Three ways to boost sales in the lead up to Christmas

Consider a giveaway for this season of giving: competitions can help to boost website traffic and sales. Photo / 123RF

With just four weeks until the big day, these small UK businesses share how they have maximised sales, awareness and footfall.

Christmas is a season for giving, but for The Art Tiffin, which sells art material subscription boxes, it's also a time for giving away.

This year, it's running a competition where people can nominate someone special to win a box full of arts goodies, by filling out a form on its website, according to the Daily Telegraph.

"The boxes are aimed at promoting kindness and compassion, which are synonymous with Christmas, and include craft materials to promote our handmade, eco-friendly ethos," says founder, Pragya Agarwal.

"We also throw in a bottle of vegan prosecco, as it's the season to celebrate."

Thanks to the competition increasing brand awareness, overall monthly company sales have increased by 48 per cent versus an average month.

November's website visitors are also up by 81 per cent on October.

Google Analytics has helped the team to work out where people come from and go next online, she explains.

"Most visitors landed on the competition webpage to make a nomination, with more than half going on to make a purchase."

Create an fun, educational experience

For Lucie Carr, the director of children's gift shop, The Wee Store, Christmas is about giving customers an experience.

The firm has teamed up with a handful of artists to organise small workshops leading up to December 25, including a Christmas decoration-making session for kids.

The first one took place earlier this month, which it promoted in advance with Instagram teasers of homemade stockings and paint, asking if people had booked their place yet.

To accommodate demand, the company had to create two more workshops.

Attendees got to block-print their own stocking under the guidance of a workshop facilitator, while parents shopped, says Carr. More than 50 per cent of its takings for that day came during workshop hours.

"Customers are bombarded with sales at Christmas, but if you can create a fun, educational and creative experience for them, they will happily spend money without being forced into it," she says.

Add some sparkle to your social media

Christmas is also a time for well-decorated trees, baubles and bright lights, and knitwear company, Oubas Knitwear, is exploiting the public's love of a festive snap through its social media. "We share studio pictures of us working on new winter products," explains owner, Kate Wilson.

Imagery is styled using festive props, with foliage, winter wreaths and wrapped presents added to product pictures.

The firm mainly uses Instagram Stories – short slideshows made up of images and videos – to share live experiences of day-to-day work. "Behind-the-scenes footage helps to show the quality and authenticity of our products," she says.

Being able to see the real people behind the products, and the machinery and tools used to create them, builds brand trust and reassurance, she adds.

Since running the campaign, the company has seen a 70 per cent increase in monthly traffic to the website from Instagram versus an average month.

She thinks that small businesses are in a prime position to build relationships that last beyond the festive season, so long as they keep it personal.

"People buy from small businesses because they can offer a personal touch," she says.

"Keep it up and customers will continue to engage on a much deeper level than it they were briefly attracted to your products for a flash sale."