Now is the Time to Prepare Winter Holiday Labels and More

The sun is up, the sky is blue and the winter shopping season is the last thing many people think about at this time of year - unless they celebrate the unofficial Christmas in July holiday, of course. However, at least as far as retailers are concerned, now is the perfect time to start thinking about everything from winter advertising campaigns to holiday labels.

According to the National Retail Federation, more than half of retailers surveyed in conjunction with the creation of the organization's 2015 Retail Holiday Planning Playbook said they began planning for the 2014 winter holidays in June of last year or before. This makes sense given that the end-of-year shopping season generates nearly one-fifth of total retail sales for the year, according to a separate NRF consumer trends report, and getting an early start on preparations may help companies get a larger piece of that pie. What's more, the Playbook revealed that the 2014 holiday season saw a 4 percent uptick in sales, culminating in $616.1 billion in total. This bodes well for 2015 - provided, of course, that retailers are up to the challenge.

Why Do Custom Holiday Labels Give Retailers an Edge?

Custom holiday labels are a great way to:

• Promote the identity of a brand
• Attract customer attention.
• Give shoppers a sense of the quality experience they will have with a product.
• Jazz up the usual label designs for the winter season.

The winter holidays are filled with anticipation for consumers, whether they celebrate Christmas, Hanukkah, Kwanzaa or something else. They tend to associate certain color schemes and items with this time of year, so retailers eager to capture some of this excitement and redirect it to their products might want to consider changing up their labels to incorporate these seasonal aspects. Why not adopt a red-and-green color scheme in honor of Christmas, or add items like snowflakes and sprigs of mistletoe to your logo or label design?

It's important to keep in mind that certain alterations lend themselves better to some designs than others. For instance, including snowflakes in a geometric pattern might throw off a label's balance, but using holiday colors could be extremely successful. In contrast, a design that depicts a house, a tree or another outdoor object would be the perfect candidate for adding snow to roofs and branches, thereby making the design more authentic for the time of year.

Get the Word Out About Your Holiday Label Changes

By its very definition, a holiday label is temporary, and this time crunch can serve you well in terms of marketing. Be sure to let your customers know that your products will be sporting limited-edition labels for the duration of the holiday season. Some will head to your website or brick-and-mortar location to check out the new packaging, which gives them the perfect excuse to look through your offerings and get some of their seasonal shopping out of the way sooner rather than later.

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