We may not be ready for carols and mince pies just yet, but lots of people are already thinking about Christmas shopping.

According to Yes mail Interactive, 38.1% of people start their Christmas shopping before November. This jumps up to 69.8% of people starting their Christmas shopping before the 1st December.

The majority of these early shoppers are women. Early shoppers say that they are motivated to start preparation early because they want to avoid the Christmas rush in stores, and because spreading purchases over months lessens the financial impact of the holiday season. In reality, customers who start shopping early often end up spending more, buying double when they fall victim to holiday impulse spending, or upgrading household and decorative items they wouldn’t if their gift shopping wasn’t out of the way.

So what can you do to entice these early birds to start spending with you?

Buy One, Stash One

Encourage customers to get a head start on their holiday shopping with a buy one, stash one promotion. This promotion works because it lets shoppers feel virtuous and responsible. They get to be well prepared for Christmas whilst indulging and spending on themselves. This is the perfect promotion for health and beauty items or luxurious accessories.

Buy Now, Save Later

Think ahead and give your customers a reason to come back. With every purchase made during your early bird Christmas period, give coupons or gift cards only redeemable during the peak holiday period. This is a great promotion for all gift items and works really well for toys, which are of course massively competitive nearer to Christmas.

Gift cards could be for money off, but they could also be for discounted delivery. Free delivery becomes even more of a pull during the holidays and offering a specific such as “Order before December 20th to get free delivery in time for Christmas” could bring you an extra last-minute lift in sales for 2018.

Note: Because this offer is something that the customer can’t use immediately, it is worth scheduling a small mail campaign for all customers who qualify for the discount, reminding them when they can use it.

Christmas Clearance

If you have any festive stock left from last year, now is the best time to run a Christmas clearance sale. Offering last year’s festive items at discounted rates early on encourages customers to start thinking about holiday preparations, and lets you clear old festive stock before you bring your new full price stock out.

Remember to include any offers in promotions on social media, and to promote them with banners on the homepage and product pages of your own website.

The holiday shopping period is when multiple eBay designs are a massive advantage on eBay, and sellers with holiday sale listing design or a Christmas listing design should take full advantage; make sure your holiday designs include graphics promoting offers in the custom areas,  cross-promote to other items likely to tempt, consider writing a holiday returns policy so customers can return in the new year, and above everything else, make sure that you have special holiday shipping options including a premium last minute service.