Why You Shouldn’t Wait Until the New Year to Think About the New Year

The holidays are coming up, so you’re probably busy figuring out how you’re going to handle the crazy time about to hit your store. So the thought of figuring out what your plans are for 2015 is probably entirely too much to consider right now. Between making or sourcing new products, figuring out shipping, and coming up with a holiday themed website redesign, you just don’t have the time.

However, there are several reasons why you absolutely should think about the future. 2015 isn’t that far off and you want to hit the ground running. While holiday sales are super important, you don’t want to limp into the New Year with no idea what to do and how to approach your customer base.

Fresh Campaign

If you really think about it, there’s nothing particularly special about January 1st. Just because we say it’s the “new year” doesn’t really mean much in the grand scheme of things. If you’re doing a campaign to show off your customer service, that doesn’t vanish because it’s now 2015.

On the other hand, there is something magical about writing a new number on our checks isn’t there? It’s an opportunity for a fresh start. It’s a good time to look at our campaigns and truly decide if they’re worth holding onto. You can even try some brand new products you’ve never considered before.

All this stuff takes time, though. The sooner you plan your changes the better. Go over any struggling parts of your business like social media campaigns or products that aren’t moving and pick somewhere to try a fresh start in 2015. Then when things wind down after the holidays you can try a few in earnest.

Work Off Holiday Sales

During the holidays you often run into some fun surprises. That new product you just started selling suddenly flew off the virtual shelves faster than you could keep up. Maybe you had some old, unassuming item you weren’t sure would even last into the new year suddenly become the hot new item.

You don’t want this to end when 2015 hits. That’s why thinking about what you’re going to focus on in the New Year is important to do now. If you don’t, that huge rush of sales could dry up as soon as the last of the champagne is poured.

While you won’t necessarily know what the next hot holiday item in your store will be yet, you can at least make plans on how to approach items that could potentially be a big deal. For example, you may plan on focusing on a new line of bowling balls as well as some bowling pin necklaces you acquired.

When the New Year hits, you can plan on your potential new “bowling line” of products. If one or both of the new products are a hit with customers, you’ve already done the leg work on how to make it really pop. This way you can start the new campaign up January 1st instead of taking time getting it ready.