As you plan for standout holiday sales, it’s important to remember this is your season to shine. While your hero products keep loyal customers coming back month after month, the holidays are prime time to capture new customers, and ensure loyal customers consider your brand a part of their lifestyle—and not just another product on the shelf. Here are a few low-effort, high-impact pieces to consider as you plan for your year-end assortment.

Lean Into Lifestyle with Soft GoodsSure, gifting a skincare or beauty product is great—but many shoppers want something extra special for the holidays. Whether it’s a custom gift set or a gift with purchase, limited edition items are an easy way to incentivize shoppers to choose your brand, and even spend more when they shop. For people gifting established fans of your brand, they may even want extra special items for purchase, like hats, sweatshirts, and accessories, to make their recipients feel really seen through the brands they like.

Elevate Your Secondary PackagingWhether you want your secondary packaging to work solely as a shipper, or you’re considering creating secondary packages that are buttoned-up and ready-to-gift, the extra details make the difference during the holiday season. Consider upgrading your usual materials to something festive, like metallics, or adding an unexpected touch of branded holiday copy to show your customer you really understand their experience during this season. Better yet, create packages that don’t need extra wrapping to give your shoppers another reason to choose your brand.

Do More with Your MarketingAs far as marketing goes, the holiday season starts now. If you want to make a buzz during the holiday months, it’s time to start laying the groundwork. That doesn’t mean put your holiday campaign up during the summer—but it does mean pre-launching limited-edition products to generate buzz and potentially sell-out to build anticipation as they come back in stock later in the year. You can also use this time to get feedback from your customers about what they’d really like to see in the coming months. Hype up your brand now, and reap the rewards at the end of the year.

From strategic marketing campaigns to packaging and soft goods, The DPS is your one-stop partner for all things holiday. Whether you have an idea in place or need our expertise in brainstorming and concepting, we’re here and ready to help—and the earlier you get started, the better. Reach out to your team today for happy holidays ahead.