Holiday Selling Solutions
By Shari Steinbach, MS RDN, RDBA Contributing Editor
November is here and your stores are focused on meeting the holiday needs of shoppers. Shelves are stocked with baking items along with ingredients and products needed for special meals and celebrations. During this time of year, use your expertise to provide shoppers with seasonal solutions that encourage incremental sales and loyalty. Here are some quick and engaging ways to make the holidays more affordable, nourishing, and fun for your customers.
- Help shoppers create a simple appetizer party. Using packaged products, deli items and fresh products, put together a menu for how to quickly assemble an appetizer party and/or grazing board. Consider products grocery items such as marinated olives, pickled vegetables, and nuts. Deli products like sliced meats, cheeses, and spreads or hummus and produce items that include precut fruits and veggies. Share ideas for easy-assembly recipes like goat cheese sprinkled with honey and chopped pistachios, brie cheese topped with fresh berries, or mini mozzarella balls skewered with grape tomatoes and basil, then drizzled with a balsamic glaze.
- Highlight affordable gifts from the kitchen. Consumers are often looking for inexpensive ways to share holiday cheer with teachers, neighbors, friends, and family. Highlight “gifts from the kitchen” with a shoppable list of items on ecommerce – homemade apple butter or scones for example. You can also pitch a local media segment showing how to assemble a variety of theme-based gift baskets - seasonal teas with a mug, honey, and citrus; a fruit, wine, cheese, and chocolate basket; or a child’s cooking basket featuring a recipe card with ingredients and kid-sized cooking utensils. Have fun and use your imagination!
- Plan the menu and make the list. Your shoppers would love a suggested menu plan for their special holiday celebration. Offer of few menu options and include the shopping list of ingredients on ecommerce. Include links to cooking tips on thawing products, roasting/cooking meats, food safety and food storage. Cross merchandize food thermometers, pans, foil and containers for leftovers.
- Provide healthy holiday swaps. A high percentage of your shoppers are looking for ways to make holiday meals fit into their special dietary pattern. Create a healthy holiday swap tip sheet to assist those living with diabetes, heart-disease or shoppers trying to manage food allergies or weight. Include swaps for beverages, sweet treats, and favorite holiday side dishes.
- Promote easy weeknight meals – The holiday season is busy and with weekends full of scheduled parties and get togethers, consumers are looking for ways to make week day meals, easy, affordable, and healthy. Share tips for creating sheet pan meals with a few recipes, or one-pot chili or soup recipes that can be simply served with a bakery baguette or rolls.
