The Business Chat - 9 ideas for boosting sales

It’s feast time for crafters! Now is the time of year when people are seriously shopping, so here are 9 ways to help them shop with you. 

1 – Free shipping

Offering free shipping is a great incentive for online shoppers. At this time of year customers are buying a lot and the shipping costs can really add up. If your price points are low try offering free shipping when they buy a certain number of items, or over a dollar amount. 

2 – Early Bird Specials

Offer a discount coupon or special sale to reward purchases made early in the season. This works well in getting the ball rolling and also encourages people not to leave it until the last minute. 

3 – Repackaging for Savings

This could be half off a pair of matching earring when you buy a necklace, or combine earrings and a bracelet as a discounted gift set.

4 – Post a daily deal

On the first day of Christmas, my true love gave to me....

Try running your own 12 days of Christmas deals. Make sure you do this with enough time for people to order and have it arrive in time. 

5 – Insider deals

Give your fans a special deal. Try running a sale just for your Facebook followers, or a different deal for your twitter fans, or one for your email list. Not only will you increase sales, it’s a great way to see where your best fans are. 

6 - Special gift wrap

Sometimes it’s the little things that make a customer buy. Create special packaging for your work for the holidays and let people know about it. This works especially well for men shopping online, it’s one less thing for a customer to worry about. 

7 – Offer to drop ship

Drop shipping is when you send the purchase to a third party. Rather than sending the item to the customer who is paying, you can offer to gift wrap it, put in a handwritten card (ask the customer what they want to say) and send it to the recipient. This is a real help for a lot of people during the holidays. 

8 – Gift Guides

Create a gift guide and post it on your blog, maybe offer a special deal for your items that are included in the guide. This can be done multiple times, as there are so many different people we shop for this time of year. 

9 – Pre-order Discounts

Working on a new line for the holidays? Show off some of your finished pieces (or in-progress pieces) via your Facebook or blog. Offer a discount to whoever is willing to pre-order the item before its official release.