The days are getting shorter, the wind is getting colder, and the leaves on the trees are starting to change. Summer is coming to an end and with it comes the 2016 Holiday Season.  According to the National Retail Federation, last years holiday sales account for a total of $626.1 billion in revenue. As those few colder months get close, it's important to start thinking of ways to optimize sales for the season. Our customers are always thinking of creative ways to get more people in their doors. Below are our four favorite tips. 
Food & Free Samples
If you're one of the many customers of ours that sells great food you might consider putting out free sample plates for your new stock. You can even put out free sample combination plates such as a specialty cheese with a bread for double the fun (and double to potential sales.) 
Come in to warm up
This tip is in the same vein as free food, except you don't need to sell food to offer it. During brisk fall nights, it's nice to warm up with a cup of apple cider, tea, or a nice hot chocolate. Offering something to warm up the customers will bring them in the door and they'll be much more likely to look around while they're sipping on the complimentary Cup o' Joe. 
Keep in Touch
We talked last week about using social media to engage customers, but sometimes you want to reach out directly. When adding a new customer in ERPLY, you can save their email address to our database. With their email address, you can use a mass email client such as MailChimp or Constant Contact to send news about sales or promotions to your loyal customers. 
Free Gift Wrapping
It may be because I struggle to wrap gifts, but this is one of my favorite deals during the holiday season. By having a deal of "Spend a certain amount and get it wrapped for free," customers will likely try to get all of their holiday shopping done there. It's a win/win for everyone involved! The customer gets all of their gift shopping done and wrapped so they don't have to think about it, and you've gained a new customer! 
Promotions, Coupons, and Rewards Points
Need a refresher for creating promotions? Click here.
Promotions can be set up for a specific time frame, so you can build them in advance so you don't have to worry on the day of. By tying a promotion to a coupon, the coupon can print out notifying the customer that a sale is coming up soon so that they are more likely to revisit. 
Training & More Training
Our final and most important tip from all of us at ERPLY is to make sure your employees are comfortable working the Point of Sale. We have plenty of tutorials and guides here
 so that you can feel confident in your staff.