The holiday season is here, which means things are going to get a lot busier.
Maybe you're wondering if your shop is ready for the upcoming holiday season in its current state. Instead of guessing, it’s time to undertake a thorough investigation. To put it another way, review and modify any critical elements that may make or break your eCommerce sales.
Invariably, you might have a few critical details to work out. When visitors arrive, your website must be prepared to manage the influx. In addition, shipping and fulfillment teams must be ready for the influx of orders throughout the forthcoming holiday season. It's also vital to connect with holiday consumers in a meaningful way.
Plan and execute your holiday strategy in the fall
Now is the time to get started on your holiday media.
Set up your nurture programs, email blasts, and social media postings so that they are ready to go. Allow enough time to study your content and double-check that legal counsel has approved everything. Ensure it's authorized ahead of time and that everything is in order, so you're less worried when the jingle bells start to ring.
Utilize social media effectively
Millennials and Gen Z are more likely than earlier generations to utilize social media. Further, these target client segments like to buy items after performing comprehensive research on popular social networking platforms.
Hence, it is critical to create an impenetrable online presence. Impactful social media marketing will influence holiday consumers' purchasing decisions in your favor during the busy holiday shopping season.
Refer to this handy checklist as a guide:
Use bite-sized films and infographics to promote sales on social media.
Thank your consumers for their interest in and utilization of your products and services. Even better, as a thank you, send them gift cards and early access to exclusive offers.
Encourage customers to participate in a hashtag contest and win prizes by encouraging them to upload photos to your site. The advantage is that if customers want to win, they must follow your account and participate in the contest.
Track your available inventory
Make sure your inventory is well-stocked and that you can restock it promptly if necessary. You don't want to be caught off guard by a rise in consumer demand in the first week of December.
If you have enough inventory, consider integrating an ERP system to ensure your site only displays available stock.
Give the gift of a nice holiday discount
Discount deals with a big enough numerical value should have an expiration date to keep buyers interested. You may notice the short period before an offer expires will drive FOMO (fear of missing out).
Test your advertising
It's time to create a multichannel eCommerce advertising strategy, whether for display, social, PPC, native or retargeting. Even if you have an in-house designer or are spending late hours in Canva creating your own, you need to plan ahead of time.
Make sure your eCommerce site loads quickly regardless of traffic
Your website's infrastructure must be scalable and dependable enough to manage the additional traffic. Increasing the speed of your site by a few milliseconds or more will help mitigate shopping cart abandonment and site bounces.
Offer free shipping if feasible
If you haven't already, the holiday season is an excellent time to begin giving free delivery. Many customers now consider free delivery to be an absolute need. 90% of online customers, according to Retail Touchpoints, want free shipping above fast delivery.
To summarize
Optimal profitability relies on having an eCommerce site ready to provide a pleasant shopping experience even when your site is inundated with more customers than expected during the Christmas season.
Try out the eCommerce holiday selling strategies and methods described above. Why? Well, customers that browse for the first time may become regulars.
Got a long way to go to learning.