Prepare Your Store for the Holiday Season
With only two months to go until Christmas, holiday marketing plans are starting up and stores should be ready for more shoppers.
Although it’s not even Black Friday yet, 2020’s unique pandemic situation means that people may be shopping earlier this year due to the rise in online shopping, and shipping delays worldwide. Get your audience thinking about you now, before it’s too late.
Here are some ideas to help you get your store in the holiday spirit:
Holiday branding: Update the aesthetic of your store with festive colors or design. Think about how Starbucks updates its cups during the holiday seasons. By getting people excited about the season, they’ll get excited about what specialty offers you have as well.
Create a Gifts section in your store: Add small to mid-priced items that are well-liked by a broad audience. You can promote gift sets or product bundles to provide more value to the customer while raising the order value for you.
Promote gift ideas on social media: Show your audience exactly what giving your products as a gift looks like. Can it hang from a tree like an ornament, or fit into a card? Make a fun video of how to wrap the gift so the customer can see themselves giving the gift to someone.
Offer gift wrap options: Make gift giving easy using special gift wrapping. This allows you to control the presentation and experience of opening your gift, so you can create a memorable experience for the person who will open it. This is also a way to slightly increase the order value.
Add a Wishlist app: Let customers create a wishlist on your store that they can share with their family and friends. This is great as they’re likely to add several products to the list, and it helps people who don’t know what to buy for others. The wishlist makes the checkout process easy.
Create a sense of urgency: Use a countdown timer for special offers or to show the last day of orders for guaranteed Christmas delivery. Show low stock alerts when inventory for specific products is getting low. This will push customers to buy before they forget.
Cross-sell in spirit: Cross-sell small items and gift cards as stocking stuffers. Place these impulse buying items strategically in the store and at checkout. You can also use these to help customers reach a free shipping tier.
Offer creative discounts: Use the 12 days of Christmas to offer a discount on a different item each day. Another idea is to offer a free gift card with a purchase of $100 or more. These flash sales create a sense of urgency and when promoted correctly, should cause sales to come rolling it.
Offer local delivery: As shipping times become tight or impossible closer to Christmas, offer local shipping to customers in your city. The Local Delivery app allows you to map out delivery locations.
Update your Instagram storefront: Customize your Instagram Shop to have your festive best sellers front and center. Make sure that you're tagging your products to make it easy for people to purchase right away.
Launch a holiday product: With some planning ahead, you can launch a holiday themed product that helps people indulge in the holiday spirit. Think of Lush's Christmas products, or Starbucks' holiday drinks.
Run a holiday giveaway: A great way to spread awareness about your products right when people are looking to shop.
I hope this gave you some ideas on how to get into the e-commerce holiday spirit. Some final points to remember: Make shipping times clear at every step of the buying process. Always aim for a higher average order value, especially if you are offering discounts. And finally, if you plan to advertise during the holiday season, determine your advertising budget based on your revenue history and goals.
