For the past few years I have been preaching that it’s the business not the customers who determine whether you will have a profitable Christmas shopping season. If you are hearing this prognostication for the first time you might think I’m a little crazy. But as Charles Dickens put it, “I am the ghost of Christmas past.” Here are some numbers from last year to ponder.

• Consumers spent $407 million on Thanksgiving Day 2010, a 28% increase compared to Thanksgiving Day in 2009. – ComScore
• 2010 pre-Christmas sales were $584.3 billion. Pre-recession 2007 pre-Christmas sales were $566.3 billion – MasterCard Advisors Spending Pulse
• 2010 – 77.3% of shoppers planned on buying at least one gift card during the holiday season – NRF
• 2010 retail spending rose 5.5% in the 50 days before Christmas – MasterCard Advisors Spending Pulse
• The average amount spent per consumer on Black Friday, 2010 was $365.34, compared to $343.31 in 2009 – NRF
• The average online order on Cyber Monday 2010 was $194.89, which was 8.3% higher than the $180.03 average in 2009. – Coremetrics
• 52% of U.S. smartphone users planned to use their phone (in your store) to compare prices during the holiday season and 40% planned to use their phones to read product reviews. – Google Blog
• Six days during the Christmas holiday shopping season saw more than $1 billion in sales in 2010 – MasterCard Advisors SpendingPulse

When to start your Christmas Sales Season
Many customers are turned off by merchants who stock shelves for Christmas before Halloween even arrives or even the day after Halloween. This is commonly known as “Christmas Creep;” the practice of trying to extend the Christmas selling season. Usually the effect is that it puts a damper on Halloween sales.

Although Christmas will be in the mind of shoppers before Halloween there are budgets to be considered. Halloween expenses, Thanksgiving expenses, then Christmas expenses. Your job is to help your customers make the most of their spending during the final quarter of the year. Did you notice the amount spent on Thanksgiving above?

Most of us know that the day after Thanksgiving (“Black Friday”) is the biggest shopping day of the year and the following Monday (“Cyber Monday”) is the biggest online shopping day of the year. Just like athletes mentally prepare for big games your customers also gears up for these days.

How to beat the Competition
Every year there is a battle between Main Street retailers and the “big box” stores. In spite of the emotional “buy local” message the lure of low, low prices are sometimes too much for the average consumer on a tight budget. So how can the little guy compete? Here are some ideas to think about:

Use Social Marketing – Facebook, Twitter and LinkedIn
• 24% of adults have posted comments or reviews online about the things they buy.
• 40% of Facebook’s user base is age 35+.
• 64% of Facebook users have become “fans” of at least one company.
• Companies that blog get 55% more web site visitors.
• 67% of business to consumer companies, and 41% of business-to-business companies have acquired a customer through Facebook.
• 57% of businesses have acquired a customer through their company blog.
• 51% of Facebook fans are more likely to buy the brands they fan.
• 79% of Twitter followers are more likely to recommend the brands they follow.

QR Codes
Don’t know what QR Codes are? Then you are losing business. See: (How QR Codes Can Grow Your Business http://ow.ly/6Z8F1) You could run a 4×6 newspaper ad with a QR code in the corner and anyone with a “smart phone” could access your web site, a page of coupons, special gift ideas and any number of other things you want them to see. Another great thing is the things the QR code points to can be changed without changing the QR Code itself. So your ad in the paper can have different things on different days without changing the ad itself. Best of all your coupons and offers will be texted and shared with family and friends making your advertising dollars go farther.

More Ideas
• Printable coupons on your web site
• “Find us on Facebook” signs in your store
• Make sure all employees know what’s on sale each day and where it is in your store.
• Upsell – Digital cameras should have a case, extra batteries, more storage, etc.
• Call customers by name as soon as you know it. Its on their credit cards, checks, etc.
• In early November create bag stuffers with gift ideas for dad, mom, with check boxes so customers can save them and check off what they like. Don’t forget to put QR codes on these and your web site.
• Feature your high margin items at the end of aisles or in island displays.
• Use “Shop with a Buddy” coupons. Women often shop together. Both get a discount. Same idea restaurants use with their “Buy one entre, second of equal or lesser price is $XX.

It’s never been easier or cheaper to spread the word about your business with the Internet, positive word-of-mouth, and social marketing. Build a strong following, offer good value and your bottom line this Christmas will be black and only your decorations will be in the red. Happy Thanksgiving and a very Merry Christmas.

Tom Egelhoff, www.smalltownmarketing.com, is the author of, “How to Market, Advertise and Promote Your Business or Service in Your Own Backyard.” Listen to Tom’s weekly radio show, “Open for Business, 11-2 PM Mountain Time every Saturday at http://kmmsam.com. Click “Listen Live.” Also, check out Tom on Twitter, Facebook and LinkedIn.