As end-of-year sales begin earlier than ever before, it's safe to say it’s starting to look a lot like the holidays! According to a press release from September, Target has moved up the start date of its annual holiday discounts. The company held its annual "Deal Days" from October 6th to 8th, during which many items in the store and online were discounted significantly.
On the other hand, Amazon hosted an Early Access Sale exclusively for Prime members on October 11th and 12th. The online retailer has never before hosted two Prime Day-like sales events in the same calendar year. Black Friday has traditionally been when many people look for holiday gifts in November, but with the advent of new huge sales in October, holiday spending is happening even earlier.
It’s time to reach customers before they blow their budget by strategically filling your online shelves and fine-tuning your marketing efforts. The following tips will help you maximize your online shop's potential this holiday season, whether you're just starting or already have an established store.
1. prepare your website for online visitors
Start by making sure people can successfully and easily shop at your online store. A customer's first impression of your online store can significantly impact whether or not they purchase from you.
With the help of simple website templates, you can make a design that's consistent with your brand and includes some seasonal touches. To direct shoppers through your product offers and attract their attention, add a holiday-themed layout, highlight holiday products, and provide holiday-specific content.
It would be disastrous if your website went down at the busiest time of the year. Your store can crash when too many users access the site at once, which often occurs on Black Friday and Cyber Monday. Check with your web host directly to ensure your site can handle increased traffic if you haven't seen surges in visitors before.
You should also prepare for the higher-than-usual volume of shoppers by developing a strategic workforce plan to manage employees and customer care agents before the holiday season begins.
2. figure out what makes you unique
During the holiday season when many businesses offer discounts to attract customers, it can be challenging for small business owners to compete on price against their larger competitors. This holiday season, your small business's sales and marketing efforts should highlight your company's distinctive qualities to convince consumers to shop with you rather than your competitors.
Whatever sets you apart from the competition is what makes you special. Now is the time to find out what makes you unique so you can use that knowledge to win the business of new and existing customers over the holiday season.
3. plan your inventory early
Having more consumers creates more demand for goods, which in turn increases stock requirements. Check with your suppliers now to make sure you are adequately stocked especially for potential gifts! That’ll help you avoid long wait times and dissatisfied consumers who find out their must-have gift is out of stock or on backorder.
While it's completely necessary to stock your shop with lots of holiday items, it's wise to also stock items that customers can use year-round. Investing in evergreen products is a practical plan for cutting costs throughout the holiday season while still meeting the demands of clients who want to shop at other times.
4. update your product videos & photos
Many brick-and-mortar establishments decorate with festive window displays during the holiday shopping season. Similar to how you would decorate a physical storefront, you should also give your website the same level of care and attention.
You don’t need to decorate your site with Christmas trees and a string of flashing lights. Instead, make changes to your website in preparation for the most significant milestone dates such as Black Friday, Cyber Monday, Christmas, and New Year's. Consumers are more receptive to content that praises the products, relates them to holidays, and explains why the person receiving the gift will love it.
Add some holiday cheer to your product photography as part of your site's seasonal celebrations. If you want to get more people interested in your product images, try setting them against a festive backdrop. You want your product videos & photos to be so good that people can't help but share them on platforms like Instagram and Pinterest.
5. highlight your special offers and discounts
Customers won't be as enthusiastic or willing to spend at your store during the holidays if they don't see prominent signs advertising sales and other incentives to do so. Make sure holiday deals are prominently displayed so buyers can take advantage of them without any additional effort on their side.
Interactive banner ads that scroll across the top of a website are a great way to bring attention to discounts and deals. You can also generate traffic by posting frequent promotions on your social media sites such as Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, and Pinterest. Customers can locate you quickly and understand why your business is the best option for them throughout the holiday shopping season.
6. sell your products on social channels
Your sales plan is incomplete without social selling. During busy shopping seasons, integrating your online store with social media can be highly beneficial so as many people see your products as possible. Adding product links to your Instagram posts and Tiktok videos can increase sales, allowing users to quickly go from your feed or videos to your online store.
7. cue up some marketing emails
Now is the time to step up your email communication with customers. marketing emails are a fantastic strategy for keeping your brand in clients' minds during the holiday season and beyond.
Get in touch with your vast email list of past customers and potential leads as soon as possible. Encourage them to go ahead and do all their holiday shopping now to avoid the hassle of last-minute shopping. Adding time limits and a sense of urgency to your promotional emails is a sure technique to get people to act fast.
Besides a well-thought-out email strategy, sending emails to consumers who abandon their carts without completing a transaction can be an effective way to re-engage them and convince them to go complete the purchase.
8. create easy gifting options
One way to help your customers save time during the holiday shopping season is to have obvious gifting options available in your online store. If you want to make it even easier for customers to shop for and buy holiday gifts from your online store, consider establishing a gifts product category. In addition, you can provide gifting add-ons at checkout like gift wrapping and personalized gift notes.
9. launch a new product or run a special promotion
Launching a flash sale or product drop can help generate brand awareness and shopper enthusiasm if your online store needs an extra marketing push for the holidays. Temporarily reducing prices or introducing a new product can excite customers' interest in your products and help you sell specific inventory.
Marketing promotions and time-sensitive events with digital coupons and personalized codes that customers can redeem at your online store can effectively boost brand recognition on social media, gather new leads, and reward your most loyal customers.
10. ramp up your customer support
During the holiday season, customers expect a positive shopping experience. Your customers will be grateful that they can easily find your contact information if they have any questions about their orders. If you expect a large number of calls, you may need to hire extra help temporarily to handle them.
The following are more suggestions for increasing your customer support efforts:
- You can guarantee round-the-clock service for your customers by implementing instant messaging features such as live chat or chatbots into your website.
- Create a page on your site just for commonly asked questions and answer them in detail to reduce the need for extra customer support.
- Check out several ticket-tracking and customer-feedback-monitoring programs to better manage your inflow of inquiries and responses to them.
Exemplary customer service is crucial to the success of any online store. Make sure your customers know what to anticipate from your business by communicating clearly on matters such as shipment schedules and any applicable discounts or special offers.
11. optimize your checkout process
You've launched your holiday advertising efforts, stocked your online shelves, and customers are visiting your store. But will the customers be able to make purchases without any issues? Research shows that 28% of online shoppers abandon their carts due to the complex nature of the checkout process.
your store's checkout process should be simple and easy to understand. Going through the checkout process yourself is the best way to make sure it is seamless. Ensure the checkout page is easy to navigate and that all required fields are clearly labeled. Keep an eye out for anything that might slow down your customer or make them abandon their cart.
get the best product photography from soona
Consumers are beginning their holiday shopping earlier and earlier each year. According to 2021 industry data, 31% of customers started their holiday shopping before the end of October. The busiest shopping season of the year is almost here, so don’t put off your holiday sales prep!
Including high-quality images and videos of your products is a crucial step in getting your online shop ready for the holiday season. soona offers you access to a digital platform where you can develop and share your own content. Our holiday trend sets and Santa hands pack are the best bet for your holiday season product photography. Book a shoot with us today and we'll help you replace your outdated product videos and images with high-quality content you (and your customers) will love.
As end-of-year sales begin earlier than ever before, it's safe to say it’s starting to look a lot like the holidays! According to a press release from September, Target has moved up the start date of its annual holiday discounts. The company held its annual "Deal Days" from October 6th to 8th, during which many items in the store and online were discounted significantly.
On the other hand, Amazon hosted an Early Access Sale exclusively for Prime members on October 11th and 12th. The online retailer has never before hosted two Prime Day-like sales events in the same calendar year. Black Friday has traditionally been when many people look for holiday gifts in November, but with the advent of new huge sales in October, holiday spending is happening even earlier.
It’s time to reach customers before they blow their budget by strategically filling your online shelves and fine-tuning your marketing efforts. The following tips will help you maximize your online shop's potential this holiday season, whether you're just starting or already have an established store.
1. prepare your website for online visitors
Start by making sure people can successfully and easily shop at your online store. A customer's first impression of your online store can significantly impact whether or not they purchase from you.
With the help of simple website templates, you can make a design that's consistent with your brand and includes some seasonal touches. To direct shoppers through your product offers and attract their attention, add a holiday-themed layout, highlight holiday products, and provide holiday-specific content.
It would be disastrous if your website went down at the busiest time of the year. Your store can crash when too many users access the site at once, which often occurs on Black Friday and Cyber Monday. Check with your web host directly to ensure your site can handle increased traffic if you haven't seen surges in visitors before.
You should also prepare for the higher-than-usual volume of shoppers by developing a strategic workforce plan to manage employees and customer care agents before the holiday season begins.
2. figure out what makes you unique
During the holiday season when many businesses offer discounts to attract customers, it can be challenging for small business owners to compete on price against their larger competitors. This holiday season, your small business's sales and marketing efforts should highlight your company's distinctive qualities to convince consumers to shop with you rather than your competitors.
Whatever sets you apart from the competition is what makes you special. Now is the time to find out what makes you unique so you can use that knowledge to win the business of new and existing customers over the holiday season.
3. plan your inventory early
Having more consumers creates more demand for goods, which in turn increases stock requirements. Check with your suppliers now to make sure you are adequately stocked especially for potential gifts! That’ll help you avoid long wait times and dissatisfied consumers who find out their must-have gift is out of stock or on backorder.
While it's completely necessary to stock your shop with lots of holiday items, it's wise to also stock items that customers can use year-round. Investing in evergreen products is a practical plan for cutting costs throughout the holiday season while still meeting the demands of clients who want to shop at other times.
4. update your product videos & photos
Many brick-and-mortar establishments decorate with festive window displays during the holiday shopping season. Similar to how you would decorate a physical storefront, you should also give your website the same level of care and attention.
You don’t need to decorate your site with Christmas trees and a string of flashing lights. Instead, make changes to your website in preparation for the most significant milestone dates such as Black Friday, Cyber Monday, Christmas, and New Year's. Consumers are more receptive to content that praises the products, relates them to holidays, and explains why the person receiving the gift will love it.
Add some holiday cheer to your product photography as part of your site's seasonal celebrations. If you want to get more people interested in your product images, try setting them against a festive backdrop. You want your product videos & photos to be so good that people can't help but share them on platforms like Instagram and Pinterest.
5. highlight your special offers and discounts
Customers won't be as enthusiastic or willing to spend at your store during the holidays if they don't see prominent signs advertising sales and other incentives to do so. Make sure holiday deals are prominently displayed so buyers can take advantage of them without any additional effort on their side.
Interactive banner ads that scroll across the top of a website are a great way to bring attention to discounts and deals. You can also generate traffic by posting frequent promotions on your social media sites such as Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, and Pinterest. Customers can locate you quickly and understand why your business is the best option for them throughout the holiday shopping season.
6. sell your products on social channels
Your sales plan is incomplete without social selling. During busy shopping seasons, integrating your online store with social media can be highly beneficial so as many people see your products as possible. Adding product links to your Instagram posts and Tiktok videos can increase sales, allowing users to quickly go from your feed or videos to your online store.
7. cue up some marketing emails
Now is the time to step up your email communication with customers. marketing emails are a fantastic strategy for keeping your brand in clients' minds during the holiday season and beyond.
Get in touch with your vast email list of past customers and potential leads as soon as possible. Encourage them to go ahead and do all their holiday shopping now to avoid the hassle of last-minute shopping. Adding time limits and a sense of urgency to your promotional emails is a sure technique to get people to act fast.
Besides a well-thought-out email strategy, sending emails to consumers who abandon their carts without completing a transaction can be an effective way to re-engage them and convince them to go complete the purchase.
8. create easy gifting options
One way to help your customers save time during the holiday shopping season is to have obvious gifting options available in your online store. If you want to make it even easier for customers to shop for and buy holiday gifts from your online store, consider establishing a gifts product category. In addition, you can provide gifting add-ons at checkout like gift wrapping and personalized gift notes.
9. launch a new product or run a special promotion
Launching a flash sale or product drop can help generate brand awareness and shopper enthusiasm if your online store needs an extra marketing push for the holidays. Temporarily reducing prices or introducing a new product can excite customers' interest in your products and help you sell specific inventory.
Marketing promotions and time-sensitive events with digital coupons and personalized codes that customers can redeem at your online store can effectively boost brand recognition on social media, gather new leads, and reward your most loyal customers.
10. ramp up your customer support
During the holiday season, customers expect a positive shopping experience. Your customers will be grateful that they can easily find your contact information if they have any questions about their orders. If you expect a large number of calls, you may need to hire extra help temporarily to handle them.
The following are more suggestions for increasing your customer support efforts:
- You can guarantee round-the-clock service for your customers by implementing instant messaging features such as live chat or chatbots into your website.
- Create a page on your site just for commonly asked questions and answer them in detail to reduce the need for extra customer support.
- Check out several ticket-tracking and customer-feedback-monitoring programs to better manage your inflow of inquiries and responses to them.
Exemplary customer service is crucial to the success of any online store. Make sure your customers know what to anticipate from your business by communicating clearly on matters such as shipment schedules and any applicable discounts or special offers.
11. optimize your checkout process
You've launched your holiday advertising efforts, stocked your online shelves, and customers are visiting your store. But will the customers be able to make purchases without any issues? Research shows that 28% of online shoppers abandon their carts due to the complex nature of the checkout process.
your store's checkout process should be simple and easy to understand. Going through the checkout process yourself is the best way to make sure it is seamless. Ensure the checkout page is easy to navigate and that all required fields are clearly labeled. Keep an eye out for anything that might slow down your customer or make them abandon their cart.
get the best product photography from soona
Consumers are beginning their holiday shopping earlier and earlier each year. According to 2021 industry data, 31% of customers started their holiday shopping before the end of October. The busiest shopping season of the year is almost here, so don’t put off your holiday sales prep!
Including high-quality images and videos of your products is a crucial step in getting your online shop ready for the holiday season. soona offers you access to a digital platform where you can develop and share your own content. Our holiday trend sets and Santa hands pack are the best bet for your holiday season product photography. Book a shoot with us today and we'll help you replace your outdated product videos and images with high-quality content you (and your customers) will love.
Share
