It's the most wonderful time of the year! But for small business owners, it can also be one of the busiest. The holiday season is fast approaching, and with it comes the promise of hordes of holiday shoppers ready to spend their hard-earned money. Are you prepared for the influx of business? Whether you're anticipating a busy season or not, there are some key things you can do to get ready. Don't let your business miss out on the Christmas rush - here are our top tips for preparing your restaurant or retail business for December.
If your restaurant doesn't already have a reservations system in place, now is the time to get one. An integrated, digital reservations system will not only make it easy for customers to book a table and therefore encourage them to do so, but it will also allow you to more efficiently keep track of online, telephone, and walk-in bookings all from one user-friendly portal. This is especially important during peak times like Christmas and New Year's Eve when demand for a spot to host end-of-year parties is at its highest. If you expect to have an influx of customers renting out tables for Christmas, then a reservations system isn't just useful - it's essential.
Digital reservations management is a game changer for both you and your customers. Let guests book with real-time availability so they can easily see when and where is free for their holiday get-togethers, and maximise capacity by creating table combinations so they can fill in those empty seats. Meanwhile, you can effortlessly control your availability by setting specific slots, assigning based on covers, and staying organised with an automatically generated, chronologically ordered booking list that lets your staff prioritise ahead of time. If you have an email or SMS system in place, you can even send notifications to customers to ensure that they don't forget their reservations and cause unnecessary cancellations.
A good stock management system is useful all year round, but especially during seasonal rushes like Christmas. If you're expecting an influx of customers, then you also have to expect an increased inventory drainage, which can be difficult to manage when you take stock traditionally, especially during high traffic periods. With a digital, integrated method, automation easily eliminates many of these common inventory hurdles, and auto-generated stock reports are a great source of useful business data that can help you streamline the process even further.
A Christmas rush also means that businesses are more prone to human error - it's an inevitability something will be miscounted or go unchecked - so an automated depletion process will be sure to limit this even at the busiest times. Stock forecasting is crucial to preparing for the holiday season, and any good stock management system will be sure to provide you with the blessing of colour-coded stock alerts and notifications, making it easier than ever to keep track of, even with Christmas looming over your shoulder.
The obvious thing to do when preparing your venue for Christmas is to stock up on festive supplies. From Christmas decorations to tablecloths and napkins emblazoned with seasonal motifs, make sure your business is kitted out for the holiday season. Your customers will appreciate the festive atmosphere, and it'll help get them in the spending mood!
But that's not all you can do. If you run a restaurant or a cafe, take advantage of seasonal produce! Is there anything more Christmassy than a fruity pudding or a steaming bowl of mulled wine? Encourage customers to spend more by running special promotions specifically for the holiday season; offer a free dessert with every main course purchased, or 10% off all purchases over £100. Build excitement for these promotions by running social media ads and sending email blasts to your customer list in the lead-up to December. Better yet, use a CRM system to do the tedious segmentation work for you.
Speaking of CRM, you can also foster some timely loyalty by offering seasonal gift cards! They make great last-minute gifts, so make sure you have plenty on hand come December. Display them prominently in your restaurant or store, and promote them heavily in your seasonal advertising.
While the holiday season can be a hectic time for small business owners, there are some key steps you can take to prepare. By staying on top of reservations, managing your stock carefully, and offering seasonal goodies to your customers, you can make sure your restaurant or retail store is ready to take on the Christmas rush. Whatever you and your business do, don't miss out on this yearly opportunity, no matter how intimidating it may be - with just little preparation, and maybe even a little help from us, your business can be ready to take advantage of the influx of holiday shoppers. What are you doing to get ready for December?