gathering information and making purchases. This includes product purchases, and searching social media sites like YELP for reviews of local restaurants. Black Friday enticed consumers to begin online product research a week earlier in 2013 according to Google, as reported in the same Zcubater.com article. The average holiday shopper spent over six hours doing online research in 2013, as opposed to just three in 2010.
5 Tips for Holiday Success
- Don’t be Invisible Online. If you’re not taking advantage of local search options, you’re missing out on many potential customers who may not know how close you are, or what products and services you offer.
- Utilize Mobile Options. Be sure your website is designed to look good across all platforms with special attention to how it looks on smartphones or tablets. The easier your site is to navigate, the more business you can expect it to generate.
- Socialize - As in Social Media. The big social media sites like Facebook, Twitter and Instagram have millions, if not billions of users. Utilizing social media is more important now than ever before because it helps you reach incredible numbers of potential customers.
- Be Top of Mind. Make your offers special during the holiday season to separate yourself from competitors. New customers gained during the holiday season are sure to come back once the holidays are over.
- Start Early and Keep to the Plan. Putting your holiday plans into effect as early as possible can keep everyone in your franchise on the same page when things get really busy.
Revel’s Enterprise Reporting is a great way for franchises to stay on top of the holiday madness when used in conjunction with your iPad POS. It’s our most comprehensive report suite, and is designed especially for businesses with multiple locations. It offers real-time reporting so you can track sales, location performance, customer info, and a host of other pertinent data across your entire enterprise. The information you’ll receive is always up to date and accessible from your mobile device or home computer. With Revel, you’re never more than a few clicks away from all of your data, from all of your locations.
Sources:
http://www.zcubator.com/blog/holiday-marketing-tips-for-franchises/
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