Getting Your Business Christmas Ready

1. Getting Your Business Christmas Ready

2. Christmas Opportunities • With Christmas right around the corner, now is a great opportunity for SMEs to drive business. 

3. Here are a Couple of Things to Consider to Make Your Silly Season Less Stress, More Success:

4. Tell Your Customers • And tell them early! Get the word out there on your plans, whether they be special sales, big events or simply extra opening hours. • Be sure to use all your marketing channels to get the message out, and don’t forget to update your website to reflect any specific products or services you’re offering. • Now is the time to ramp up your marketing efforts, as you need to stand out amongst the throng of businesses competing for your customer’s attention. Best to get in early to maximise the exposure of this important period, as this competition will grow ever more fierce as Christmas closes in.

5. Consider Staffing • Are you expecting an explosion in foot traffic over the period? Any retailer will see an uptick in traffic, but many other industries will need extra staff to cover increased activity. Although it’s difficult to anticipate how much by, and when this uptick will occur, can you afford to not cater to your customer experience by understaffing? • Also, given that permanent staff will want to take their own Christmas leave over this period, chances are using temp agencies and seasonal staff could be a viable problem solver. • Speaking of leave, if staff are going on leave, get them to let you know their plans as far in advance as possible so you can plan accordingly.

6. Supply And Demand • The season’s starting and you’ve got all your stock ready to go, but have you got plans in place if everything flies off the shelves, or alternatively what you’ll do if they don’t? • Also, is it best to tie up your cash liquidity by investing in stock that’ll be sitting on the shelf for a while, or is it better to organize an ‘as needed’ strategy? • It’s worth considering.

7. Manage Customer Expectations • Are you shipping products? If so, then making sure customers are aware of cut off dates for regular and express shipping is absolutely crucial. • If your business is a pub and you’ve got limited spaces available for Christmas functions, better let your potential customers know to book early to secure their places! An extra bonus here, is that it ties into several of the points above, allowing you to organise. • If possible, be as flexible with customers as possible. Going that extra mile can go a long way to creating word of mouth; free marketing gold.

8. Make Your Website Mobile Friendly • By now you’ve probably already done this but if you haven’t, now’s the time. Web browsing on smart devices continues to grow in Australia and the number of people who will do at least some of their Christmas shopping or event organising online, will easily be the majority. • Making your website mobile optimised will make things simpler for your customers, and thereby making things simpler for you. • If not now, how about making it a new year’s resolution? Your business will thank you.

9. Check These Out! • Moula was founded to help hard-working business owners in Australia access the funding they need to grow. In the past, getting funding meant going through weeks of paperwork, hassle, and hurdles. We use data to assess your loan application, which means we can keep things painless and lightning-speedy. • With Moula, you can apply online with no paperwork and no hassle, and have the funds in your account the next day. • For info about unsecured small business loans in Australia Check out: https://moula.com.au/small-business-loans