The winter season leading up to New Year’s Day is one of the busiest shopping seasons of the year — consumers are expected to spend $901 billion in 2024. Your store benefits from the rush.
Running an end-of-year sale after the holiday season is your best bet for reaching shoppers while they’re in the spending mood. Keep reading for tips on how to have a successful sale.
What Is An End-Of-Year Sale?
An end-of-year sale is a period in December during which you offer substantial discounts on your products. It’s how you make the most of the holiday season — a time of increased shopping and purchases — coming to a close. Consider it a vital part of your year-end checklist.
There are some notable differences between e-commerce and brick-and-mortar end-of-year sales to keep in mind. For starters, only a brick-and-mortar store leverages foot traffic to increase direct customer engagement with products. Brick-and-mortar stores may also be more natural fits for pop-ups and other types of interactive marketing. Overall, though, brick-and-mortar and e-commerce end-of-year sales strategies mostly look the same.
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Why You Should Have An End-Of-Year Sale
Attract new customers when they’re most likely to buy
During the holiday season, the average customer is more likely to shop, so offering promotions drives purchases even more than usual. That’s especially true if your business is competing with low-cost options from Amazon, Temu, and other online bargain sites. Your year-end sale increases the chances of customers choosing you over these inexpensive e-commerce giants.
Clear excess inventory
With more purchases comes the opportunity to part ways with excess stock, so your end-year sale doubles as a smart inventory management strategy. This notion is true for brick-and-mortar stores and e-commerce operations with their own warehouses but not for dropshipping e-commerce operations.
Maximize your tax deductions
All the inventory you sell is tax-deductible, meaning it lowers your business’s taxable income. However, any inventory you don’t sell isn’t tax-deductible, so as your big end-of-year retail sale clears your stock, it lessens your tax liability too. That’s money back in your pocket to use on just about anything else — search engine marketing, hiring more staff, you name it.
Stay ahead of the competition (and their year-end sales)
It’s pretty much guaranteed that other retailers in your area or industry will run end-of-year sales. You need to run and promote your own year-end sale to compete with these businesses. When shoppers are actively buying gifts left and right — and looking for discounts along the way — late-December promotions keep your shop on customers’ radars alongside competitors.
How To Identify Products To Put On Sale
Here are the factors to consider when narrowing down which products belong in your end-of-year sale.
- Last season: Review your sales data to determine which of your items people purchased the most in the fall. A customer might be willing to buy these items now, way ahead of the upcoming fall or simply because they enjoy the product out of season, if you offer undeniable deals.
- Excess inventory: Any merchandise you’re desperate to offload is a shoo-in to incorporate into your year-end sale. If you need to offload a product, a massive discount may be all the incentive a customer needs.
- Slow-moving products: Some products with low sales experience more purchases when you discount them big-time. Put your slow movers on sale and see whether they appeal more to shoppers even if you’re doubtful. You might be proven wrong and finally clear that problematic excess stock of a product you initially hoped would move faster.
- Last year’s big end-of-year movers: Pull up your sales data to identify your fastest-moving products from last year’s end-of-year stretch. If you have these items in stock, focus on them for your sale. After all, history tends to repeat itself, so do what worked last year to bring in more money.
Sale Pricing Strategies To Try
Bundle products
Those hot-button sellers from your previous end-of-year period are great starting points for bundles only available during your current sale. Bundles consisting of these items, less expensive items, and stock you’re looking to offload increases sales across the board. Set a price that represents a big discount from the items’ total price, and you might sell more of each.
Another approach to bundling: choose a theme. For example, suppose you run a tea shop and you want to assemble a winter wonderland bundle. Choose three to five teas that all evoke cozy warm feelings amid snowy, cold landscapes. Include a wintery mug or a tea kettle, too. Bundle your chosen items at a price lower than the teas’ combined price, and you might just move more units.
When bundling products, be clear that you’re doing so. If you run a brick-and-mortar store, add outright labels and descriptions to your bundles. For e-commerce stores, build a new product page detailing the bundle, and include photos and video of what this gift looks like together. Give shoppers enough information to understand your bundles, and sales are more likely.
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Buy one, get one free
It’s a classic for a reason: Buy one, get one free (BOGO) pricing strategies are such a good deal that shoppers often can’t resist them. For example, imagine that your kitchenware store’s pre-cut parchment paper circles are a huge hit. Avid cake bakers will need a plethora of these items to keep baking their delicious creations. Offering four for the price of two at year’s-end might have these customers flocking to your store or website.
Discount percentage
A small clothing store looking to free up back-office space might advertise a 20% discount storewide. Although this discount is sizable when applied to everything in store, it may drive sales strongly enough to make a meaningful difference in year-end sales volume. This increase could easily offset the potential loss of offering a reduced price in the first place.
A small clothing store looking to free up back-office space might advertise a 20% discount storewide. Although this discount is sizable when applied to everything in store, it may drive sales strongly enough to make a meaningful difference in year-end sales volume. This increase could easily offset the potential loss of offering a reduced price in the first place.
The “original price was…” effect
You’re running a sale, so you want to explicitly show people how much money they save when they purchase now. Plastering your store with signs that say “original price $X — now $Y!” both signals that you’re having a sale and drives consumers to buy your products now that they cost less.
Add this language to your e-commerce store’s product listings, too. Consider an online chocolatier selling 72% dark chocolate bars for $6 each. As long as the chocolatier has already announced its year-end promotions, it’s OK to add “was $6!” next to its $4 sale price. Express this in terms that sound bigger than they are, too. A 33% discount on that $6 chocolate bar sounds more significant than a $2 one.
Whichever way you decide to go, website visitors who hesitated at the $6 price tag might now buy the chocolate bar. If enough people do this, the total sales outpace the $2 lost per bar.
Charm pricing
There’s a reason most items you purchase cost $39.99 instead of $40. Since $39.99 keeps the reader’s mind in the $30 range instead of mentally placing them in the $40 range, increasing the likelihood of a purchase. Easily leverage this principle, known as charm pricing, for your end-of-year sale.
For example, suppose you’ve got an excess of stock that you normally sell for $50 per item. You’ve figured out that selling these items at $40 each during your sale will recoup the discounted prices via increased sales. However, you still worry that some people still might balk at the $40 price tag. Dropping the price down just a cent to $39.99 achieves charm pricing, and you might win over some people who think $40 is too pricey.
Power Up
Want to learn about more sales pricing strategies? Here are 12 of our favorite ways to increase sales.
8 Ways To Market Your End-Of-Year Sale
1. Reward loyal customers with additional discounts
If your business doesn’t yet run a customer loyalty program, get one up and running before your year-end sale. If your small food store co-op needs to clear shelf space for the coming year, offer all customers enrolled in your loyalty program ample rewards for every item they buy. Deals on something as essential as food are hard to resist, so your shelf space might free up soon.
2. Run social media promotions
Advertise your year-end sale on your TikTok, Instagram, and other social media pages. Tools such as Canva make DIY graphic design simple and if you need a little inspiration, Chat GPT is a good place to start with copywriting. High-quality posts engage your existing audience and encourage them to participate in your sale — and they might draw in new customers too.
3. Conduct email marketing campaigns
Embed a form on your website for visitors to sign up for your email list. Send your subscribers beautifully designed emails with compelling copy detailing your end-of-year sale. Direct subscribers to your online store or in-person location so they conveniently buy your products at a discount.
4. Pursue affiliate marketing
Since this marketing tactic involves a network of online personalities (affiliates) promoting your products, it’s much more effective for e-commerce businesses. Your affiliates will direct their followers to your product pages and get a small cut of all your sales. You’ll see more purchases — enough to cover each affiliate’s payout.
5. Emphasize your sale’s limited timeframe
In all your messaging about your sale, use terms such as “limited-time offer” and clearly state when your ongoing promotions end. After all, urgency drives people to act fast and not think too extensively about their decisions. This mindset drives purchases and, thereby, your sales.
6. Host an end-of-year event or pop-up to attract customers
An event or pop-up gives people an experience, not just a sales push, which drives engagement with your brand. This principle is the bedrock of interactive marketing, creating a genuinely fun experience for customers instead of simply transacting when a purchase is made. As people attend your event or pop-up, they’ll have such a good time that they might be more likely to spend money with your business.
For example, suppose you sell essential oil diffusers at your brick-and-mortar shop. Host a pop-up nearby where you display and operate all your diffusers while advertising your year-end promotions. Random passersby might notice the lovely aromas and drift over to your area. Encourage these unexpected visitors to try your diffusers and oils. Since these passersby have gotten to try your products and see your discounted prices, it may entice them to buy more.
7. Run a pay-per-click advertising campaign
What if you could put your end-of-year sale in front of exactly the customers who need what you sell? That’s where pay-per-click (PPC) advertising comes into play. Through platforms such as Google Ads, you reach people searching the internet for the items you sell. Your website will appear at the top of the customer’s search engine results page (SERP) via your paid ad. PPC ads are also available on social platforms, so you reach your target audience where they spend the most time.
For example, let’s say you sell organic tea tree soap online. Running a PPC campaign that targets people searching for the phrase “organic tea tree soap” ensures that these potential customers see your brand first. If your ad is connected to a web page that clearly details your year-end promotions, purchases become that much more likely.
8. Connect with influencers
E-commerce businesses often see greater sales when influencers direct people from social media feeds to these businesses’ websites. For example, picture a skincare brand planning 20% discounts storewide between Christmas and New Year’s Day. This brand could contact a skincare influencer well ahead of time to discuss creating content that promotes the brand and its sales. Consumers from all over the world might visit the brand’s website based on the influencer’s recommendation and then make purchases.
Close Out Your Year On A Strong Note
Now that you know how to have a successful end-of-year sale, you might see that some of the best strategies ring familiar from other times of the year. Whether you’re aiming to maximize online sales or in-person purchases, effective pricing strategies and marketing tactics that work year-round are just as valid in late December. Even if end-of-year promotions feel new to you, the ways you go about them will feel like well-trodden paths, putting all your goals within reach.
