Plan your online sales, not only at Christmas, with this FREE Ecommerce Planner 2022!
Christmas & ecommerce
Christmas, the peak selling season, brings along shoppers in droves. Booming holiday ecommerce results are beneficial for online merchants, selling on both domestic and international markets, as well as for the economy.
In the UK, normally around 40% of Christmas shopping is done online. Moreover, buyers’ use of mobile devices for product browsing and research is on the increase.
This year Christmas online shopping is likely to be the preferred option due to the coronavirus pandemic.
As a result, ecommerce sales on global ecommerce markets may skyrocket this Christmas. Are you ready?
Create your Christmas ecommerce plan
Grow your online sales at Christmas by planning:
- Offers, promotions & sales
- Website & blog content as well as banners & landing pages
- Mailing campaigns & segments you’re going to target: send customized emails, e.g. Christmas last minute delivery
- Social media activities, advertising & PPC campaigns
- Any potential offline marketing undertakings.
When planning your strategy, keep in mind what is sold at Christmas. Of course, it is mostly gift items so you can try to predict the bestsellers of the coming holiday season.
Some items may be more obvious, such as toys whose sales peak in November. But even if your product doesn’t seem to be too Christmassy, you can still target the right audience with the right message.
Think what and who you can target. You can, for instance, focus on last minute shoppers. Do this by accommodating and devising a communication plan for distressed buyers.
Key dates for your ecommerce Christmas
Bear in mind the following dates: they will help you with planning your Christmas strategy. Note that some dates may vary slightly, depending on the year and weekend distribution.
- 11th November: Singles’ Day in China
- End of November: Black Friday
- End of November: Cyber Monday
- Around 19th December: Last posting date for 2nd class
- Around 21st December: Last posting date for 1st class
- Around 20th December: Super Saturday (Panic Saturday)
- 23rd December: Last posting date for Special and Next Day delivery.
Optimize your ecommerce pages before Christmas using SEO strategies
It’s crucial to optimize your pages and content to ensure that people find your store when the Christmas shopping craziness arrives. And ideally, you should do this way beforehand. Your content will not get ranked overnight and it will take time for it to appear on search engines.
Hence, don’t leave it until December.
Fix broken links: it is genuinely offputting for customers if they come across links that don’t work. It makes them think that you don’t really care about your business and clients.
Make sure that you use the right keywords, e.g. “Christmas gifts for your kids”, “gift ideas”. Utilize keywords for your headings, title tags and meta descriptions of pages, but avoid keyword stuffing. Use keyword variations. Your pages shouldn’t compete with each other and rank for the same keywords in search engines.
Thus, keep your pages specific and relevant to the target keyword. For those not celebrating Christmas, think of Christmas alternatives such as Hanukkah.
As the use of mobile devices for shopping purposes is constantly on the rise, remember to optimize your mobile experience too.
Your SEO efforts will pay off so take time to get the job done properly. To reap full benefits, make sure that your SEO strategy is in line with other channels and social media.
Design your website
Decorate your online store. This is what high-street retailers do to attract buyers in a shopping frenzy. In fact, there is a bigger analogy between high street shops investing in Christmas decorations and virtual stores having graphic design at their disposal than we may be aware of.
Let your online store be part of the festivities: this will instil positive emotions in many shoppers and make your website livelier.
Be creative. Create interactive Christmas content and use festive colors: gold, silver, green and red. You can also serve your customers daily Christmas facts or prepare an online advent calendar containing the deal of the day.
Go social & go global
Christmas is a social event, also in the world of online sales. Spread the gospel and make the right audience interact with your content and go for your deals and best-sellers. Go social. And go global. Selling your items on foreign marketplaces, if planned wisely, can increase your revenue immensely.
Go social
In your Christmas strategies, use social media to have your offers and content liked, shared, tweeted and pinned.
Keep an eye on the engagement of your visitors and customers on social networking sites, especially when it comes to negative feedback. It is essential to respond to such comments in a timely way, taking care of your image and reputation.
Finally, blog about Christmas. This is how you give yourself a chance to drive traffic to your website, which will help you increase your conversion rates. There are various topics you can write about, sparking your potential buyers’ interest. For example, give them a list of gift ideas.
Be the answer. Have the solution and available options ready for your existing and future buyers. Not only can you encourage them to buy your products, but you can also be perceived as a reliable and resourceful retailer.
Go global
A great deal of online sellers are convinced that they will see big Christmas sales figures by trading on their domestic markets only. Granted: there’s a good chance that the numbers will be pretty impressive. Yet they can be much much higher if foreign marketplaces are added to the equation.
Consider the fact that many shoppers want to buy unique gifts that are different to what is available locally. A good source of unique, different items are foreign countries. Hence, it may be a good idea for you to localize your Christmas offers on international markets.
15 HOT Christmas Tips
- Offer free delivery, even a single Free Shipping Day.
- Offer fast delivery on top of the standard delivery option: the thought of Christmas gifts not arriving on time is a source of great distress for many buyers.
- Send your customers delivery updates: tell your buyers that you will keep them informed about the delivery status. They will feel more confident, also about you as the service provider.
- Plan your stock: your stock levels will fluctuate during the festive season so you should ensure that there’s a backup when you run out of certain items. You can also give your customers an option to sign up for an email alert that will notify them when items are available.
- Organize and let others know about your sales offer: you have a flash sale or a new bestseller? Put it out there!
- Start acquiring potential customers a few months before Christmas.
- Make your returns policy easy: especially when stressed last-minute shoppers come into play.
- Highlight gift wrapping options.
- Retarget your Christmas customers in January: especially if you have post-Christmas deals in store for them.
- Offer vouchers that can be redeemed in the future: many buyers will come back to shop with you again.
- Offer gift cards: their recipients usually spend 40% more than the card’s value, which can mean extra revenue for you.
- Use social media channels (Facebook, Instagram, etc.): to promote your Christmas content and deals.
- Use results from previous years and collect the current ones: plan for the next Christmas season.
- Don’t offer discounts too early: savvy customers know that they should wait for final price cuts. Thus, leave yourself some time in which to get the full price for your items.
- Don’t make your items too cheap: this may devalue your brand.
Finally, consider promoting your products, especially if you sell on competitive marketplaces like eBay or Amazon. Consider eBay Promoted Listings or Amazon Advertising.
When you’ve almost reached the finishing line
… that is when the final Christmas shopping time comes. Shoppers can get fiercely competitive then. This is a good time for you to make use of all the contacts you have collected earlier in the year: existing and former customers, leads and potential buyers. It’s highly probable that your special deals or Christmas offerings such as gift wrapping will meet with very high interest.
When you’ve passed the finishing line
It’s time again for sales: on Christmas and Boxing Day and later in January.
Remember to nurture your Christmas shoppers and build relationships with them. You can offer them discount codes and membership plans, thus increasing the chances of winning loyal customers.
Your Christmas sales and success extend far beyond December!
Sell more at Christmas: conclusion
Christmas is a perfect time to see a real boost in sales, not only on your domestic but also on international markets.
This year can offer you even more ecommerce sales potential now that shopping from home has become the norm in the time of coronavirus.
If you start preparing and planning your stock in advance, you can stay more relaxed when December finally arrives.