How to Increase Holiday Sales: 8 Time-tested Strategies That Work

Summary

It is insane how shoppers get bewitched during holiday shopping.

And truth be told, they do not shop because oh-it’s-Christmas. Rather it is more like: ‘OMG! There’s a discount. 😍

And that can get extremely challenging. As a business owner, you must ensure that herds of shoppers visit your store and purchase from you.

This handy guide will help you with some best and proven practices on how to increase sales on eCommerce website.

Tip 1: Make Top-sellers on Your Online Stores Your Best Friend ✌

Sometimes the best of things is right in front of you, but you fail to notice. 

The same goes here. To increase eCommerce holiday sales, you need to take advantage of some amazing stuff that you already have and make the most of it. 

Think of all those products that shoppers keep buying from you throughout the year. Putting top-sellers on the display would entice new visitors to at least check those products. 

Remember that selling during holidays means tackling last-minute buyers who are in a hurry. They do not want to put in a lot of mental effort and make quick decisions (because the ‘sale ends soon’ clock keeps ticking). 

Putting best sellers in front of shoppers works as social proof. On top of that, if you add reviews and testimonials, it pushes them towards making the final decision. 

Below is a perfect example of the best seller category. 

Places to Display Best-sellers

All eCommerce platforms come with the capability to display top-selling products easily from the backend. For best results, make them easily accessible for visitors. 

• You can choose to expose top sellers on your website’s menu, footer, or homepage.
• Another way is to create a dedicated landing page and promote it via email. That way, you will attract more customers and increase holiday sales.

Best-sellers + FOMO Leads to Even More Sales

As consumers, all of us have fallen prey to the ‘fear of missing out’ tactic. 😨

Phrases like ‘this is the last chance’, ‘few left’, etc., somehow always work. 

It is a psychological trigger that humans can’t help but respond to. Online businesses are taking advantage of this technique to get shoppers’ attention and increase sales. 

Especially if you are targeting a younger audience, you can leverage the FOMO marketing more effectively. 

Tactics to Leverage FOMO To Increase Holiday Sales

• Build scarcity by saying things like ‘one t-shirt left in x size’, ‘deal available only for first 100 customers’, etc.
• Create a sense of urgency with limited-time sale offers to boost eCommerce sales. Things like ‘50% off – only for one day’ make customers want to hurry up.
• Showing how many people are currently viewing a product or buying is also an effective method to increase sales on an eCommerce website.

Quickly Close Deals by Letting Customers Customize Their Products

There are thousands of businesses offering the same product as you do. Maybe they have a $5 discount. So, how do you ensure shoppers choose you over others? 

The answer lies in customization. When you enable them to create products exactly the way they want, they are more likely to be confident in what they are purchasing. 

No matter what you sell, you can let customers add a personal touch to their products using a Product Design Tool. 🎨

With features like template manager and artwork manager, you can create ready-to-sell products. With minimum customization, customers can purchase products they love. 

Prepare your store not just for holidays but also for future growth with a groundbreaking Product Design Tool.  

Don’t miss out on these amazing customization options of a product designer tool

Tip 2: Creating Holiday Gift Guides Always Does the Trick

Shoppers often complain that they find it difficult to shop online as there is too much to choose from. The other major reason not to purchase online is inadequate information to choose the right product.

Online stores can use holiday gift guides to help shoppers make quicker decisions and increase holiday sales.

“A gift guide is one of the most powerful tools to boost holiday sales. It allows you to showcase your products, inspire shoppers, and stay top of mind throughout the season.”

– Francesca Nicasio, Retail Expert at Vend

How does a holiday gift guide work?

With a gift guide, you can engage with customers early during the season by providing them with gift ideas. So, when it’s time for them to decide upon a gift, they keep your store in mind and proceed to make a purchase.

Three Quick Steps to Create a Gift Bundle 🎁

Here’s how to increase holiday sales by building a gift guide for customers:

Step 1: Determine What You Want to Include

Research for creating a gift guide begins by identifying your audience. Once you have the demographic and psychographic data, it becomes easy to choose products that you want to include in gift guides.  

Look at market and consumer trends to know what is popular. Tools like Google Trends will help you in identifying opportunities. 

Step 2: Figure Out How to Categorize Products

Categorizing products depends on your business and the customers you cater to. You can either take a general approach, for instance, ‘gifts for him’, ‘gifts for women’, etc. 

Or you can create categories as per personalities or roles, for example, gifts for gadget lovers, gifts for fitness freaks, etc. 

Step 3: Create a New Section on the Website

By creating a new category exclusively for gifts, you can provide shoppers a seamless way to navigate. Further, you can provide filter options like gifts under $10 to improve the shopping experience. 

(Gift guides categorized either by customer segment or based on roles)

During the entire holiday season, such gift bundles will be very handy in engaging shoppers and increasing eCommerce holiday sales.

Today, customers want to give custom items to their loved ones. According to research, the personalized gifts market is expected to grow to $42.25 billion by 2029!

You can further improve chances to increase sales on eCommerce websites by selling custom gifts. How? Simple, by building your own storefront! 

Tip 3: Use AI-Driven Personalization to Boost Holiday Sales in 2025

Holiday shoppers today don’t just want discounts anymore — they want something that is uniquely theirs. That’s why your eCommerce store needs to give them the power to personalize their products with ease. Enter AI-driven customization.

With the right tools, you can let customers craft their own designs in minutes — from AI-generated text and images to live previews and print-ready files. This not only drives conversions but also creates an emotional bond and a memorable experience for customers. 

What This Looks Like in a Custom Product Store

• Add an AI text-generator so shoppers can instantly produce a tagline, quote, or message matched to their design prompt.
• Let customers type a prompt like “sunset mountain graphic for a mug” and generate an image automatically via AI, which they then fine-tune or overlay with their own text.
• Offer a live 2D/3D preview so they see exactly how the final product will look, boosting confidence and reducing returns.
• Make the customization mobile-friendly: whether they’re on a tablet or a phone, the tool works smoothly and keeps them engaged.

Why This Tip Matters for Holiday Sales

Holiday buying is often quick, last-minute, and emotional. When shoppers need a quick, meaningful gift, they don’t want a complicated design process.

Letting them just type what they want and get an instant design makes buying fast and effortless. Plus, when customers create something themselves, they’re more likely to share it (on social), come back, and recommend your store.

Pro-Tactics to Implement Immediately

• Create a “Generate Design” button on your product pages: customers type what they imagine (“pets, holiday theme, name,” etc.) → AI suggests designs instantly.
• Add live variable pricing: depending on the design’s complexity or number of custom elements, show real-time price updates.
• Build ready-to-go templates for holiday themes (e.g., “Family Christmas Tee”, “Custom New Year Mug”) that integrate with the AI generator so customers can pick and then tweak.
• Optimize for mobile: ensure the customization builder supports finger taps, live previews, and minimal page load times — a clunky mobile experience will kill sales fast.

Tip 4: Free Shipping is the #1 Way to Increase Holiday Sales

Before we move further to discuss free shipping, it is important to focus on how to prepare an effective shipping strategy. 

What if your shipment gets delayed or you have backlogs due to a sudden surge in order numbers?

That’s why it is necessary to plan everything from buying supplies to delivering products.

Free v/s Fast Shipping

One of the easiest ways to increase eCommerce sales during the holiday season is to offer free shipping. That’s because consumers expect free shipping, especially during the holiday season. Moreover, 82% of consumers say that free return policies are very critical for their consideration when shopping online.

However, free shipping is expensive. So, you have to find methods to make free shipping budget-friendly. 

One simple way to increase eCommerce sales with free shipping is to set a minimum order amount at checkout. You can even offer event-based free shipping, like free shipping only till Black Friday. 

Free shipping is a standard option, but customers also demand other options like same-day or next-day shipping.

Tip 5: Gratify Impulse Buyers with Suggestive Selling

Impulse buying is a common human psyche that impacts buying. Shoppers tend to exhibit such behavior when shopping.

Even the businesses businesses use various tactics like last minute deals, gift bundles, etc., to boost holiday sales.

One technique to gratify impulse purchases and boost eCommerce sales is suggestive selling. It helps in increasing sales and delight customers without being a lot pushy.

Suggestive selling is when you suggest shoppers to add complementary items or convince them to purchase a product with a higher price than what they intend to buy.

The entire approach of suggestive selling is to provide relevant recommendations that increase a customer’s likelihood of buying.

Ways to Trigger Impulse Buying to Increase Sales on eCommerce Website

• → Use complementary products: Recommend products that complement the products a customer is already purchasing. It reminds shoppers of other products they may need when adding items to the cart.
• → Placement of products matter: Every time a customer clicks on a product or adds items to cart, you can display similar products at the end of the page with headlines like ‘Frequently bought together’.

Take your holiday sales up and high with the power of product customization. Read these tips to learn more!

Want to see how customization can boost impulse buying and your holiday sales?

Tip 6: Prepare Your Website & Revamp Your Organic Efforts to Boost Sales 🎄🎅

Is it even possible to talk about the holiday season and not include a website makeover?

Nope, your store doesn’t need a redesign, but there are tiny things you can take care of to give it a festive look.

For instance, you can include holiday-themed graphic page headers, background colors with more seasonal color combinations, etc. 

You can change banners in the headers to promote Christmas or Black Friday sales. Discount banners with countdown times is a good way to build a sense of urgency.

Secondly, try creating holiday-focused category pages, for example, Christmas offers, Gifts for Men, etc. It makes it easier for shoppers to find what they are looking for. 

Your website will seek peak traffic on Cyber Monday and Black Friday. Therefore, it is important to ensure that the website can handle traffic.  

Slow loading speed, missing images, non-intuitive navigation increases bounce rates. It makes neither Google nor your customers happy. 

Hence, look for such shortcomings to assess your website’s performance. For this, you can use tools like Google’s PageSpeed Insights, Google’s Mobile-Friendly Testing Tool, Screaming Frog, etc.  

Keyword research also plays an important role in ranking fast and to increase sales on eCommerce websites. You need to find relevant holiday-related keywords that help you get a good position in SERPs. 

For better results, it’s good not to pick general high-volume keywords like ‘gift ideas’. Instead, choose long-tail keywords. They are highly specific keywords that exactly match the shopper’s intent. 

As a part of your SEO strategy, update product descriptions to match the holiday season. Descriptions should be such that shoppers are convinced to buy products from you. 

Enhance your SEO efforts with paid campaigns. Run a paid campaign before holiday shopping starts when the competition is less. 

Also, do not forget social media. Plan your social media strategy ahead of time to promote your brand and products.

Why Mobile-First Customization Matters More in 2025

According to Adobe, 7 in 10 retail site visits during the 2025 holiday season are expected to come from mobile devices (with mobile revenue accounting for over half of total sales 😦). This means if your store isn’t optimized for mobile-first customization, you’re losing customers who browse, design, and purchase on-the-go.

Especially for custom products, mobile users expect:

• A clean, intuitive design editor
• Large tap-targets and simplified navigation
• Fast-loading previews and images

If the custom process is clunky on mobile, shoppers abandon carts immediately. A mobile-responsive design tool ensures users can personalize, preview, and purchase smoothly — whether they’re shopping from the couch or on their way to a party.

Pro Tip: Prioritize thumb-friendly UI, auto-save designs, and fast rendering to win mobile buyers.

Tip 7: Smart Entrepreneurs Are Always Future-ready: Consider These Post-Holidays Sales Strategies

For a business owner, jingle bells do not stop ringing after the festive season. Even during the first two months of the new year, there’s a lot of work to do. This passage covers some post-holiday eCommerce tips to try.

Dealing with Returns

Sometimes, it becomes even more challenging when customers start returning products after the holidays end. So, it is a good idea to be prepared beforehand to deal with such a situation in case it arises. 

Instead of a refund, you can encourage exchange for an item of equal or greater value. Having more descriptive pages or the capability for customization also significantly reduces returns.

There’s Never a ‘Too Much Discount’ Thing for Customers

You’ll get tired of discounts or sales, but your shoppers never will. If you want to increase holiday sales, consider implementing post-holiday sales and promotions.   

Even post-holidays, you can continue offering discounts to win more customers. It doesn’t have to be something extravagant. Clearance sales, freebies, discounts on minimum purchases always work.

Tip 8: What's the Point of All of These Tactics If the Customer Experience Sucks

For both short-term and long-term success, a positive customer experience is the number one priority for businesses. 

If you are successful in providing the best customer service, shoppers will again do business with your brand and share their experiences with others.

This is why brands are increasingly focusing on personalized experiences to cater to changing consumer habits.

Deliver a Superior Experience in Your Store

For printing and eCommerce businesses, Brush Your Ideas provides a cutting-edge and competitive web to print solution. Our flagship product – Product Design Tool, enables businesses who sell apparel, stationary, trophies, promotional materials, etc., to quickly sell customizable products.  

You can seamlessly integrate the tool into your online store and allow customers to customize their products. 

Our tool is built keeping in mind the ease of use shoppers demand when using a customization tool. The intuitive interface ensures that your customers are able to finish the custom process in a hassle-free manner. 

What makes our tool powerful is that it is industry-specialized. Whether it’s a hoodie or a card, you can deliver a personalized experience to your customers, no matter what products you sell.

Save Time and Reduce Holiday Chaos With Web-to-Print Automation

As holiday demand rises, manual order processing becomes overwhelming. From handling custom requests to managing print files and approvals, doing everything manually slows down fulfillment and increases errors.

That’s where web-to-print automation can be your lifesaver.

What Gets Automated?

→ Artwork approval and print-ready file generation
→ Order routing directly to production teams
→ Custom product previews generated automatically
→ Personalized pricing rules and bulk order handling

Why Automation Helps During the Holiday Rush

→ Faster turnaround time
→ Fewer production errors
→ Lower operational cost
→ Happier customers and faster repeat purchases

When your entire workflow — from product personalization to production — runs seamlessly, you can scale without extra manpower.

Holiday 2025 Consumer Behavior Shift: What Store Owners Must Know

Holiday shoppers this year are not looking for only “good gifts.” Instead, they’re looking for meaningful purchases, sustainable options, and ultra-fast shopping experiences.

Here are major shifts shaping this season:

Shoppers Want Experiences, Not Just Products

People are buying moments. They are choosing gifts that create experiences, spark emotions, and feel meaningful. Products that tell a story or celebrate personal memories stand out more than generic items.

Sustainability Matters.

Eco-friendly packaging, recycled materials, and digital-only products influence purchasing decisions more than ever.

Shoppers Want Instant Gratification

Same-day delivery, digital gift cards, live previews, and quick design options help shoppers move faster from liking a product to actually buying it.

Social Commerce is Surging

TikTok shops and Instagram storefronts are becoming direct holiday sales channels. Merchants need mobile-optimized checkout and quick-loading product previews to convert social scrollers.

What’s Next?

Improving customer experience has become one of the key differentiators for any brand. If you want to make your business stand out from competitors, you need to act now. 

This holiday season, give your customers a superior experience they deserve with product customization. 

To understand in-depth how a Product Design Tool works as per your business logic, claim a personalized demo, and we will schedule a product tour.

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