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Here’s What Smart Retailers Are Doing to Improve Holiday Sales in 2025

September 16, 2025 / 1 minute read / By Zoya Naeem

See what successful SMB retailers are doing now to protect margins, boost sales, and retain customers this holiday season.

Holiday 2025 is shaping up to be one of the most unpredictable retail seasons in years. A recent survey shows that 84% of consumers plan to cut back on holiday spending, and even small shifts in buyer behavior can have a big impact on independent retailers. At the same time, tariffs are raising import costs, seasonal hiring is getting harder, and many chains are closing stores at record speed.

For small to medium businesses, this mix of challenges makes planning feel a bit overwhelming. It’s not just about sales, it’s about keeping shelves stocked with the right products, managing costs, and holding on to loyal customers when every dollar is stretched.

This guide will walk through the main areas where uncertainty shows up during the holidays and what you can do to stay ahead.

We’ll look at:

Consumer spending slowdowns and what it means for SMBs
Rising costs and tariffs, and why they quietly eat away at margins
Labor pressures and fulfillment challenges you can’t ignore
Some practical steps you can take to bring some certainty back into your business before the season kicks off

So, let’s get right into it.

Consumer Spending Slowdown and What It Means for SMBs

That 84% stat shows up in very real ways inside your store. Customers might still be walking through the door or visiting your site, but they’re filling smaller baskets, waiting longer before making a purchase, or only buying when a discount is offered. This shift can make sales feel unpredictable, especially if you’re relying on month-end numbers to see how you’re doing.

For SMBs, waiting until the books close to spot a dip in sales can be risky. Tracking your performance weekly (or even daily) helps you see those spending shifts while there’s still time to adjust. Maybe you need to spotlight more value-driven bundles, promote lower-ticket items that are moving faster, or rethink where promotions are applied. The earlier you see the trend, the easier it is to pivot.

Pro Tip:

Using an all-in-one retail system like Stratus Enterprise gives you access to real-time sales reports that highlight changes in customer behavior right away. For example, tracking your average order value alongside historical data from past holiday seasons shows you exactly when shoppers are buying less per trip. If you see that dip early, you can respond by adjusting promotions, upselling accessories, or packaging items together to boost the basket size.

Rising Costs and Tariffs and Why They Quietly Eat Away at Margins

While slower spending is easy to see at the register, rising costs are a quieter problem, and often just as damaging. Tariffs on imports and higher shipping fees don’t make headlines for your customers, but they hit your margins directly.

For many small retailers, the instinct is to absorb those costs instead of raising prices, especially during the holidays when competition is fierce. The challenge is that what looks like steady sales on the surface can still be eroding profitability in the background.

That’s why margin tracking needs to sit side by side with sales tracking during holiday planning.

Holiday Sales Beating Costs with Margin Tracking

Watching only top-line revenue can give a false sense of security.

Because if your discounts, freight costs, and supplier changes aren’t factored in, you might be selling more but earning less.

Pro Tip:

Using an all-in-one retail system that comes with powerful tools like Stratus Analytics gives you real-time visibility into both sales and margin performance. That means you can see not just what’s selling, but what’s actually making money. For example, if a promoted item is moving quickly but showing thinner margins compared to last year due to added import fees, you’ll know early enough to adjust pricing or shift focus to more profitable products. Tracking margins at this level ensures your promos stay sustainable instead of quietly draining your bottom line.

Labor Pressures and Fulfillment Challenges You Can’t Ignore

On top of slower spending and shrinking margins, staffing is another curveball this holiday season. Seasonal hires are down, layoffs are rising, and that means fewer hands on deck just when demand peaks. For SMB retailers, this creates pressure not only on the sales floor but also in the back office and fulfillment center.

When labor is stretched thin, fulfillment mistakes become more common. Missed deliveries, late shipments, or higher costs for last-minute fixes can all add up to customer frustration, and in many cases, lost repeat business. These last-mile challenges aren’t new, but during a busy holiday season with fewer staff, they can quickly snowball.

That’s why having access to multiple carriers is a safeguard. Rates and delivery windows can vary widely, especially when demand spikes or disruptions hit. Retailers who can compare options in real time and pivot quickly are far better positioned to keep promises to their customers.

Pro Tip:

Modern retail systems like Celerant integrate directly with ShipEngine, giving you access to more than 40 carriers without needing separate systems. That means you can compare rates, delivery times, and reliability in one place and choose the option that makes the most sense for each order. Instead of scrambling when one carrier is overloaded, you can automatically route shipments through another, reducing costs and keeping fulfillment running smoothly even when labor is stretched thin.

Turning Uncertainty Into Action: Practical Steps for SMBs

Retailers can’t control how much consumers spend or when tariffs hit, but they can control how they respond. As an SMB retailer, you can make smarter decisions even in unpredictable conditions by tightening visibility into sales, inventory, and customer behavior.

Here are three practical levers that can help you keep momentum steady during the holidays:

1. Track sales and margins weekly
instead of waiting for the month-end reports. This helps spot small consumer behavior shifts before they become bigger problems.
2. Use POS reporting to forecast inventory more accurately.
Real-time data shows what’s moving and what’s not, so you can adjust orders or promotions before shelves sit empty, or worse, overstocked.
3. Build loyalty with smarter promotions.
Discounts don’t always need to be deeper to work. Targeted promos tied to customer behavior often generate stronger repeat sales than blanket markdowns.

Pro Tip:

If you’re using tools like Stratus Analytics, you can tap into interactive dashboards that bring sales, inventory, and promotions together in one view. Instead of jumping between spreadsheets or siloed reports, you see the complete picture of how your business is performing. That makes it easier to identify which promotions are worth repeating, where margins are at risk, and how to adjust inventory before costs creep up.

Learn: How You Can Offer Discounts and Promotions to Grow Customer Loyalty

Ready to Navigate the Holiday Uncertainty with Confidence?

SMB retailers don’t have to sit on the sidelines and hope for the best. The businesses that succeed are the ones that focus on what they can control:

Measuring sales and margins often
Adjusting inventory in real time
Creating promotions that drive loyalty instead of just discounts.

The holiday season is too important to leave unplanned. Waiting until January to fix gaps in operations only means lost sales and thinner margins. The time to act is now, while you still have the chance to tighten your processes before peak demand hits.

Celerant’s all-in-one Retail POS System gives you the visibility and tools to make those adjustments faster. Whether it’s tracking margins, forecasting inventory, or managing promotions across every channel, you’ll know exactly where you stand instead of guessing.

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Here’s What Smart Retailers Are Doing to Improve Holiday Sales in 2025

See what successful SMB retailers are doing now to protect margins, boost sales, and retain customers this holiday season.

Consumer Spending Slowdown and What It Means for SMBs

Pro Tip:

Rising Costs and Tariffs and Why They Quietly Eat Away at Margins

Pro Tip:

Labor Pressures and Fulfillment Challenges You Can’t Ignore

Pro Tip:

Turning Uncertainty Into Action: Practical Steps for SMBs

1. Track sales and margins weekly

2. Use POS reporting to forecast inventory more accurately.

3. Build loyalty with smarter promotions.

Pro Tip:

Ready to Navigate the Holiday Uncertainty with Confidence?

Measuring sales and margins often

Adjusting inventory in real time

Creating promotions that drive loyalty instead of just discounts.

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