Holiday Preparedness Best Practices for Retail eBook. Learn what top retailers like BestBuy, The Jones Group, Limoges Jewelry, Phillz Coffee, Papyrus, and Fab.com are doing to prepare for the holiday season

1. Holiday Preparedness
for Retail
Best
Practices
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2. Deck the Halls!Retailers Gearing Up for Holiday Shopping
We might still be a few months away from the busiest
shopping time of the year, but for retailers the holidays
are just around the corner. Forward-thinking business
leaders know that in order to have a successful holiday
season, they need to start making plans early on. Not
only do they have to make sure their staff members—
both permanent as well as any seasonal hires—are well
prepared to handle the increase in customer traffic, but
retailers also need to make sure their online properties
are up to date and won’t crash during the shopping
peak. Further, savvy retailers have analyzed their per-
formance over the past years and will be implementing
learnings into this year’s preparedness plan. Best Buy
Canada, The Jones Group, Limoges Jewelry, Philz
Coffee, Papyrus, and Fab.com share their holiday pre-
paredness plans.
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Featured Companies:

3. ead more about Best Buy Canada’s holiday preparedness plan:
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Recognizing the necessity of looking back and analyzing what worked and what
didn’t, Best Buy Canada says holiday planning starts with a thorough review of
the previous season, outlining successes and pinpointing areas of improvement.
“In retail you always need to be evolving. We learn something every year,” notes
Robert Pearson, vice president of ecommerce at Best Buy Canada. Pearson also
highlights the need to accurately forecast what customers will want to purchase
very early on in order to have those items in stock.
“In retail you always
need to be evolving.
We learn something
every year.”
— Robert Pearson, vice president of
ecommerce at Best Buy Canada
Last Christmas Imparts
Important Lessons

4. ead more about The Jones Group’s holiday preparedness plan:
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With customers increasingly using mobile to shop, The Jones Group wants to provide a
simple and reliable experience. Michael Hines, the company’s vice president of e-commerce,
notes that customers also find it difficult to input information on mobile sites, especially while
they’re on the go. In order to address this problem, the company is integrating PayPal on its
brands’ mobile sites, allowing for a quick payment system.
The Jones Group is integrating PayPal
on its brands’ mobile sites, making it
easier for customers to shop on
their mobile phones
Mobile Commerce Is Coming to Town

5. ead more about Limoges Jewelry holiday preparedness plan:
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An increase in sales is what retailers want to see, but this can also spell problems unless the organization is well
prepared. Limoges Jewelry’s 2011 offer that included free shipping and guaranteed delivery by December 24
almost fell victim to its own success. Jon Ozaksut, the company’s ecommerce marketing manager, notes that
Limoges had to splurge on expensive expedited shipping to make sure customers received their orders on time.
While last year Limoges responded with an earlier cutoff shipping date, this year the company is working on an even
better solution. The company is also leveraging social media to get a real-time indication of customer sentiment.
“We want to take a proactive approach when something goes wrong,” Ozaksut notes.
“We want to take a proactive approach
when something goes wrong.”
— Jon Ozaksut, Limoges’ Jewelry ecommerce marketing manager
Driving Home (the right message) for Christmas

6. ead more about Philz Coffee’s holiday preparedness plan:
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A pound of coffee makes for a great stocking stuffer and Philz Coffee, a San
Francisco-based chain, sees a good spike in sales. Jacob Jaber, the company’s
CEO, notes that last year the company was offering discounts on its house
blend and the increase in sales meant that associates were taking a long
time packaging purchases. In response, this year the company decided to
pre-package its house blend at the warehouse to allow associates to be more
agile and have more time to serve customers.
All I want for Christmas
Is...a Positive Experience
Pre-packaging its popular house blend will allow
Philz Coffee’s associates to be more agile and spend
more time with customers.

7. ead more about Pap ’ holiday preparedness plan:
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With Americans purchasing some 1.6 billion holiday cards, including
box sets, during the holiday period, this time is of critical importance for
Papyrus, notes Dominique Schurman, CEO of the popular chain’s parent
company, Schurman Retail Group. Preparedness is key, with the first step
being analyzing sales data to make a retail plan for the coming year. “We
start preparing [for next year] the day after Christmas,” Schurman says.
She says part of Papyrus’ holiday preparedness plan is looking at
how the company can add more value to its customers by providing
exceptional service, not just during the holidays but every day.
Waiting for the Mailman
“We start preparing [for next year] the day
after Christmas.”
—Dominique Schurman, CEO Schurman Retail Group

8. ead more about Fab.com’s holiday preparedness plan:
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Fab.com used the summer months to train its
customer service team, the Crackerjacks.
Holiday preparedness is not solely the job of one part of the
organization, stresses Susan Ho, director of operations of
online design retailer Fab.com. Instead the whole company
is focused on making the holiday season the best experience
possible. Ho notes that preparation starts early and the com-
pany is using the summer months to train the Crackerjacks,
its customer service team, helping them focus on quality
interactions that customers expect.
Preparing for a Fabulous
Holiday Season

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ead more about these companies and other case studies, go to:
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