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How to Create Your Own Holiday Gift Guide
Posted By RCI, Tuesday, November 3, 2020
Updated: Thursday, January 21, 2021

Holiday gift guides are a visual and trendy way to promote your popular holiday items both online and in your retail store. According to a recent survey by Dynata for Redpoint Global, “nearly two-thirds of the 1,000 adult shoppers surveyed (62%), planned to do all their holiday shopping online.” While Deloitte predicts “e-commerce holiday retail sales to grow between 25% to 35% from November through January.”

Don’t wait to promote your holiday items either. Analysts believe holiday shopping will begin well before Black Friday. A study by Coresight Research revealed, “three in 10 consumers say they expect to start their holiday shopping earlier than usual this year."

Make it easy for shoppers to find the perfect gift for everyone on their list with well-thought out gift guides. Photo credit: Macy's

 

Pick a specific category.

A visually appealing gift guide will not only help put your gift items in front of consumers, it will also help them check recipients off their shopping list with suggested gift ideas. Need ideas for your hard-to-buy-for dad? Check. What about stocking stuffers or the perfect gift for the person on your list who has everything? Check and check.

When it comes to creating your gift guide, imagine who your customers will be buying for, targeting specific customer segments beyond “women,” “men” and “kids.” Consider categorizing lists by interests, like a sweet and nutty trail mix for outdoor enthusiasts or a chocolate and wine pairing for the wine aficionado.

Another easy idea would be to categorize items by ingredient, flavor or texture. Compile your peanut butter meltaway, peanut brittle, chocolate-covered peanuts and peanut butter fudge onto a guide labeled “Gifts for Peanut Butter Lovers.” Or do you have a collection of mint-chocolate flavored products? What about a guide for those who are “All About the Crunch,” complete with caramel corn, toffee, brittle and chocolate-covered pretzels?


Find the perfect gift for the outdoor enthusiast, thanks to this gift guide by BusbeeStyle. We especially like the simple grid design. The numbers and labels make it easy for customers to identify and purchase products with links for each item included in the description.

 

 


Theo Chocolate has curated a flavor-inspired collection of gift ideas that looks both beautiful and delicious. Categories include the perfect gift ideas for lovers all things spicy, minty, salty, fruity and then some. Click here to view the full guide.


This gift guide from Always Order Dessert is for those well-meaning shoppers looking to snag a last-minute gift that doesn’t feel like an afterthought. This bright and bold header makes it super clear to the reader that the items on this gift guide are the perfect solution for the last-minute shopper.

Consider categorizing some items by price, since most people have a budget in mind when shopping for gifts. “While many shoppers may gravitate toward lower-priced categories, don’t shy away from a luxury list for those looking to splurge,” suggests Cathie Ericson with Square.

Despite trends indicating that many shoppers will be checking their list earlier than ever this year, Coresight Research shows 1 in 10 consumers expect to procrastinate. Since these are likely the shoppers who benefit from gift guides the most, compile a “last-minute gifts” guide of popular, ready-to-gift items that can be purchased in a pinch.

Try to keep your gift guides concise, highlighting three to seven items. Too many items can get lost and turn shoppers away before they’re able to make a decision, let alone a purchase. If you have more items that you’d like to highlight, make several smaller gift guides instead of one big list.

Get Visual

Visuals are a must when it comes to a good gift guide. Period. If you don’t have a photo for every item on your gift guide, breakout your smart phone (or ask a friend or a member of your team who has a smart phone with a good camera to help) and start snapping. For best results, we recommend photographing your products against colors that contrast to make your product pop.


Photo credit: J.Crew, The Montana Standard

Decide if you’d like to layout your products as part of a more “lifestyle” look or if you plan to remove the background of your product photos and lay them out using design software (keep reading for tips on how to do this—for free—with zero design experience). If you plan to remove the background, photograph product on a solid, white sheet of paper or cardstock for milk or dark chocolate. Try a darker, solid color for the background when photographing white chocolate.

 

 

Sweet tip: Canva.com is a free graphic design platform that is easy to use even if you have zero design experience. With free and paid subscriptions, Canva’s a super-easy “background remover” tool removes the background of an image in one click. By removing the background, you can easily achieve a professional look by dragging and dropping your gift items and their descriptions within the guide layout. Click here to watch Canva’s two-minute tutorial.

Partner with Local Businesses


High Note Gifts of Nashville features some of their favorite local gifts in this easy-to-follow gift guide.

Invite some of your favorite local businesses to be featured in your gift guide. According to a study by Google, 66% of shoppers plan to shop more at local small businesses in 2020. Coffee shops, wineries and boutiques are examples of local businesses to partner with this holiday season. Offer to include one of their signature items on your guide and ask them to share your gift guide on their own social media pages. Tagging their business in your social media posts will offer your partners greater brand exposure and encourage them to return the favor.

Seal the Deal

Before tying your gift guide(s) with a bow, make sure it is clear how to purchase the items listed. This may include a web address and phone number or a direct link to your website or Facebook Shop.

For shoppers seeking unique, local gifts to share this holiday season, a fun holiday gift guide is sure to pique their interest. We think you’ll be surprised at how easy it is to create a professional-looking guide highlighting your products. Cheers to a sweet holiday season ahead!

Crave more? If you like what you read here, look for the "Subscribe now" box on the right to enter your email address and start receiving weekly tips, like this, delivered straight to your email inbox. RCI's Tip of the Week blog is just one of the many resources we offer to help candy makers refine their craft and build upon their business and marketing practices. Follow us on Facebook for even more sweet inspiration.

Tags:  E-Commerce  gifts  Graphic Design  Holidays  Marketing  online shopping 

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40 Ways for Candy Makers to Navigate the COVID-19 Crisis
Posted By RCI, Thursday, March 26, 2020
Updated: Tuesday, April 21, 2020
 
 
 
Despite all the uncertainty that comes with the COVID-19 crisis, we are certain this will pass. We are also certain that things are and will continue to change. But change is normal and change can be good. Take this opportunity to embrace change and your business could change for the better.

Here’s a list of recommendations to help your business survive the weeks ahead and come out of this better than ever. Stay connected with RCI’s community and email us with any questions you need answered or suggestions you’d like to share.

Leadership
 
  • Know that this isn’t going to be easy, but you didn’t become an entrepreneur because it was the easy route. Trust your instincts and lean on the support of your RCI community, your local community and your team.
  • Take care of yourself. If you don’t take care of yourself, you certainly won’t be able to take care of your business and your team. Be intentional about getting enough sleep, eat healthy, drink plenty of water and move your body a minimum of 20 minutes a day. You got this!
  • Stay positive. According to Bob Phibbs, The Retail Doctor, “People are still buying things, and they are buying things for two reasons right now: (1) To get them through their day, so they are shopping for the things they need to make life work for them right now. (2) To help them escape from their day, so they are shopping for pleasures and fun things that will bring them joy and keep them busy,” (retaildoc.com).
  • Take this time to educate yourself and your team. Explore online education opportunities to learn more on the topics of business, leadership, candy making and marketing. RCI members can login to view past education presentations.
  • Connect with fellow RCI members to ask and answer questions on RCI’s online forum, List Serve.
  • Curb thoughts of uncertainty and anxiety during downtime by reading books to help you grow as a business leader. Click here to read RCI’s recommended reading list.
  • Get inspired to become a better leader by getting plugged into to some great podcasts.  Learn from expert business leaders, many of which are navigating some of the same challenges right now that you are. Check out RCI’s list of 10business-related podcasts.
COVID-19 Education & Staff
 
Operations
 
  • Be aware of temporary guidance put in place by the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) regarding preventive controls, food supplier verification and onsite audits.
  • Get your products in customers’ hands safely. If your retail store is open, this may require that you limit the number of individuals in your store at one time or encourage shoppers to call ahead for curbside pickup or delivery.
  • Develop your own delivery program or look into local delivery services to partner with if your team doesn’t have the capability to deliver. See what Doordash, Grubhub and UberEats are doing to support local businesses.
  • Keep staff busy tackling tasks that had previously been put off, because everyone was too busy—tasks like organizing inventory, reorganizing the store, cleaning, refreshing the website and creating lots of social media and email content.

Cleaning
 
  • Create a new cleaning schedule and update procedures on employee hygiene practices (i.e., handwashing, etc.) as well as cleaning and disinfecting surfaces and equipment. Clickhere for guidance from the CDC.
  • The most effective way to clean most equipment is with soap and water. Just scraping or using water alone will not be effective.
  • Cleaning equipment with an all-oil-based product (and no sugars to help dissolve the product away) may require several oil flushes before introducing water or chemicals. Without the oil flushes, cleaning chemicals can extract the oil, leaving behind solid masses cemented to the pipes or agitators in equipment.
  • Educate yourself on action steps required in the case someone with a suspected or confirmed case of COVID-19 was in your facility, follow these CDCguidelines.

Online Sales
 
Marketing & Promotion
 
  • Use all forms of communication to let shoppers know you are open and what you are doing to ensure the cleanliness of your facility, staff and products. Where appropriate, share your cleaning protocols and photos of your clean candy kitchen and retail store.
  • Don’t stop marketing your business! Create content that appeals to consumers by offering a way to escape the chaos through fun, comfort and joy.
  • Think of members in your community who need to know someone is thinking of them. Consider a promotion to support the elderly quarantined in their homes and in nursing homes. Think of ways to thank those on the front lines—the medical workers and first responders, who are working hard to keep our communities safe and healthy.
  • Invite shoppers to purchase gift cards from you and other local businesses as a way to support local. Some businesses are offering discounted gift cards to generate cash flow.
  • Create eye-catching graphics for your store, website and social media outlets using free and user-friendly tools like Canva or Adobe Spark. Both sites have hundreds of professionally designed templates and layouts, making it easy for non-designers to create impressive, custom designs.
  • Share easy recipes for followers to make at home with their kids, featuring your products. Consumers with kids out of school are looking for fun and easy ways to pass time as a family. Check out KidsActivities.net for easy candy recipes for kids using five ingredients or less. Substitute candy ingredients to make recipes your own. Considering bundling ingredients for one recipe and selling it as a “take-and-make kit.”
  • Bundle products together by theme to help generate ideas of who your followers can shop for. RCI member, Bon Bon’s Candy House, has had success promoting care packages for “Peanut Butter Lovers,” “Grandpa’s Favorites,” and more.
  • Host a Facebook Live event to get face-to-face with your followers even if your retail store is closed. RCI member, Dolle’s Candyland, has regularly scheduled Facebook Live videos to promote Easter items, new products and other merchandise that can be ordered through their virtual shopper service. Click here for tips from The Retail Doctor for using Facebook Live successfully.
  • Host a contest on social media. RCI member, Mister Ed’s Elephant Museum and Candy Emporium is encouraging their followers to share positive thoughts for a chance to win their sweet treats. Check out this blog post by Hootsuitefor creative social media contest ideas.
  • Encourage customers to host virtual tasting parties. Sell a tasting party bundle of your products and provide content on the tasting experience or lead a virtual tasting on Facebook Live or try Zoom for video conferencing (free and tiered pricing is available).
  • Have a branded delivery vehicle? Consider visiting local neighborhoods, musical ice-cream-truck style, to sell your products. Other businesses have asked their social media followers to private message their addresses to be added to the delivery route. Share your route on social media and let people know when to expect you. First, check local regulations to ensure this activity is permitted.
  • Educate and entertain social media followers by creating behind-the-scenes videos showing how your businesses makes some of your signature confections.
  • Encourage customers to share photos of themselves enjoying your products from home and ask them to tag your business and/or use a creative hashtag.
  • Offering curbside pickup is a great way to ensure the health and safety of your staff and customers, while continuing to do business. Perform practice runs to ensure an excellent customer experience. If taking orders by phone, have a checklist of important questions to ask customers—such as, “what color and model of car will you be arriving in?” making it easy to find them. Coach staff to thank every customer for their business over the phone and at pick up.
  • Include handwritten notes along with all pickup and delivery orders, personally thanking customers for supporting your business.
  • Update your store hours on your website, social media pages and all other third-party sites, such as your Google listing.
  • If your retail store is closed or partially closed, start planning and preparing for a grand re-opening now. Be open with your staff about your plans and seek their input.

Closing thoughts
Doing business during times of uncertainty is going to be hard, but you are not alone. If business has slowed down for you (and it probably has—unless, of course, your business involves toilet paper or hand sanitizer), take advantage of the down time to learn, try new things and cross items off your list.

If you ran a successful business prior to this crisis, chances are you have a community of people who will be happy to support your business now. Now, more than ever, consumers are looking for ways to support local businesses. Find new ways to engage with consumers and remember that your sweet treats offer people comfort and hope, and help express gratitude, kindness and love to each other.

As you navigate these unprecedented times, we hope this offers you ways to challenge yourself and your business to grow and learn—so you and your business can come out of this better than ever.

Crave more? If you like what you read here, look for the "Subscribe now" box on the right to enter your email address and start receiving weekly tips, like this, delivered straight to your email inbox. RCI's Tip of the Week blog is just one of the many resources we offer to help candy makers refine their craft and build upon their business and marketing practices.

Tags:  Cleaning  COVID-19  E-Commerce  Education  Leadership  Marketing  online shopping  Operations  Promotion  Resources  Social Media 

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Tip #313: Optimize Your Website for Mobile in 3 Steps
Posted By RCI, Tuesday, September 3, 2019
Updated: Monday, April 27, 2020
 

When it comes to your website, you don't want to get left behind! Blake Ellis, with CommerceV3, shares three steps to make your website mobile friendly and turn mobile shoppers into buyers in the process.
 
There are almost five billion mobile phones in the world. That’s an amazing number given there are only about seven and a half billion people in the world. Not all of these phones are smartphones, but the trends are clear: there are way more phones than computers, and that gap is just getting wider.
 
What does this mean for your online store? It means every year more of your customers will be using their phones to shop and order. You may have already seen the majority of your traffic move to mobile devices. So, what can you do to convert all these mobile shoppers to buyers?
 
Quite a lot actually, and it all starts with developing a “mobile-first” mindset. The next time someone asks you to review a design, a new home page promotion or the next email blast, just pull out your phone and check it out. It’s fast, easy and will get you and your team into a mobile-first mindset. If a team member tells you “that’s not really meant for mobile, we don’t get a lot of orders on mobile yet,” just tell them that’s what you’re trying to fix! Pretty soon you’ll start to see a lift as more efforts start with an eye toward mobile.
 
Reviewing and optimizing everything at once is a lot.
Let’s break this down into three simple steps:
 
Step #1: Start with Email
Most people read their emails on their phones first, so this tactic makes sense. Enter your own email into your site and open the welcome message on your phone. Test all your other transactional emails, from order confirmations to abandon cart emails to requests for product reviews. Make sure they all look great, are easy to read and perform correctly.
 
Then move to marketing emails. Have your team test new designs on their phones, and make it a priority to increase opens and click-throughs from mobile devices. Increasing email opens will confirm that your subject lines and preview texts are effective with customers on the go, and increasing click-throughs will confirm the layout and messaging is also working.
 
Step #2: Optimize Shopping
Once your inbound email metrics are rising, it’s time to get mobile users adding more product to their carts. During this stage you’re testing all your site designs and layouts on your own phone, and asking others to do the same. Designers need to wow you with beautiful, yet tiny layouts, hero images have to load fast and display well, and product detail pages have to present a lot of info in an easy-to-swipe manner.
 
Keep a close eye on metrics to guide you through this process. How many mobile visitors tap down through categories versus use the product search box? Can you set up filters and sorting to reduce taps and typing? Do products appear with default options so add-to-cart buttons work without any additional selections?
 
When in doubt, do some secret shopping at large retailers. They have the budgets to do extensive user testing and accommodate all kinds of neat features. Take a look at what they do and get your team to implement features that make sense for your customers.
 
Step #3: Streamline Checkout
Now that mobile users are tapping on your emails and adding product to their cart, it’s time to get them through the checkout. The key to securing more checkouts is to minimize the need to type.
 
Set up payment options that your customers already have stored in their phone like Paypal, ApplePay and Google Wallet. Most of these are easy to configure in most online stores, and mobile users love them because they don’t have to re-enter their credit card details.
 
If you’re already doing address verification, you can use this service to speed up shipping address entry on mobile. As users start to type their street address, your site starts autocompleting the entire address for them.
 
Finally, make sure every field in your checkout is absolutely required to fulfill the order, and that it pops up the correct style of keyboard for mobile users (alphanumeric, numeric, etc). An easy way to keep up with this is to place a test order on your own site once a week from your phone, and keep tweaking until the process is as efficient as possible.
 
There’s a lot you can do to improve revenue from mobile, but it all starts with a mobile-first mindset. When it comes to reviewing your own efforts, turn off your computer and pull out your phone. The more you do this, the faster the transition will occur, and the sooner your order volume on mobile will really start to explode.
 
Crave more? If you like what you read here, look for the "Subscribe now" box on the right to enter your email address and start receiving weekly tips, like this, delivered straight to your email inbox. RCI's Tip of the Week blog is just one of the many resources we offer to help candy makers refine their craft and build upon their business and marketing practices.

Tags:  email marketing  mobile  online shopping  website 

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