The holidays are just around the corner and as a retail store owner, that means your prime opportunity to capture the roughly $60,000 per year Americans spend on goods and services is imminent.

Just because consumer confidence is high and people are willing to spend though doesn’t mean that making money is a sure-fire thing.

There are millions of retail businesses competing for consumer attention and their almighty dollars and cents.

What’s a store to do to stand out?

Fortunately, there are a handful of retail sales tips you can leverage this holiday season to cut through the clutter and seal the deal with consumers this holiday season.

Below, our team shares 8 of our favorites!

1. Lean on Your Most Popular Products

It seems like it would be common sense that consumers would appreciate having choices. As it turns out though, while people think that “more is more”, having too many choices can be crippling.

Take this example for instance…

There was a study conducted where a grocery store had two tables of jams. One with six jam flavors and one with twenty-four.

The table with twenty-four flavors got more foot traffic but only 3% of the inventory was purchased. The table with six flavors got less foot traffic but over 30% of the product was bought.

That example is a fantastic display of what scientists call the “paradox of choice”.

Keep your product variations in check this year and ride your winners!

2. Consider Rolling Out a Loyalty Program

Loyalty programs are valued heavily by the biggest retail chains in the world.

They allow you to track consumer’s spending habits. They let you give incentives to consumers that lead them to pick you over competitors. They allow you to build a sense of community around your products and services.

You’ll find that by having a simple loyalty program with simple perks, you could balloon your customer retention rates and make them feel more valued.

3. Leverage Nostalgia in Your Marketing Messages

Have you ever seen something that reminded you of “the good old days” and just had to have it?

If so, you’re not alone. Research shows that when people feel nostalgic, they value their money less.

Why is that?

Feeling nostalgic makes us fonder. It makes us softer. It makes us feel plain good.

When you have those sorts of feelings bouncing around, it’s hard to not make a purchase!

4. If You’re Selling High-End, Adopt an Attitude

Believe it or not, when you sell high-end products people appreciate a little attitude.

Research has shown that people’s innate want to be “snobby” and “above the masses” leads to them to actually having positive feelings towards products sold by associates that have an attitude.

Note that this does not apply to mass-market products.

5. Train Associates to Mirror Customer Mannerisms

People have a strong affinity for those they identify as similar to themselves. For that reason, if your sales associates mirror the mannerisms of people they’re trying to sell to, you can expect a bump in sales conversions.

Don’t believe us? Check out this study on “the mirroring effect” and be amazed by how well this suggestion on our retail sales tips list could work!

6. Give Customers a Sensory Experience

If customers can get up and close and personal with your products there is a higher likelihood that they’ll purchase them. That’s because being able to feel and essentially experience an item allows customers to better visualize how those products will improve the quality of their lives.

That ability to visualize translates into more feelings of euphoria and more sales conversions.

7. Leverage Scarcity

Shoppers want what they can’t have. It’s an innate aspect of human psychology.

This natural disposition can get leveraged via retail sales tips by setting limits on how much of a certain item a customer can purchase.

For example, if you set a sign next to a certain brand of cell phone cases you’re selling that says, “Limited Supply, Only Four Cases Per Customer” you’ll find that people will be more drawn to the product and are likely to buy in more quantity.

To ensure that your item scarcity is just physiological and not literal, leverage a reorder point formula calculator. Read here for more info.

8. Place Popular an Inexpensive Items at Your Store’s Entrance

If you can lull shoppers into a sense of confidence that they’re going to get great deals the moment they walk into your store, they’ll be more liberal with purchases as they continue to explore what you have to offer.

To trigger that confidence, find your best selling affordable items. Then, place those items on displays near your store’s entrance.

You can also offer an incredible deal on a seasonal or “in-fashion” items that are not typically discounted.

Remember, any hit you take offering a “too good to be true” deal when customers first engage with you will more often than not be made up for in the way of additional purchases people will make to fill out their cart.

Wrapping Up Retail Sales Tips for the Holidays

The holidays are prime-time when it comes to consumer spending. To ensure that you’re getting the biggest chunk of Thanksgiving, Christmas and New Years spending you can get your hands on, we recommend taking our retail sales tips to heart.

Doing things like leveraging basic psychology principals when it comes to your marketing or strategically arranging your sales floor can mean sales increasing hand-over-fist.

For more useful tips, explore our blog.