7 E-commerce Tips for Christmas 2021
02/12/2021 | Share:
Everyone working in e-commerce can hear the Christmas bells ringing. With some of the biggest online shopping days fast approaching, now is the time for e-commerce entrepreneurs to be channelling their energy into making sure it is their products chosen by the eager consumers of the season.
In this blog post, there are seven valuable tips on how to get the best out of the most wonderful time of the year and truly optimise your Christmas e-commerce strategy to boost your sales.
Advertise Early
Consumers are acutely aware of shipping delays and challenges with supply chains due to the ongoing pandemic. Therefore, e-commerce shopping for Christmas is expected to start earlier than any other year so that consumers can ensure gifts arrive on time for the big day.
According to the latest Ipsos and Google research, 21% of consumers began their Christmas shopping online in June. June!
To attract consumers to your Christmas promotions this year, you need to be getting the word out as early as possible. And not just on your homepage, mention is sitewide; across all your platforms and marketing outlets; ASAP.
Cross-sell with Relevant Pop-ups
Cross-selling pop-ups can lead to a considerable boost in profits, providing you target the pop-ups strategically. Pop-ups are a highly effective way of boosting conversions; they’re seen by 100% of site visitors. They can offer something incredibly valuable to visitors. They appear while visitors are fully engaged with your content.
For a visitor to already be checking out your store means they likely intend to make a purchase. Showing them a relevant pop-up to this purchase, such as offering a 10% discount in exchange for their email address, delivers real value.
Provide a Fast Delivery Service
One of the main worries of the November/December online consumer is: will my purchase arrive on time? As Benjamin Franklin famously said, ‘failing to prepare is preparing to fail,’ which is certainly true when looking at managing the fulfilment of mass online orders for Christmas.
Be prepared for an increase in personnel requirements, a rise in sales, the provision of additional stock, and a steep incline of packaging, posting, and delivery services.
When it comes to fulfilment providers, avoid newcomers to the game. With no reputation or accessible feedback, you don’t truly know what you’re getting here, and this is a time when trust and guarantees are vital. At the same time, don’t always opt for the lowest-priced provider, regardless of their longevity.
Transparency is crucial; according to a recent study, 80% of consumers cite tracking as a necessary service, with digital notifications being a significant advantage. Looking for a provider who will include delivery updates as part of the service if you seek this from an outside agency would be a great benefit.
These are unprecedented times, and in order to be able to guarantee a fast delivery service to consumers, the same has to be guaranteed to you – with some grounding.
Use Personalisation to Drive Sales
The odds are stacked against e-commerce entrepreneurs when it comes to marketing towards a target audience due to the huge obstacles Apple’s Privacy iOS updates have presented. But, all is not lost.
There are still many ways you can reach your targeted consumers, such as:
- Loyalty programmes
- Subscriptions
- SMS Marketing
- Encouragement; ‘opt in’ for rewards in exchange
- Readjusting Returns on Ad Spends (ROAS)
As keen as today’s online consumers is to protect their privacy, surveys reveal that this concern can be greatly reduced when carrots are offered. This could be enticements such as rewards, vouchers, and financial savings in exchange for subscribing to email lists or opting in for SMS marketing.
By monitoring your ROAS, you can easily identify what is encouraging your target audience and what is having little effect.
Reuse Offers
There’s no need to reinvent the wheel when it comes to offers; simply reuse the old ones that worked and adjust the ones that didn’t. It may be that consumers responded incredibly well to a 2-4-1 deal but were less forthcoming to a 5% off promotion. Identify what worked well and what didn’t to rehash the more profitable deals.
Use Segmented Email Lists
By segmenting your marketing emails based on set criteria, you will be delivering a more relevant message to subscribers based on their purchase history, interests, geographic location, and other demographics. Segmenting your email list will help you to speak more directly and intelligently to your consumers, providing them with the information they want at an opportune time.
When done correctly, segmenting your email list can result in a substantial payoff. Research has found that segmented email lists have an increased open rate of nearly 19% and 22% for click-through rates compared to non-segmented emails.
Use Multiple Channels, Multiple Approaches
Multi-channel marketing is a must for any e-commerce owner to succeed. When businesses combine channels, like social media, SMS, paid search, and SEO-optimized blogs, into a combined marketing campaign, they’re able to reach the right consumer, with the right message, on the right channel.
Conclusion
During the Christmas season, there are as many challenges as there are opportunities for e-commerce entrepreneurs. It is essential to plan well in advance for the winter shopper and ensure you can meet demand. Remain flexible, especially as we remain in such unchartered waters, and look at the best way to reach your target audience.
Christmas is a turbulent time for the e-commerce entrepreneur, and having backup plans is the best way to prevent consumers from missing out on gifts.
Ensure that you advertise early. Looking at your previous December sales is a great indicator of how to plan the forthcoming Christmas month. You could collect this data immediately after Christmas day and form a plan over the year to be put in place between September and November.
Christmas shopping really kicks off with Black Friday, so be ready for this with your sales, promotions, discounts, emails, and pop-ups to ensure that you’re doing all you can to boost your e-commerce sales over the festive period.
