2024 Retail Holiday Readiness: A Small Business Ultimate Guide

The holiday season is a major time for retailers. Consumer spending is surging, spirits are high, and massive profits are ripe for the picking. With only six weeks left until Thanksgiving (and the Cyber 5 Weekend), there is also a lot to do to prepare for the holiday season and stay ahead of seasonal trends.

In this guide, I discuss all things retail holiday readiness—holiday forecasts and trends and strategies on how to leverage them, along with a recommended timeline and aspects you need to prepare to be holiday-ready.

Retail Holiday Readiness Tips & Strategies for 2024 Holiday Trends

I put together tips and strategies for holiday readiness based on the holiday forecasts and trend reports I gathered from industry publications for 2024. I list them all below.

1. Prepare Early

Historically, consumers shop early for the holiday season; 59% of holiday shoppers started browsing and buying by early November 2023. This year, prepare for a shorter selling season—the shortest since 2019, with only 27 days between Thanksgiving and Christmas—so consumers will likely shop earlier.

This trend is further validated by Tapcart’s latest 2024 BFCM Consumer Trends report showing nearly six in 10 shoppers starting their holiday shopping in October or November and nearly half (44%) planning their Black Friday and Cyber Monday purchases more than a week in advance.

What I Recommend

All the stats above mean you need to be ready for holiday shoppers now. Get your merchandise on the sales floor, decorate your stores, offer holiday promotions—anything you might have done for the holiday season in December should be starting earlier than you think. And, you can’t let up—while holiday shopping is starting earlier, people still spend throughout the holiday season, right until the New Year rolls in.

• Plan your inventory well. A well-stocked holiday inventory reduces carrying costs, minimizes stockouts, and helps increase your profitability, especially at this crucial time of the year. Calculate your safety stock and coordinate with your suppliers on restocking timelines well in advance.
• Review your historical sales data. According to Salesforce, 60% of retailers say they’re not fully able to use data to make decisions. Your point-of-sale (POS) system and ecommerce sales reports carry a wealth of information on how your customers shop. Use these data to identify popular products, spending patterns, and loyal customers.
• Roll out your Christmas displays earlier, too. I cover a lot of ideas for your physical store, ecommerce platform, social media channels, and mobile apps in my Christmas display guide.

2. Highlight Value and Cost-savings in Your Offers

Budgets will be tighter and consumers will be more price-conscious than in previous years, often trading down for less expensive products. Even with inflation tempering (2.4% in September 2024), consumers are still feeling uncertain about the economy, so an overwhelming majority of consumers (80%) plan to spend the same or less as last year. Historically, holiday spending is at $834 per person (a 10-year average).

Don’t worry though, as consumers will still spend, but they have grown wiser and are taking a more measured and strategic approach to holiday shopping.

What I Recommend

Akeneo’s holiday shopping survey shows that discounts, promotions, and overall value for money are holiday shoppers’ top priorities. They are actively seeking the best deals, comparing prices across multiple platforms, and timing their purchases around major sales events like Black Friday and Cyber Monday.

This means that while you will want to be mindful of your margins, sales and promotions will be key to creating value for your customers and making them feel like they are getting their dollar’s worth.

However, I recommend thinking beyond basic discounts, and considering creative promotions—doubling down on the fear of missing out (FOMO) by offering exclusive discounts, limited-time offers, and tiered savings.

• Create bundled offers to encourage shoppers to spend more in exchange for bigger savings. You can read more about product bundling in our guide.
• Offer free shipping. Fulfillment can be costly, especially during the holiday season. Offset potential losses by adding clauses such as minimum spend requirements and limited time offers to this deal. Learn how to offer free shipping.
• Make use of scarcity. Hold flash sales, limited promotions, and tiered discounts. Holding time-bound promotions incites FOMO for shoppers to nudge them into spending.
• Don’t forget about your loyal customers. If you run a loyalty program, offer personalized loyalty rewards. Capture loyalty members’ attention by motivating them to spend earlier by handing out exclusive discounts they can redeem whenever they are ready to shop. Early access and exclusive benefits will catch more sales. Use your loyalty program data to personalize these early-season marketing efforts.

Retail brand Boden uses multiple strategies to create value offers. In its email below, it offers free shipping and doubles down by making it time-bound, encouraging customers to shop fast (and now!). A huge discount (50%) also invites customers to click and browse the shop.

Learn how to create an effective pricing strategy that creates a sense of value but doesn’t destroy your margins with our guide to Pricing Strategies.

3. Provide a Consistent Buying Experience Across All Your Retail Channels

Ninety-three percent of consumers in an Akeneo survey said they plan to shop both online and in-store this holiday season. While online shopping is slowly edging out in-store shopping (67% plan to do the bulk of their holiday shopping online), physical stores continue to play an important role as extensions of consumers’ digital shopping journeys.

Consider how the shopping journey begins online—65% of shoppers from the same survey research products online before making a purchase, and 60% have used Buy Online, Pick Up In-store (BOPIS) services. Consumers want convenience, speed, and an uninterrupted shopping experience. This demand becomes more crucial during the holiday season. A customer’s shopping journey might look like:

• They might first browse products on their laptops or desktops, download the mobile app to get a special offer, browse again, add items to their carts, and forget to checkout.
• They then receive a push notification reminding them of the products they’re interested in, but they might be near a physical store so they end up completing the purchase in-store.

What I Recommend

The takeaway here is where they end up purchasing doesn’t necessarily matter. You just need to make sure each of your sales channels has consistent information and personalized service to ensure an uninterrupted shopping experience.

• Optimize your omnichannel strategy so your physical, online, mobile, and social platforms are aligned and prove consistent product information and shopping experiences. Each retail touchpoint must tell the same story—holiday branding, marketing copy, visual graphics, and overall cross-channel customer experience.
• Offer BOPIS, especially during the holiday rush. Learn how to set up click and collect.
• Activate BORIS (buy online, return in-store) as well, as you can encourage shoppers to exchange instead of getting a refund and buy more in the process. Read all about returns management and see last year’s holiday return stats.
• Make sure you offer omnichannel payments, too. This way customers discover a product on social media, add it to their cart, see it added to their account in your online store, too (so they can checkout), and even pay for it in-store so they can quickly get the product. Learn how it works in our omnichannel payments guide.

Related: Omnichannel vs Multichannel Retailing: Key Differences

4. Make It Easy for Shoppers from Mobile Devices

Consumer sentiment about doing holiday shopping on mobile devices is super strong in 2024—just check out these latest reports and surveys:

• Mobile shopping overtook desktop and other devices for the first time in 2023, making up 50.05% (vs 49.95%) of digital holiday sales revenue.
• More than half (53%) of online shopping during this year’s holiday season is projected to occur on mobile devices.
• Mobile apps, in particular, are preferred by 66% of consumers because of their ease of use and accessibility. In fact, 81% of consumers plan to use them during Black Friday and Cyber Monday.
• Gen Z shoppers begin their journey by doing online searches, and 40% do so by visiting the retailer’s mobile app or website through their smartphones.

If you want to take a larger portion of consumer holiday spending, you are better poised to achieve that goal by preparing to meet consumers where they are buying—on their mobile devices.

What I Recommend

• Be mobile-first. Let’s be clear—a responsive website is no longer enough with ever-increasing consumer demand for convenience and speed when it comes to shopping. Remember, mobile shoppers have different shopping experiences since they are interacting on your site on a smaller screen, so ensure you apply the following mobile-first design principles:
  • Improve mobile site speed
  • Use large, finger-friendly buttons
  • Stack navigation menus
  • Use carousels on images
  • Turn off auto-play on videos
• Optimize checkout. Make checking out a breeze by enabling guest checkouts, offering one-click checkouts like Shop Pay, and displaying product recommendations (upsell or cross sell). Read more checkout optimization tips in my guide.
• Set up QR codes in your physical store. Mobile users can scan QR codes to ask product questions and converse with a chatbot (sizing, pricing, and more), pay via mobile, and even place orders while in-store.
• Implement mobile payment solutions. Mobile payments, such as mobile card readers (where you can approach customers where they are so they can easily pay and not go to checkout counters) and mobile wallets (or digital wallets) like Apple Pay make paying ultra-convenient for customers.

5. Sell on Social

These days, social media isn’t just a place to find products, it’s a place to buy them. And this statement particularly holds true for the upcoming holidays—just take a look at the numbers below to prove this:

• Twenty-five percent of shoppers use social channels like TikTok Shop to discover and buy products.
• Among age groups, Gen Z shoppers are more likely to buy their holiday presents directly from social media this year (42%).
• In the US, nearly 54% of Gen Z will find gifts on TikTok Shop alone and almost a quarter (24%) of them will make their purchases through influencer recommendations.
• Across age groups, social media shoppers plan to purchase holiday gifts from Instagram (57%), Facebook (56%) and TikTok (43%).

What I Recommend

• Diversify sales channels by choosing a social platform to sell in. It doesn’t need to be all social channels—just the ones your customers are in. These days, it’s all about TikTok! Learn how to sell on TikTok and set up a TikTok Shop.
• Learn how to market on social media. Digital marketing on social media is different from doing paid ads on Google. Each social platform has its own set of best practices—for example, TikTok heavily relies on viral videos, Instagram on curated and aesthetic images, and Facebook on reels. However, there are universal strategies you can employ, like the ones I list below:
  • Influencer marketing: Celebrities have taken a backseat when it comes to credibility in the age of social media. Collaborate with influencers to promote your holiday deals.
  • User-generated content (UGC): Social proof carries so much weight among shoppers. Leverage UGC and display them across your selling channels.
  • Social media advertising: Fifty-seven percent of retailers are investing more in digital marketing, specifically social media ads, to attract the younger generation of shoppers.

6. Use the Power of AI to Drive Recommendations and Sales

According to Salesforce, artificial intelligence (AI) influenced over $51 billion worth of sales during the kickoff to the peak holiday season of Black Friday to Cyber Monday. A Shopify survey conducted during last year’s holiday season revealed that consumers are actually open and willing to use AI when shopping—74% believed that AI helps in finding deals and offers, 69% believed it makes it easier to discover new brands and products, and 67% said AI makes it easier to get recommendations based on previous purchases.

As such, nearly seven in 10 retailers of businesses are implementing AI this holiday season to “level the playing field” against large brands and connect with younger shoppers.

What I Recommend

Here’s my take—go with the flow. Salesforce research shows 54% of shoppers are interested in using generative AI for gift ideas. And the vast majority of consumers have engaged with AI in some way over the past year. Eighty-two percent of businesses that have implemented AI saw moderate to major improvements in their customer experience, so why not see it for yourself?

Top ecommerce platform Shopify is so bullish about AI and has introduced plenty of free built-in AI tools for its users, with Shopify Magic (generative AI) taking center stage. It would be a smart decision to leverage what AI can do for you, especially as a small business owner. It can generate product descriptions, provide customer support, and even do product recommendations.

• Use AI to create personalized product descriptions, promotions, product feeds, and conversational commerce experiences that reach shoppers on their terms. Read my take on using AI to write product descriptions.
• Implement AI to enhance searches on your online store. The same Salesforce report revealed that while only 7% of holiday traffic uses site search, it has an enormous impact on driving conversion, with 18.5% of holiday orders coming from these shoppers. And take note—the conversion rate on a search is 5.5% compared to the overall conversion rate of 2.1% during the holidays.
• Optimize AI for voice and visual search. Conversational commerce through chatbots and voice commerce through voice command technology (voice assistants) are both emerging trends you should be aware of.
• Implement real-time inventory updates through AI so shoppers know immediately if a product is out of stock.
• Leverage AI for automation. Streamlining marketing campaigns with the use of AI can make the implementation of email and text campaigns go faster.

Related reads:

• AI in Retail and Ecommerce: Ultimate Small Business Guide
• Ways You Can Use AI in Customer Service and Small Business Marketing

7. Encourage Shoppers to Buy Something for Themselves, Too

An interesting report from JLL’s holiday shopping report shows there is an increasing trend of self-gifting among shoppers. Roughly 83% of holiday shoppers plan to give themselves a little something this year (compared to 76.2% in 2023). In fact, more than two-thirds of shoppers will buy more than one type of gift for themselves.

Apparel (50.8%) and electronics (47.5%) remain at the top of the list this year, but differences remain among generations and gender.

Case in point—older shoppers (over 60) are least likely to get anything for themselves. A third don’t even plan to self-gift. The big-spender cohort (millennials) are more likely to treat themselves to something (nearly 90%). They are more likely to buy toys, apparel, and electronics.

What I Recommend

• Offer BOGO deals. Since trends show that shoppers are likely to spend on themselves on a variety of gifts, a buy one, get one deal to encourage them to indulge in self-purchases.
• Create holiday gift guides. Have curated recommendations for personas, including the self to encourage shoppers to treat themselves.
• Know shoppers’ spending habits and consumer preferences. The biggest shoppers (and spenders) are now the Millennials as they represent a large segment of the workforce. Shoppers in the 30-44 age group have the biggest budget for holiday spending this year—$1,709 per person. While they will spend more than average on gifts (13.1% more), food & décor (65.4% more) and experiences (44.3% more) are where they will spend much more than shoppers of other age groups. Learn what makes them tick, so you can get their shopping loyalty.

The same JLL holiday report summarized important spending habits of age groups this holiday season.

Holiday Readiness for Retail: Recommended Timeline

There is a lot that goes into being ready for holiday shoppers. Here are recommended timeline suggestions to keep you on track. I also discuss certain aspects of retail holiday readiness that you need to prep before the holiday season.

A Note on Ecommerce Holiday Readiness:

The biggest difference between in-store versus ecommerce holiday readiness is the timelines. As mentioned earlier, consumers are heading online to research about holiday purchases earlier than ever—looking for deals, gift inspiration, and wishlist items online before they ever set foot in a store. This means you will want to get started on your holiday ecommerce strategy slightly earlier than in-store (see timeline above).

Get inspired and start planning how to get people on your ecommerce site this holiday season with my ecommerce marketing strategy ideas.

Another important aspect you will want to consider for ecommerce is fulfillment. As your order volumes increase, you will want to consider who will manage your online orders as well as what fulfillment company will best fit your needs. You will also need to consider holiday surcharging, as most shipping partners do upcharge during the holiday season, as well as packaging, and shipping speeds.

Elements of Retail Holiday Readiness

Here is a rundown of everything you should consider as you are taking on holiday readiness in your retail store—product sourcing, staffing, marketing, and merchandising.

Holiday Product Sourcing

There are two main areas of holiday product sourcing—holiday-specific products and an increased volume of regular products to accommodate the uptick in holiday traffic.

• Holiday-specific products: Have them in stock by mid-September and on the floor sometime between October then and mid-November. To meet this timeline, be sure you are sourcing and ordering holiday products during the early summer. For sourcing, you can look to online wholesale websites like Faire, Alibaba, Tundra, or other wholesale suppliers.
• Non-holiday-related products: Follow a similar sourcing and rollout timeline. The more complex question is determining what products to buy and how much—in other words, good inventory management practices and strong demand forecasting.

To determine the quantity and type of products you should invest in during the holidays, there are two primary places you can look:

• Holiday shopping studies: Resources like the Chamber of Commerce, the National Retail Federation, JLL, Hubspot, and other authorities in commerce and retail conduct annual holiday studies to help retailers better understand consumers and their holiday shopping behaviors, as well as sales forecasts based on current economic trends.
  

You can also use resources from our site, like our round-up of Black Friday Cyber Monday (BFCM) Results & Sales Numbers, Important Black Friday Statistics to Know, and Cyber Monday Statistics.

Point-of-sale (POS) system data: You can observe past holiday season trends and view reports about your specific store with your POS system. Some systems, like Lightspeed, even have sales forecasting tools and can help you determine your upcoming holiday inventory needs.

Staffing

In addition to products, you will also need to get additional staffing specifically for the holidays. This might mean hiring additional staff or you could just need your full staff ready to work throughout the season.

The best way to determine your staffing needs is to start early. Write out your holiday schedule in early October and figure out how many people you will need and when. From there, you will want to send out your holiday schedule to your current staff so you can gauge their availability and make plans to accommodate their holiday hours.

Include holiday work expectations in your job description so that new hires understand what they will be expected to do during holidays and you can hold them accountable. You might also sweeten the deal with holiday pay.

Writing out the schedule will also help you determine if you need to hire seasonal staff for additional support. Don’t be surprised if this is the case. In 2022, retailers made 390,000 seasonal hires.

Holiday Marketing

Another component of retail holiday readiness is devising holiday marketing campaigns. The best way to ensure that your holiday marketing is a success—i.e. it reaches people, creates hype, and inspires people to shop with you—is to create a marketing plan. I recommend using a retail marketing calendar to get all your ducks in a row and to ensure you are prepared.

In fact, Google Analytics found that 74% of modern consumers plan ahead for the holidays, using Google searches, social media, and online marketplaces to search for inspiration and research products and gift ideas. I recommend starting to roll out gift ideas and soft holiday marketing campaigns starting in early October so you are ready with resources as your customers start searching.

In terms of how you should reach people, email marketing is still going to be your champion. Consumers prefer to receive marketing materials via email with fewer than 10% preferring SMS. You should also update your website to include holiday marketing materials, such as gift guides, promotions, holiday-themed landing pages.

Get more holiday marketing inspiration with these resources:

• Black Friday Marketing Strategy: Ideas to Drive Sales
• Cyber Monday Strategies & Marketing Tips for Small Businesses
• Small Business Saturday Ideas
• 2023 Back-to-School Marketing Ideas & Trends for Retailers
• Retail Marketing Strategy Ideas to Drive Sales

Holiday Merchandising

In addition to marketing to your customers, you should also update your physical storefront and/or online store with holiday merchandising. To prepare for holiday merchandising, you will want to start gathering decor in September and October to give it time to arrive. Online, you can wait a little longer, but you should be prepared with your designs by the time early November rolls around.

From there, you can begin rolling out your merchandising. For in-store, holiday merchandising schemes are typically deployed in mid to late November, with Halloween, Thanksgiving, and Black Friday dominating store merchandising before that. Your online store might start slightly earlier to accommodate people’s gifting/wishlist research, but I do not suggest changing your home page’s theme until after Black Friday.

Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs)

Click through the questions below to get answers to some of your most frequently asked retail holiday readiness questions.

What is the meaning of retail holiday readiness?

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What is the holiday outlook for retail?

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How much do retail sales increase during holidays?

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Which holiday makes more money for retailers?

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When do people start holiday shopping?

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What are the busiest holiday shopping times?

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What is included in retail holiday readiness?

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How much should I spend on holiday readiness for retail?

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Bottom Line

The holiday season is a major time for retailers, with tons of potential, but you need to prepare adequately if you want to be able to take advantage of this potential. From inventory to marketing, to staffing, to shifting consumer preferences and holiday shopping trends—there is a lot to get ahead of this holiday season. With our guide to retail holiday readiness, you have all the tools you need to take this holiday season by the horns and watch the profits roll in.