With the increasing frenzy and surge in online shopping festivals over the last few years, several e-commerce websites across categories and formats provide unbelievable discounts and offers.
2021 is no different with major players already announcing their sales. So, how do you ensure that your customers are getting the best bargains? How do you make the most of an online shopping frenzy?
Here’s how:
Analyse sales trends
As a direct seller, the first thing you must do while strategizing your marketing and sales plan is to analyse the sales trends during festive seasons. Google Trends is a good place to start. Just type in keywords that you would expect a shopper to ask and look at how they did the last festive season. As Google Trends will only take you to a point, you will need an in-depth analysis of sales trends and will require a more sophisticated ecommerce tracking system. The best way is to look at your own sales reports from the previous season. Learn from your mistakes and decide what products to push and when.
Provide a seamless mobile experience
In recent years, mobile e-commerce has grown at an unprecedented pace. Smartphones and tablets are the biggest shopping drivers, especially during the festive season. According to a report by Econsultancy, 62% of companies with a mobile-first website design see an increase in sales over companies with desktop-only websites. Therefore, to reach your maximum sales potential, your website should be mobile-friendly (https://outgrow.co/blog/boost-sales-festive-season).
Your campaigns should also revolve around all the mobile devices that people will be using to access your online store. This means the adaptive design should be your topmost priority to ensure your website is visible as well as accessible through any device. You need to focus on developing an effective and safe mobile commerce platform. According to research by Marketing Charts, speed and seamless mobile experience are on top of online shoppers’ expectations.
Focus on delivery
Most businesses focus on the product and its advertising and leave out delivery mechanisms. The one priority of festive season shoppers is timing and since the products that you are shipping will either be gifted or flaunted during the festival, efficient delivery is the key to a satisfied festive customer. Pre-season is therefore a good time to give your packing, shipping and delivery systems a complete overhaul. Certain ecommerce giants like Amazon provide a delivery fulfilment option for their sellers. Consider subscribing to them while working to improve the delivery system for your independent website. Using an inventory management system like Browntape, that drastically cuts back your shipping time by automatically printing shipping labels is also a great choice.
Fix the glitches
Before a sale, be sure to fine tune your online web store and related services.Check that your website and all its related services are well aligned and ready to take the additional load of traffic, conversions and deliveries. Also plan your deals to get more returning traffic to your website. Run a thorough check on pointers such as no broken links, site speed, a simple order process, streamlined shipping partners to handle the extra load or faster deliveries, exclusive deals with payment partners to entice your customers to buy more, payback points and coupons to encourage repeat sales, support channel to be available 24x7 to assist your customers, among others.
Always capitalize the post-sale traffic
This may come as a surprise but a lot of buyers prefer to go for online shopping after the peak holiday season. This usually happens if you have offered payback points or deferred discount coupons. So, it is important that businesses analyze the shopping trends of their website and roll out Phase-II of their promotional event. This not only helps you in getting additional sales but also helps you clear the inventory of the previous sale.
Follow these tips and be rest assured of a grand festive sale!