Category: Holiday Shopping Season Trends

In-between of change in the time, here the festive season arrives. The online marketplace has to meet customers’ expectations when it comes to getting more by paying less. If you are one of those marketers, you must know that this is the right time to set new numbers of holiday-sale success. Digitization has made a lot of things easy and one of them is eCommerce sales.

Holiday shopping season sale is something people wait desperately because they know there would be plenty of things to buy without spending too much money. Believe it or not but, eCommerce does impact the festive seasons. In the year of 2017, total eCommerce retail sales have made $2.3 trillion dollars which are increased 23.2 % in comparison to its previous year. According to a trustworthy report, only mobile eCommerce can collect $3.5 trillion approximately.

It is understandable from above fact-figures that to create an eCommerce mobile app is pivotal for any online business. It would become even more imperative when you would know that 54% of browsing happened from mobile devices in 2017 but, people chose desktop when it came to placing an order.

It is understandable from above fact-figures that to create an eCommerce mobile app is pivotal for any online business. It would become even more imperative when you would know that 54% of browsing happened from mobile devices in 2017 but, people chose desktop when it came to placing an order.

Furthermore, as the market keeps spinning with new trends, there are countless tricks and strategies you can use to boost up the sales during festive seasons:

1. Utilize the brand advocacy

Advocacy market impacts sales greatly as the current market is almost completely drenched in the ads. Remember that online advertisements are not the only thing that works for sales. Advocacy marketing plays a vital role to bring a higher number of sales as the existing customers speak about the product or the company.

If you think like a customer, we all have a common tendency to research online or discussing the product with people who have already used it. A report says that 80% of customers research online and believe in WOM – Word of Mouth marketing before purchasing a major product. Thus, brand advocacy can draw more customers if you use it right during holiday seasons.

2. Cheer up customers with holiday-themed content

If the holiday season is around the corner, let your customers sense it on the shopping websites. For that, you would need to create and published a kind of content which fascinates visitors and inspires them to shop a product. More than often, customers have appreciated it when a company adds holiday-related marketing themes and upgrade sales. For example, marketing emails with Black Friday themed content produced a 33% higher rate of conversion in comparison to BAU – business as usual.

Update your website with historical facts, decorating and saving tips, and publish content that provides better insight about the holidays. You can also put figures of your famous sales and how it went in previous years as well as what is new this year. The festive season is a good time of the year to engage and educate your customers. You can also use eCommerce website development solution to design better content outlines. Moreover, you can easily drive traffic to your site by hosting various contests. Do not forget to choose the right time as customers do not shop exactly during holidays, in fact, they have been planning for festive shopping days before it actually happens.

3. Make sure to enhance the mobile shopping experience

Although 56% of the browsing happened through mobile, revenue generation was only 33%. It means shopping sites should be more mobile friendly. Even after all these progress in eCommerce technology, many companies fail to understand the importance of optimized sites. Your site must be mobile ready with sharp product images, right payment options, and fast loading speed. It should look good on a smart-phone as well as on a tablet where online shopping cart app development can be greatly helpful.

Nevertheless, here are a few things you must apply while making your website mobile ready for the festive season:

• Avoid pop-up windows for advertisements
• Provide a full view of the website
• broaden the search bar so that searching becomes seamless
• Cut down the number of words in lengthy ad lines

The most crucial thing about increasing online sales on mobile is by keeping it simple yet captivating.

Summing up: Festive time is the most beautiful time of the year. It is the time to give and to spread happiness. It is essential to ensure that customers’ holiday shopping of 2018 becomes one of a kind experience so that you can see the reflection on your eCommerce sales.

The holiday shopping season 2017 has just begun. In addition, the US eCommerce sales are expected to rise by 16.6% in the 2017 holiday shopping season. By now, all should have started their promotions and marketing strategies. However, if you are a little late for the promotions there are few strategies that you can use to attract more shoppers this holiday season. If you want to increase your sales for the 2017 holiday season, you ought to change your strategies and use some upgraded ones.

#1. Offer a Coupon to your Email Subscribers

If you want to increase your sales and your email database then offering them a Coupon for a verified email id. You can offer a discount or any other offer on the coupon that will entice the user to give their verified email address. This way you can attract more customers to your offers and your store.

• 97% of consumers look for deals when they shop and 92% said they are always looking.
• 315 billion coupons were issued in the U.S. in 2013, 2.8 billion were redeemed.
• 54% of ecommerce shoppers expected to receive discounts through email around key shopping holidays.
• 54% of marketers say increasing engagement rate is their top email marketing priority.

#2. Collect Content Generated by your Users

Content that is created by the users ranks higher than any other content. Their product reviews, pictures, and videos uploaded by them, and testimonials make it easier to attract more customers. In case your existing products don’t have enough feedback then you can try the below activities.

Ask for a review: You can ask your customers to review your products and services. For best results target the ones who made a purchase in the last 3 months. You can offer them a coupon code or a discount for their review. This will definitely tempt them.

Related: 5 Foolproof Ways to Increase Your Mobile App Reviews

Run a contest of customer photos or videos on Social Media: This is a unique way to promote your product and see how your customers use your products. Once you receive them, you can use them to be displayed on your website.

#3. Offer Discount on Bulk Purchase

Offering discounts on bulk or on purchasing more than one will help you sell more. This way you can mix and match products. Offering discounts for buying more than one product of the same or almost a similar one can help to increase your total sale. You can create combos that will be more interesting and can be good gifting ideas for this holiday 2017. When asked in a survey the promotional activities they want to do, 78.6% said they plan on offering holiday discount this season along with free shipping.

• 71% of US internet users’ purchase decisions were influenced by coupons and discounts.

#4. Go for E-commerce Website and Mobile Application Development

E-commerce mobile apps are in demand these days. With more than 80% of the population using a mobile phone, hence the apps are most in demand. If your store has an app then sales are sure to scale up. Websites are also used the most. In a study, it showed where do retailers expect to earn most of their holiday sales?

Online holiday purchase has increased over the years. The graph below explains better.

• 51% of smartphone users have discovered a new company or product when conducting a search on their smartphone.
• 26% of consumers start mobile research with a branded app.

Now that you know the online purchases are increasing you, need to make sure that your website is in order. Last minute shoppers will always check the website for the offers and discounts. They will also want to see the list of products and services offered. Hence, you need to make sure your website and e-commerce mobile app are in proper shape and up-to-date. You should also create some holiday-themed pages and content on the website to attract more users to your website.

• 81% of shoppers conduct online research before making big purchases.
• Mobile commerce makes up 30% of all U.S. e-commerce.

Related: 7 Reasons Business Needs eCommerce Website with Mobile App

#5. Use Social Media

Tell everyone through social that your sale has begun. You can have a variety of offers to attract your users. Accordingly, you must post it on different social media platforms. Right from the time your offer begins until it is about to end your promotions should keep going on social media. You can different tagline and subject lines to attract their attention. Something like “24-hour sale only”, “Flat 40% off on everything”, “Buy 2 Get 2 Free”. These are some messages that will give you great sales.

• Facebook has 1.13 billion daily active users. Similarly, Instagram has 500 million active users monthly.

Related: Power of Social Commerce

#6. Text Messages

If your customers have added their numbers to the message list then you can send them last minute reminders through messages. This has been very effective in the past and will be a hit now too. You send small messages or offers to remind them about the sale about the end.

Conclusion

Marketing you eCommerce business is the best way to get results for the holiday season 2017. These days people do their holiday shopping only if they think there is a requirement. Therefore, you need to tell your customers that you have all they are looking for at pocket-friendly prices. It is easy to promote your business this Holiday if you are willing to be creative and adapt to new ideas.

Happy Shopping! Happy Holiday 2017!