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The Hospitality Christmas Checklist

October 23, 2023
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Gifting season is fast approaching. With nearly half of all Christmas presents in the UK bought online last year, if you’re not online you could really be missing out. Customers are looking to order gift packs, hampers and treats for their loved ones. So offering these could create some great opportunities for sales. Here is our official checklist of 2023, the key to having a very merry Christmas.

 

Get your online store ready

Just like with your brick and mortar site, there are certain things you need to add to your online store to set yourself up for success.

 

Be ready to take orders in advance

First things first, whilst we too love a last minute gift, the majority of Christmas shopping will be done in advance. So if you don’t allow your customers to pre order, they will take their business elsewhere.

We have several tools at Slerp that can help you manage these orders well:

  • Order Management – our tool, Composer helps you organise your pre orders and reduces manual tasks by automating everything from packing slips to label generation.
  • Menu Management – allows you to have a separate pre ordering menu on your online store and even decide which of your locations will allow customers to order in advance.

 

Nationwide deliveries 

This expands your consumer reach, creating more opportunities for sales. With the right delivery partner, the process can be pretty simple. We work with high quality couriers delivering all over the UK. 

 

Hampers and bundles

The number one reason customers do their Christmas shopping online is that it’s easy. So you need to make it as simple as possible for customers to find their gift of choice. Having a separate gifting section of the menu along with hampers and gift packs for them to choose from does this. 

 

Gift wrapping

Take it one step further and increase your average order value with the optional add on of gift wrapping. As well as adding value, it adds a personal touch to the customer’s gift and saves them time on the other end.

Our partners can use a convenient feature that enables gift wrapping on their online store with just one click.

 

Last year one partner made 30k in gift wrapping alone 

Make sure people know you offer gifting

All of this is great but it’s utterly pointless if you don’t tell people that they can buy gifts from you this Christmas.

 

Email and SMS

You probably have a healthy list of contacts from your reservations system. Now you just need to start using it to communicate with your customers and increase your sales. Got a limited edition special? Send an SMS and let them know this is a time sensitive offer, this creates FOMO and encourages them to act. Or you could send an email letting them know that your new gifting menu is live and available for nationwide delivery!

Our CRM platform can help you organise all of your data and get you using it in an efficient way with segmentation and automation.

 

Ticking these tips off your Christmas list is bound to make a big difference to your festive season. Interested in working with Slerp? Get in touch now.

 

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Slerp is an online ordering platform designed specifically for the hospitality industry.