How to Enter 2026 with Momentum, Not Leftovers

Let’s imagine for a minute that it’s January, and the holidays are over. Your product business just logged another successful holiday shopping season (which hopefully included huge sales and very merry customers!), but you’ve fallen into the “Post-Holiday Trap.” 

If this sounds concerning, it is, but it doesn’t have to be. We’re here to walk you through what you can do in October to keep the holiday energy going strong in Q1. 

Post-Holiday Trap: What It Is, How to Avoid It

The Post-Holiday Trap is when the holiday shopping season is over, consumers have shut their wallets, and the consequences of the choices you made in Q4 are starting to be felt.

What consequences? Think:

• Overstocking: Your forecasting was more than a bit off and put you on the naughty list. Now you’re saddled with way too much inventory during the slower buying season.
• Understocking: You prepped appropriately for your holiday season’s needs, but now you’re staring at a site full of “out of stock” notifications and empty warehouse shelves wondering what will happen this month. 

• Chaotic manual processes: You survived the holidays by the hair of your chinny chin chin (remember the “The Three Little Pigs”?). In other words, your hard work (e.g., managing holiday inventory, manually sending invoice emails, running to the warehouse to fulfill orders, making the last-minute run to ensure you have stock before serving customers, and more without the help of technology—or at least, the right technology) kept everything running but barely. And it was exhausting.

The dangers of these three potential pitfalls cannot be understated. Carrying excess inventory leads to hidden costs. Not having enough inventory results in lost revenue due to missed sales. And disconnected, unsophisticated technology and manual processes promise a chaotic January filled with not knowing what’s in stock, what’s on order, and what’s going to happen when it comes to customer demand (is this a good time to mention that Cin7’s ForesightAI eliminates these inventory challenges?).

Preparing for and getting through the holiday sales season is only half the story. What happens in January is the other half. So, how can you bypass these possibly growth-busting traps for the New Year? 

We have a few suggestions.

1. Manage Leftover Inventory (Without Losing Cash)

Managing (or getting rid of) leftover stock is similar to how you handle your holiday stock. Holiday promotions, such as bundles, targeted discounts, and flash sales, can empty your shelves fast, regardless of the time of year. 

For example, bundling products gives your customers multiple products at a do-not-miss price, making products fly out the door and your cash register go cha-ching. The same thing happens when you offer targeted discounts and flash sales. These pre-and-post holiday promotions attract customers to the stock that needs to go. Plus, you won’t lose any cash because you’re offloading products you already have.

Even better? If you tap Cin7 as your inventory management software (IMS) to track inventory by channel, you won’t have to guess where your excess product lives—you’ll know. Cin7 truly helps you prevent waste, maximize recovery, boost your bottom line, and best of all, save your sanity!

2. Carry Holiday Shoppers into Q1 

We hear all the time that retaining customers is often cheaper than acquiring new ones. Is it true? Indeed certainly thinks so. 

Why is retaining customers cost effective? Your customers already know your value and products, which means that bringing your holiday shoppers (including your all-important Black Friday, Cyber Monday ones) with you into Q1 is a smart, cost-effective way to go.

How do you accomplish this lofty goal? By providing an exceptional customer experience (CX). That also sounds good, but how do you do that? 

You implement inventory management software (IMS), like Cin7, that gives you:

• Real-time inventory visibility so that the products customers want are in stock 
• Efficient order management and fulfillment so that your customers get their products quickly 
• Accurate demand forecasting so that you don’t run out of (or have excess) stock 
• Seamless returns management so that customers don’t experience post-holiday return blues
• Integrated sales channels so that customers (and you!) benefit from frictionless, efficient processes
• Responsive customer support so that customers know they and their needs are important to you 

With Cin7, you can also connect sales and customer data across channels for targeted promotions, and it enables you to automate your follow-ups and restock alerts. Cin7 customer Workplace Depot knows all about it.

The business was struggling to stay on top of inventory levels and customer data before they found Cin7. Workplace Depot no longer suffers from stocking issues, and best of all, customers are happy. Digital PR Manager Annabelle Earps says, “Real-time inventory with Cin7 helped us achieve 4.4 on Trustpilot and 4.9 stars on Reviews.io.”

3. Protecting Cash Flow

Does just saying the words “cash flow” raise your blood pressure? You’re not alone. 

Managing how much cash you have on hand so you can adequately cover your liabilities is incredibly stressful, and let’s face it—sometimes your cash seems to just disappear into thin air. Where does it go?

It’s critical that you get a handle on your cash flow (and know where it is and what it’s doing at all times). While the holidays are particularly expensive and require you to up your spending on promotional materials, staffing, and product, you still need to keep the cash flowing year round.

How? We’re glad you asked. One of the best ways to keep your reserves filled is by not ordering SKUs with low-profit margins (or items that don’t sell well). You can also: 

• Avoid delayed business and customer payments using embedded global payment solutions, like Cin7 Pay, which is powered by Stripe. You’ll enjoy faster payments from a centralized system, which puts more money in your pocket and eliminates the need to transfer payment information between two separate systems (a win-win!).
• Build a cash flow forecast for each quarter, which Cin7 Core customers can do easily with ForesightAI. Predict demand based on historical data up to 24 months in advance and keep your inventory, purchasing, and payments in sync as well as avoid over and understocking.
• Access flexible funding with Cin7 Capital. Despite having seamless payments and being able to forecast your product needs, your cash flow may take a hit if you have a sale that empties your shelves faster than expected and you need to get more inventory pronto. Cin7 Capital is a non-traditional business funding option that keeps you going with optional invoice financing, term loans, and lines of credit until payments start coming in, bridging the gap between seasons.

Turn Insights into Action

Finally, you need to take your holiday performance data (which should be provided by your business management solution) and turn the insights from your data into initiatives that keep January’s sales flowing. These initiatives should include identifying critical, high margin SKUs as well as your best performing channels and most successful campaigns so that you’re putting your time, money, and effort into programs and processes that are profit makers.

Now, what if your business management solution doesn’t provide the data and insights you need? That’s ok because Cin7 does. Cin7’s advanced analytic and reporting tools turns your data into a goldmine of information and delivers real-time return on investment (ROI) tracking right in Cin7’s dashboard, helping you determine which promotions and SKUs drive repeatable growth.

“Cin7 has really helped us grow and sustain growth,” says Workforce Depot’s Annabelle. “We’re hoping to reach $25 million in sales next year.”

Flying High in 2026 

We’ve reached the point where it’s time to wrap up our business planning scenario . And, happily, things have changed.

It’s January, and instead of feeling glum, you’re ecstatic. You pre-planned for your post-holiday months, and because you did, your sales are skyrocketing. What did you do? You implemented Cin7, utilizing ForesightAI to predict demand, automate your reordering, and eliminate stockouts and overstocking. You’re also tracking your inventory and sales across all channels from a single solution. And you’re protecting your cash flow and profit margins with smarter tools, like Cin7 Pay and Cin7 Capital.

Sounds amazing, right? Schedule a free demo today, and we’ll make this scenario a real-life success story that has your name written all over it!