According to Yes mail Interactive, 69.8% of people starting their Christmas shopping before the 1st December.
With singles day, Black Friday and Cyber Monday promotions coming at us from every angle, it’s impossible to miss that we are already into core Christmas shopping season.
But even if you don’t want to lose all of your profits to massive sale day reductions, this is still prime holiday shopping time, and it’s not too late to start taking action to make sure that you catch as much custom as possible this holiday season.
The last major shopping holiday was 11/11 and Chinese super retailer Alibaba reported US$25.3 billion in gross merchandise sales on this one day. 90% of which was processed on mobile platforms. Take this clear early indication of buyer behavior for this holiday season and check that your e-commerce works well on mobile. Don’t just scroll and view, try to mimic a customer’s behavior; from browsing and looking for delivery info, to completing the checkout and seeing confirmation.
Secure the repeat sale
Focus on your loyal customers. Yes, spend time getting new customers. But don’t forget the customers who already buy from you. It is a lot easier to secure the second sale than the first. Curate your mailing lists and create campaigns to get them to become loyal, repeat customers.
Never lose a cart
With retailers bringing out their strongest offers and biggest discounts during the holiday period, customers are comparison shopping more than ever, and cart abandonment rates peak. Make sure you save as many of these sales as possible by taking a little time to put together a strong cart abandonment strategy. It can be very simple, but at this time of year, setting up even the most simple of reminders can pay serious dividends. Here is our advice on creating a cart abandonment strategy.
Answer Questions
What could any new customer possibly need to know about your products? You need to give answers to someone who may have zero experience with your products or brand. Stepping outside the comfort zone of your buyer personas is not easy, But if you’re not diligent in answering the questions a “newbie” might have, you might just miss the sale. A great way to test this is to show your website to people who have never used it before. Ask them questions about your products, delivery, returns. If they can find the answers easily, you are doing great. If not, look at making that key buyer information easier to find.
Make Partnerships
Partnerships can be important. Do you know complimentary businesses you can consider joint marketing campaigns with? For example; if you sold chocolates, you could create a discount offer for customers of a mail order florist. If they featured that in their newsletter, they would be offering their customers something of value, and you would be reaching their customers for free.
Make the most of social
The majority of e-commerce page views are potential customers, researching their options. The decision to buy is most often made long before the purchase button is clicked. Image lead social media posts on Facebook, Instagram and Pinterest By showing your products on social media you can ensure that your products get in front of more customers while they are still in this researching phase.
Make a list
Gift lists are helpful, fun, and interesting for customers. There is always one person you struggle with gift ideas for, and gift guides offer inspiration and easy options for people struggling to find the right gift for that difficult to buy for person. Here is our guide to making gift lists.
