{"id":1307,"date":"2019-10-28T09:56:24","date_gmt":"2019-10-28T09:56:24","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.tantolabels.com\/blog\/?p=1307"},"modified":"2019-10-28T09:58:31","modified_gmt":"2019-10-28T09:58:31","slug":"preparing-retail-business-for-christmas","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/tantolabels.com\/blog\/preparing-retail-business-for-christmas\/","title":{"rendered":"Preparing Your Retail Business for Christmas"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>As the end of the year draws closer, there\u2019s only one thing on many retailers\u2019 minds \u2013 Christmas! If you haven\u2019t already, now is the time to start preparing for <em>the most wonderful time of the year<\/em>. Here are some ways in which you can get ready for the Christmas rush and reap the rewards of a successful seasonal sales period.<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/www.tantolabels.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/10\/Christmas-Trading.jpg\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"aligncenter size-full wp-image-1308\" src=\"https:\/\/www.tantolabels.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/10\/Christmas-Trading.jpg\" alt=\"Successful Christmas Trading\" width=\"800\" height=\"533\" srcset=\"https:\/\/tantolabels.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/10\/Christmas-Trading.jpg 800w, https:\/\/tantolabels.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/10\/Christmas-Trading-300x200.jpg 300w, https:\/\/tantolabels.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/10\/Christmas-Trading-768x512.jpg 768w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 800px) 100vw, 800px\" \/><\/a><\/p>\n<h2><strong>Why It Is So Important to Prepare?<\/strong><\/h2>\n<p>Retailers of all sizes rely on a positive festive sales period to boost their second-half profit, with big names like John Lewis, Tesco and Next all being rated by their Christmas sales performance, <a href=\"https:\/\/www.theguardian.com\/business\/2019\/jan\/08\/christmas-retail-the-winners-and-losers-on-the-uk-high-street\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">as reported by The Guardian<\/a>, annually. Many forecasts for the UK retail sector have been relatively gloomy this year, due to Brexit uncertainty and other contributing factors, so good Christmas trade is likely to mean even more to many retailers across the country.<\/p>\n<p>While the big retailers are the ones being judged by performance on a national scale, many consumers are choosing to shop locally, thanks in part to campaigns like <a href=\"https:\/\/smallbusinesssaturdayuk.com\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Small Business Saturday<\/a>. Supporting local economies is high in consumer consciousness this year, so it\u2019s important that small businesses are prepared and ready to satisfy the needs of these customers now, in order to secure them as long-term, returning business.<\/p>\n<h2><strong>How You Can Prepare for Successful Christmas Trading<\/strong><\/h2>\n<p>The key to a brilliant Christmas trading period is in the preparation \u2013 you don\u2019t want to be prematurely running out of stock or having problems keeping up with increased demand and footfall when the peak season arrives. Here\u2019s how you can keep one step ahead.<\/p>\n<h3><strong>1. Research stock levels<\/strong><\/h3>\n<p>If this isn\u2019t your first Christmas trading period, look back at your annual reports to see what sold well \u2013 and what didn\u2019t. Adjust your ordering or manufacturing accordingly to minimise wastage. If it\u2019s your first Christmas, visit local competitors and check out their stock levels to give you an idea of how much you might need. Check with your suppliers about stock replenishment lead-times to make sure you won\u2019t be left with empty shelves, and don\u2019t be afraid of over-ordering. Often smaller items like greetings cards and Christmas decorations are classic designs, so whatever isn\u2019t sold this year can be bought out again next year.<\/p>\n<h3><strong>2. Employ temporary staff<\/strong><\/h3>\n<p>Small businesses that are run singlehandedly or have small teams throughout the year might need some support over the Christmas period. Whilst initially it may seem a risk, having an extra pair of hands can be invaluable at making sure all of your customers are converted into sales, often making temporary staff a wise investment.<\/p>\n<h3><strong>3. Get your back of house in order<\/strong><\/h3>\n<p>Keeping a tidy ship is so important at this time of year, when seasonal stock lines will be added to your usual offerings. Making sure stockrooms are tidy and organised will help massively when those bigger deliveries start rolling in. Allocating specific areas front and back of house for seasonal stock will help with efficiency when helping customers on a busy day.<\/p>\n<h3><strong>4. Consider your labelling needs<\/strong><\/h3>\n<p>Spending some time thinking about your labelling and ticketing needs for the Christmas period is especially important. Increased stock lines means an increased need for shelve edge labelling and product barcode labels \u2013 often tiny ones to discreetly fit onto singular baubles or decorations. <a href=\"https:\/\/www.tantolabels.com\/blog\/designing-custom-labels\/\">Designing custom labels<\/a> for seasonal products is a great way to define your seasonal area on the shelves, and also in your stockroom.<\/p>\n<p>Tanto Labels provides high quality printed and plain labels all year round. With our responsive <a href=\"https:\/\/www.tantolabels.com\/order-now\">online ordering service<\/a> and <a href=\"https:\/\/www.tantolabels.com\/products\/next-day-labels\">next day delivery<\/a>, you can be safe in the knowledge that your labels will be primed and ready for your Christmas trading period. <a href=\"https:\/\/www.tantolabels.com\/contacts\">Contact the friendly team at Tanto<\/a> today to make your Christmas label order.<\/p>\n<div data-counters='1' data-style='square' data-size='regular' data-url='https:\/\/tantolabels.com\/blog\/preparing-retail-business-for-christmas\/' data-title='Preparing Your Retail Business for Christmas' class='linksalpha_container linksalpha_app_3'><a href='\/\/www.linksalpha.com\/share?network='facebook' class='linksalpha_icon_facebook'><\/a><a href='\/\/www.linksalpha.com\/share?network='twitter' class='linksalpha_icon_twitter'><\/a><a href='\/\/www.linksalpha.com\/share?network='googleplus' class='linksalpha_icon_googleplus'><\/a><a href='\/\/www.linksalpha.com\/share?network='mail' class='linksalpha_icon_mail'><\/a><\/div><div data-position='' data-url='https:\/\/tantolabels.com\/blog\/preparing-retail-business-for-christmas\/' data-title='Preparing Your Retail Business for Christmas' class='linksalpha_container linksalpha_app_7'><a href='\/\/www.linksalpha.com\/share?network='facebook' class='linksalpha_icon_facebook'><\/a><a href='\/\/www.linksalpha.com\/share?network='twitter' class='linksalpha_icon_twitter'><\/a><a href='\/\/www.linksalpha.com\/share?network='googleplus' class='linksalpha_icon_googleplus'><\/a><a href='\/\/www.linksalpha.com\/share?network='mail' class='linksalpha_icon_mail'><\/a><\/div>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>As the end of the year draws closer, there\u2019s only one thing on many retailers\u2019 minds \u2013 Christmas! If you haven\u2019t already, now is the time to start preparing for the most wonderful time of the year. Here are some ways in which you can get ready for the Christmas rush and reap the rewards of a successful seasonal sales period. Why It Is So Important to Prepare? Retailers of all sizes rely on a positive festive sales period to boost their second-half profit, with big names like John Lewis, Tesco and Next all being rated by their Christmas sales performance, as reported by The Guardian, annually. Many forecasts for the UK retail sector have been relatively gloomy this year, due to Brexit uncertainty and other contributing factors, so good Christmas trade is likely to mean even more to many retailers across the country. While the big retailers are the ones being judged by performance on a national scale, many consumers are choosing to shop locally, thanks in part to campaigns like Small Business Saturday. Supporting local economies is high in consumer consciousness this year, so it\u2019s important that small businesses are prepared and ready to satisfy the needs of [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":10,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[89],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1307","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-business"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/tantolabels.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1307","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/tantolabels.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/tantolabels.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/tantolabels.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/10"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/tantolabels.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1307"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/tantolabels.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1307\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1311,"href":"https:\/\/tantolabels.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1307\/revisions\/1311"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/tantolabels.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1307"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/tantolabels.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1307"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/tantolabels.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1307"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}