According to analysts and eCommerce leaders, this year’s eCommerce sales for Black Friday and Christmas were predicted to decline due to sales in the first three weeks of November being relatively low compared to the same period last year. The reasons given were a weaker economy, inflation, and an increase in people returning to traditional in-store shopping after the COVID-19 pandemic.
But, despite such predictions, data from Adobe Analytics revealed that Black Friday sales surpassed $9 billion for the first time, with online sales totaling $9.12 billion. Furthermore, the traditional holiday shopping experience is shifting to the online world this year, as it has in previous years during the pandemic.
This shows the potential of eCommerce and how businesses can leverage its power to grow their profits. In this article, we will discuss strategies to increase sales for eCommerce businesses during the holiday season.
Prepare your eCommerce Store for the Holiday Season
It is well known that the months leading up to Christmas are the most successful for retail sales, particularly online shopping. The period of time between Black Friday and New Year’s Eve presents a tremendous opportunity for sales.
In order to take full advantage of the season, you must prepare your online store for the holiday season. Revamping and giving your website a holiday vibe is always a great idea to fascinate your audience. A holiday-themed pop-up that mentions discounted products or a well-designed digital gift guide can significantly up your game. You can also accomplish this by introducing a system of deals and promotions to entice users. Promotions increase sales and help buyers make decisions about their purchases, particularly if they are undecided.
Moreover, loyalty cards, gift wrapping, and free shipping are also some amazing strategies to boost sales for your eCommerce business during the holiday season, as shoppers love freebies.
Enhance the User Experience
Enhancing the user experience is a must-have strategy to increase sales for eCommerce businesses. The people who visit your website, particularly during this time, are usually new users. They anticipate a quick and easy checkout process on your website; hence, the order process should be as straightforward as possible to avoid losing potential customers. It’s also vital to remember that people from different age groups use the internet for online purchases; hence it is necessary to recognize the impact and potential of diverse age groups. It shouldn’t take more than a few clicks to place an order. Customers will quickly lose interest in your eCommerce store if the website or app is not user-friendly and adapts to their screens.
Moreover, the speed at which websites load is also important. You may avoid standing in queues, which is a major benefit of online shopping. Customers are extremely sensitive to page loading times; hence, it is necessary to work on improving the user experience to boost your eCommerce business.
Make Use of Up-Sell and Cross-Sell Strategies
One of the smart tips for growing your eCommerce business is upselling and cross-selling your products. Upselling is a practice where customers who select a product are urged to upgrade to a higher-end, more costly version of that product. On the other hand, cross-selling offers customers the option to buy related or complementary things if their initial purchase doesn’t meet all of their needs.
Keep in mind that cross-selling involves more than just encouraging customers to buy more expensive items. The objective is to provide complementary goods that provide customers with a better means of satisfying their demands, hence leveraging the power of the holiday season to boost your eCommerce sales. Bundles are part of a savvy eCommerce marketing strategy. You may attract both casual window shoppers and people ready to purchase right away by creating groups of complementary goods. The graph below shows that bundling a suite of products is considered to be one of the most effective strategies for up-selling and cross-selling.
Include Personalization into Everything
Your sales, average order value, and conversion rate will all go up if you send your consumers messages that are specifically designed for them. They don’t want to hear from you because you sent a message to hundreds of other people; they want to feel like one of a million. They want to know that you care about them.
To customize your communications depending on consumer purchasing patterns, offer various promotions to different customer categories. For instance, old and loyal consumers can be sent messages based on their previous interests. This way, they’d feel a sense of belonging with the business.
In order to increase eCommerce sales, you can also provide customers with a unique shopping experience on your homepage with a Black Friday and Christmas landing page displaying your best-selling goods, services, and deals.
Work on Email Marketing Campaigns
Email marketing initiatives are necessary if you want to boost your eCommerce sales during the holiday season. Remind your customers that they may purchase their Christmas gifts from you at this time. Moreover, you may give them targeted product recommendations.
You might also provide customers who frequently engage with your email offers with exclusive promo codes, discounts on particular goods, free delivery, or a reduced shipping rate. Of course, don’t forget to add a deadline to your offers for urgency.
Sending a reminder email to customers who have abandoned their carts is another wise move. Customers frequently add items to their carts and then navigate away from the website. There are several explanations for this, from a poor connection to choosing the best course of action for them. Especially because individuals frequently require extra time to decide around the holidays.
Keep in Mind a Mobile-First Strategy
Our world is dominated by mobile phones today. There has been a significant rise in the usage of mobile devices for online shopping. Although your website may function effectively on mobile devices, you should still ensure that there are no issues when people make purchases on it.
M-commerce, or mobile commerce, is expanding and gaining popularity. Data from eMarketer shows mobile commerce is continuously on the rise in the US and around this time of year, individuals mostly utilize mobile devices for shopping since they are available on the go.
Invest Time in Search Engine Optimization
Another essential tip for your eCommerce business to grow is to invest enough time and effort in Search Engine Optimization (SEO). Be prepared for a flood of shopping-related search queries before and throughout the holiday season. As a result, you must make sure that you rank higher on the SERPs for these terms. Therefore, this is the right time to invest in content upgrades and other website SEO improvements.
Make Use of Better Cloud Infrastructure
Cloud infrastructure is an essential strategy to boost your eCommerce business, enabling you to swiftly build your eCommerce presence as your business expands.
Cloud solutions that can be automatically scaled are advantageous for e-commerce firms. The eCommerce business owner uses this to specify criteria for increasing or decreasing storage capacity or computing power. Cloud technologies may guarantee better security to safeguard you from DDoS attacks, which can otherwise make visitors lose faith in the reliability of your website.
Furthermore, if your eCommerce site is housed on a strong cloud platform, you’ll benefit from great speed as results suggest that users get annoyed if a website takes more than 3 seconds to load; hence investing in cloud infrastructure would abundantly benefit you in the holiday season when there’s huge traffic coming on your online store.
The Wrap Up
You now have a clearer picture of the difficulties your website will encounter throughout the holiday season and how to prepare for them. Nothing can stop you from achieving a successful outcome if you follow these strategies to boost your eCommerce business. Proper planning will enable you to maximize your potential and successfully boost your revenue.
To create a high-end online store for your business, Exper Labs is your premium partner for all your eCommerce development solutions. We design cutting-edge and custom mobile applications and web stores for your eCommerce business to increase your brand exposure and visibility. We specialize in developing high-performing, robust, and scalable solutions with a seamless user experience. To give your online store the boost it needs, get in touch with us right away!
