I brainstormed with a Shopify store owner the other day on ideas to get holiday sales poppin’. πŸŽ‰

We came up with a bunch of ideas, and some I thought pretty unique, so I shared with our email list (join at the end of this blog post if you haven’t yet πŸ˜ƒ).

It got good reception so I figured hey let’s share it public maybe help some other folks out.

1. Get on holiday gift lists

Gift lists get you referral traffic from a trusted source + (my favorite part) a backlink to increase your long term SEO benefits.

Try searching for gift lists / gift ideas in your niche and see if the site has done a gift list in the past. If they have, pitch them to get on this year (send a free product to maximize your chances).

2. Create a contest with your ambassadors / affiliates

If you have an affiliate program, run a contest like $150 cash prize for the top 3 affiliates in November and December.

If you don’t have an affiliate program, run a contest with your ambassadors – maybe a cash prize or free gear for people who get the most likes and comments on posts where they mention and tag you on Instagram. Or if you’re doing a specific holiday promotion, whoever gets the most action on the post promoting that special.

3. Corporate gifts

Have you ever done a big wholesale order, thousands of units in 1 go? It feels great! These come naturally here and there if your branding is on point, but you can accelerate the process by reaching out.

A lot of big companies have a holiday budget to buy gifts for employees, they need to spend it somewhere, why not with you?

Easy strategy: Hire an agency that specializes in this, they have connections ready to roll.

Manual strategy: Do some googling and get a list of 20 companies you think would be a good fit for your brand, then reach out to each and give em your best pitch, let em know you do bulk discounts.

I would go after successful mid sized companies, but take a few swings for the fences on big companies too. If your brand has a compelling story, they might vibe with that and place a big order.

4. Free shipping

Not a groundbreaking idea, but an easy win for you to increase your conversions and get people talking about your brand.

Make a big deal out of it (promo bar on site, emails, ads). Something like “free shipping through December 10th, happy holidays!”.

I like free shipping for everything during the holidays because if someone gives your product as a gift, they’re going to talk about your brand and how cool it is. This is like a free presentation to a room full of people about your brand, like a mini brand ambassador.

So while you may lose some shipping revenue, you’ll make up for increased conversions and customer awareness.

5. Stocking stuffer collection

Everyone loves stocking stuffers! You can bet search volume sky rockets for this term in the holiday season.

Add your small items that you think would be good stocking stuffers, create a collection, link to it in your primary navigation, and run a promotion or 2 on the collection.

6. Create gift bundles

Take some of your best selling or complimentary products, create a special gift bundle combining them, and promote as the perfect holiday gift set.

If you need a custom feature like this integrated in your site, contact us. We create Shopify theme features all the time.

7. Put effort into gift cards

These are easy to overlook and use Shopify’s defaults. Consider creating custom graphics for the product page and promotions, or actual physical gift cards with a nice envelope.

Giving a gift card by email is ok, but giving a gift card in a nicely branded, wrapped packaging is more like an actual gift.

Happy holiday season

I hope you hit a grand slam and 10x last year’s sales! πŸ€‘