As shoppers turn their focus to the spirit of gift giving (read, “buying”), retailers need to be on their A game this Christmas season to ensure peak sales and exceptional customer satisfaction. It’s the perfect time of year to acquire new customers, but how can a retailer be sure they won’t be “worn once” and tossed aside by first time shoppers?

The “Ugly Christmas Sweater” phenomenon is something that occurs through many retailers’ misguided focus on acquiring these new customers during the holiday season. At the end of the holiday shopping season, those highly sought after purchasers view the retailer as the quintessential “ugly Christmas sweater” that is worn once each season, then put away until the following year.

In our analysis of 635,000 shoppers, it became quite clear that the most profitable consumer set for retailers is the loyal customer base (5+ purchases in a lifetime). The analysis revealed that loyal customers who shopped between October and December in 2013 were nearly 4X more profitable than new customers in the following year.

For example, a brand new customer, purchasing for the first time during the 2013 holiday season, was worth an additional 48.6% in profit over the next year. An active customer, on the other hand, that has purchased 2-4 times before the holiday season hit was worth 78% more profit to the retailer. Loyal customers that purchased at least 5 times prior to the holidays last year were worth a whopping 179% more in profit to the retailer in 2014. So, if your profit margin for each of these customer sets was $10,000 during the holidays, your loyal customers would be worth an additional $17,900 to you over the next year.

These results underscore that retailers should focus on catering to their existing loyal shopper base during the holiday marketing push, in addition to their conversion efforts for first-time shoppers into ongoing customers. The holidays are an opportune time to reach customers, old and new, for an even brighter New Year in retail sales. So, retailers – avoid that “Ugly Christmas Sweater” syndrome this year, with the right operational, data and marketing strategies in place to turn your holiday success into a profitable 2015.