The holidays are always around the corner, aren’t they? Which is why it’s never too early to start crafting your holiday marketing strategy and get a running start on the competition, especially since 31% of shoppers start searching for the perfect gift even before Halloween.
Whether you’re looking to delight loyal regulars, entice seasonal shoppers or welcome new customers, we’ve rounded up 25 marketing ideas to help your business stand out and make sales this holiday season.
In this blog, you’ll find ideas for:
Boost sales & win customers this holiday season
From stocking the right inventory to crafting marketing campaigns that sparkle, success starts with the right tools.
5 holiday marketing ideas for your seasonal promotions
Partners, best friends, parents, neighbors: holiday shoppers have long lists of loved ones they want to shower with gifts. They’re on the hunt for great deals, so here’s how you can reward them for shopping with you—and build deeper customer loyalty along the way.
1. Offer holiday discounts
They’re tried and true, but they work. In fact, Lightspeed’s recent Retail Consumer Survey* shows that 40% of shoppers return to a business because of in-store promotions.
The trick is finding the sweet spot. Discounting your whole store is simple, but you might end up losing more than you gain if you give too much away. Instead, discount your superstars and promote add-on products that aren’t discounted to accompany them.
2. Leverage the power of a flash sale
Consider flash sales as an alternative to a full-season discount, or as an added incentive to help customers buy local in store or online.
With POS systems like Lightspeed, you can set up a limited time discount and change the products on sale daily. Promote your daily deals ahead of time, and consider themes to make coming back more than once an attractive prospect. For example, if you’re building a “12 days of Christmas” campaign, you could discount camping gear for day one, and kitchen gadgets on day two.
For maximum reach, avoid just tossing up a post online— instead, reach the right customer segments with tools like Lightspeed Advanced Marketing’s email marketing features.
3. Start a referral program
Looking to make the most of word-of-mouth this holiday season? Referral marketing is a fantastic way to do it.
A well-crafted program encourages your most loyal customers to spread the word about your business to friends and family, and it’s an easy way to help your business sleigh the competition. It’s a simple way to give your shoppers a little something extra, while you gain new customers for your store.
4. Turn gift cards into future sales
Gift cards are a holiday hero; in 2024, 44% of shoppers purchased a physical or digital card. It’s clear that gift cards are a huge opportunity for your business, especially for shoppers on the hunt for a convenient and thoughtful last-minute option.
But the real benefit goes far beyond the holidays. When recipients start redeeming their cards in January, it’s your chance to turn a simple gift into a bigger sale. Sweeten the deal with an exclusive discount or special offer for gift card redemptions—it’s an easy way to bring shoppers back, boost spending, and drive fresh revenue when you need it most. And with Lightspeed, it’s effortless: offer gift cards that customers can redeem seamlessly, whether they’re shopping in-store or online.
5. Offer secret discounts
Make getting a discount even more exciting by adding a sense of gamification to it.
Have your employees pull festive discount codes out of a Santa hat at check-out. Make most of them rather low—an extra 5% off, for example—with one big discount as a chaser. Let customers know that there is a big discount in the hat for one lucky person, and allow shoppers to have one code pulled for them a day.
5 holiday marketing ideas for sales
Don’t stop at setting your discounts—make it interesting (and easy) to shop at your store. When holiday shoppers walk in, they should know they’re getting a great deal on the right products with the best service.
6. Make stocking stuffer bundles with your top products
A whopping 84% of shoppers make impulse purchases; what are you doing to encourage them in your store?
To capture shoppers’ imaginations and increase your chances of making a sale, bundle related products together and promote them as convenient stocking stuffers in visible areas around your store.
Keep the stocking stuffer bundles under a set price—say $20—so they’re affordable impulse buys, which will increase their effectiveness.
7. Create gift guides for easy shopping
If you don’t want to rearrange your store—or even if you do!—you can create suggested shopping gift lists. Craft an informative, easy-to-use checklist of top gift ideas for different groups, and indicate exactly where they are in your store. Include related stocking stuffer ideas for upselling.
You should distribute your list in multiple different ways:
- If you have an ecommerce store, create a gifts page
- Craft an email campaign and mail it out to the right segments (such as engaged, loyal customers)
- Post your guide on social media in a shareable format, such as a post on Instagram with multiple images
- Depending on your customer base, consider a direct mail campaign, to capture customers who may not be connected with you digitally
8. Extend your hours during the holiday period
The holidays are a busy time. To help make your store a no-brainer stop and spread out the crowds, consider extending your hours on peak shopping days.
If you’re not sure what the best days for extended hours will be, run some sales reports by hour in your Lightspeed point of sale. Check to see which days in the last two weeks have had more sales in the evening—those are the days you should consider extending your hours.
Sales reports can also help you decide when to close up shop to focus on other priorities. Take Paddle & Pickle, a pickleball equipment shop in the heart of Quebec’s Eastern Townships. Not only do they leverage Lightspeed’s reporting capabilities to track sales, their data showed them that Mondays were generally quieter days. They decided to close that day, giving staff a break and freeing up time to recharge before busier days.
Bromont-based pickleball shop, Paddle and Pickle
9. Create bundled gift bags to sell
Increase impulse buys at check-out with easy bundled gifts on display. Entice them by tailoring the different gifts to different groups and labeling them: stocking stuffers for the foodie, gifts for pet lovers and the like.
For maximum impact, bundle one or two top-selling products with stock that’s out of season or slow-moving. The top products will entice shoppers, and you’ll move inventory that otherwise isn’t selling. To find these products, open up Lightspeed and run an inventory performance report. By sorting the results by items sold, you can see what’s making the biggest splash with your customers.
10. Master the checkout line
A long wait at checkout can turn for-sure buyers into lost revenue faster than you can say “happy holidays.” Your shoppers are in a rush, and nothing dampens the experience quite like a long, slow line. In fact, Lightspeed’s Retail Consumer Survey indicates that 51.5% of consumers cite long lines and slow service as a common negative experience—a quick way to lose a sale and a customer.
That’s where Lightspeed Scanner comes in. It untethers your till from the front counter, empowering you to sell smarter and beat the holiday rush. During peak busy periods, arm your associates with tablets or smartphones and let them check out shoppers around the store or while they’re waiting in line.
Lightspeed Scanner
5 holiday marketing ideas to inspire your customer experience
Holiday sales aren’t just about the deals. They’re also about connection. Here are some ways you can reach out and connect with shoppers.
11. Plan your holiday content calendar
Instead of setting one holiday email and letting it go, craft multiple emails and send them at strategic times. Your early-bird, holiday period and last-minute crunch messaging should emphasize different things. Crunch shoppers will respond best to messages about extended hours and same-day shipping, for example.
Lightspeed Advanced Marketing makes it easy to craft your email campaigns—take advantage of your saved time to come up with a winning SMS campaign as well.
12. Consider your returns policy
A lenient return policy might lead to more returns, but it also tends to correlate with more purchases and customer loyalty, as well.
A robust return or exchange program could be the difference between capturing a customer and losing them, especially if you sell online. Be careful about being too generous in your policies, though; it’s no good if you’re losing money instead of increasing sales.
13. Promote obscure holiday sales
Between Black Friday, the unofficial start of the holiday shopping period, and New Years, there are countless fun and novelty holidays.
If you sell home goods, November 30th is National Mason Jar Day. For fashion retailers, the first Friday in December is Faux Fur Friday. Chocolatiers should take advantage of National Cocoa Day on December 13th. Have fun with it—promote the day on social media and offer sales related to the theme.
14. Create a campaign for your loyalty program shoppers
This holiday season, make sure your loyalty program members feel like the VIPs they are. Create exclusive discounts or special offers just for them, then launch a targeted email or SMS campaign to let them know the special is just for them. A personalized offer goes a long way toward showing your appreciation and building a deeper connection. This not only makes your current members feel valued but also provides a powerful incentive for new shoppers to sign up.
15. Start a seasonal newsletter
Collect emails from your in-store and online customers (here’s a quick guide on how) for a seasonal holiday newsletter. The content will vary depending on your store; a hardware store could balance products on sale with holiday DIY guides to entice subscribers to open, for example.
5 holiday marketing ideas for extra-special in-person touches
Give your customers the gift of an exciting, engaging in-person experience this season, be it in the store or at a market. It might just get them to stick around to spend more.
16. Offer a personal shopper service
Holiday gifting can be stressful; crowds of people heading to stores, trying to squeeze in last minute shopping. To entice shoppers who might feel over their head, offer a personal shopper service during the holiday period. Lightspeed’s Retail Consumer Survey highlights that 70% of consumers say personalized service would influence them to shop in store more often.
To make this work, dedicate a sales associate’s time during peak shopping days to servicing appointments. Advertise your service online and through a mail campaign, and take appointments.
17. Make your store photo-worthy
Use your window dressing skills to make your store stand out. Include a branded hashtag somewhere in the display.
Visitors who stop for a picture and post online will be advertising for you for free. If you want to encourage hashtag use, offer free goodies for proving they posted with a hashtag.
18. Coordinate with other local businesses for a holiday blitz
Big box stores have massive holiday marketing budgets, but they don’t have what you do: a local community. This holiday season, team up with other local businesses in your neighborhood to create a coordinated campaign that stands out from the competition.
Pull people together with a coordinated holiday blitz. Plan for ongoing sales and promotions together with your neighbors. To really make a splash, hold more than just sales. Combine your efforts with other attention-catching ideas, like holiday workshops, a fundraiser or a video message from Santa.
19. Make an appearance at holiday markets
Many limited-time markets are set up during the festive period. Research your local holiday markets to see what your options are. All you need is a Wi-Fi connection (or data hotspot) and you’ll be able to bring your Lightspeed POS with you for easy sales and inventory management.
20. Promote a tiered giveaway with purchases
Encourage them to shop with you for their gifts with a tiered giveaway. Get as creative as you want with the tiers—you could give them a branded gift at each tier, alternate discounts and gifts, enter them into a raffle at each tier or whatever else comes to mind.
To get shoppers interested, make the first tier easy to reach; consider a $10 mug for spending $50 in your store. From there, tiers can increase exponentially for as high as you expect people to spend. A purchase of $100 could net them a 20% off discount, while a $500 purchase could come with an extra $50 gift card.
5 holiday marketing ideas for ecommerce
While the magic of in-person holiday shopping is unbeatable, today’s customers also expect the option to shop on their own time, and on their own terms. Our Retail Consumer Survey indicates that 66.7% of shoppers say they shop online for convenience, so if you’re not already selling online, you’re missing out on a huge opportunity. The good news is, it’s not too late to get your store up and running and start welcoming new customers.
21. Leverage your online presence
The holidays are a whirlwind of activity, and today’s shoppers are looking for a convenient way to cross everything off their lists. They’re scrolling, browsing and buying gifts from their phones and laptops. Having an online storefront is no longer an option—it’s a necessity for meeting customers where they are.
With Lightspeed eCom, it’s simple to get a beautiful online store up and running fast. Since your online and in-store operations work together seamlessly, you can easily manage everything in one place, giving you more time to focus on your customers. To compete with other online retailers, consider offering free shipping and promoting your site on social media to show off what you’re offering.
22. Capture local online shoppers
Let local online shoppers know they can get what they’re looking for nearby with Google local inventory ads. When shoppers in relevant geographical locations look for products you carry, you’ll show up on Google.
23. Promote your best products online with targeted campaigns
Run a category report to find your top selling products. Leverage their popularity and craft simple retargeting ads. Target demographics that are likely to be interested in each product and set the ads to run with a budget that works for your business.
If you decide to run ads for an extended amount of time, be sure you’re regularly checking your category reports. What’s selling best might change, especially if you’re stocking seasonal inventory.
24. Boost holiday themed posts on social media
During the holidays, social media feeds are flooded with promotions. To stand out, you need a smart advertising strategy that goes beyond just boosting posts. Instead of targeting a broad audience, focus on reaching the right people.
For example, you can create retargeting campaigns that show ads to people who have recently visited your online store. Remind them of that perfect product they viewed but didn’t buy. You can also use lookalike audiences to find new customers who share similar characteristics with your existing shoppers. By focusing your holiday ad spend on these targeted strategies, you can drive more high-quality traffic and increase sales.
25. Use Stories on social media for promotion
This idea works best when combined with other promotions. Are you holding flash daily sales? Special holiday days? Debuting your branded treats?
Whatever you’ve decided to delight your visitors with, make sure they know what they should visit you for with daily Stories on social media platforms like Facebook and Instagram. Boost the best of them for extra reach. Your marketing efforts will be for naught if no one knows about them, and Stories are simple to make and post with a little social media know-how.
Power your holiday sales with the right technology
You’ve crafted the perfect holiday marketing strategy—but that’s only half the battle. The other half is delivering an exceptional shopping experience that turns browsers into buyers. From the moment a customer walks in (or lands on your website) to the moment they check out, every detail matters.
Lightspeed provides the tools to manage it all, so you can focus on making every sale count. Our platform helps you simplify inventory management to prevent stockouts, empower your team with mobile tools to keep lines short, and run effective customer loyalty and eCommerce campaigns. This holiday season, don’t just sell—delight. Want to learn more about how Lightspeed’s tools can help you tackle the holidays? Talk to an expert and discover how our platform can help you make every sale count.
*Lightspeed initiated a consumer survey in June 2025 using a third-party survey vendor UserTesting. Over 380 responses were collected in the United States and Canada. Respondents were required to have made a purchase from a retail store two to three times (not including groceries) in a month.
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