Need more conversions? Here are our top tips for boosting online sales during Black Friday and the Festive Season!
According to a survey done by an eCommerce Research company (Digital Commerce 360) and a Market Research company (Bizrate Insights), approximately 44% of shoppers would start to buy gifts for the festive season as early as October! This shows how vital it is to have your eCommerce store ready and prepped months before the festive season begins.
Whether you have a big enterprise or a small start-up, knowing the ins and outs of eCommerce is essential for your sales! With the year ending soon, you must take advantage of the buying spree people are involved in. Black Friday, Cyber Monday and the looming Festive Season are all big reasons for customers to spend their money on products from your eCommerce website.
Your Strategy with Competitive Pricing
Do you know what your competitors are up to? Knowing what the competition is pricing their products at and what deals they are implementing will help you decide on prices for your products.
If you can, you should research and collect as much data as possible to see where you rank among your competitors according to the prices of your products. You don’t want your product prices to be unreasonably high, as it will deter people from shopping with you. If people know you are more expensive than other similar online stores, you won’t have much luck with sales.
Having competitive prices doesn’t mean you have to lose out on a profit. You should be aware of where you stand among your competitors and adjust accordingly. With added advantages or benefits, like free shipping or discount codes, you have a better chance of impressing your customers. If you can impress your customers and show them the value of doing business with you, they will be more likely to order from your eCommerce site. Customers will feel like they are winning and gaining more than they thought they would.
If you do not want to do the research yourself, there is software from Prisync that tracks and monitors competitor pricing to keep you up to date. With this data, you can adjust your strategy to ensure your customers will be delighted with your prices and buy from you instead of your competitors.
Another survey of 1,088 online shoppers showed that roughly 52% of consumers named competitive pricing as one of the most important factors in choosing an online retailer. Take this into account when pricing your products, and check that your business has competitive prices instead of costly prices.
Delivery and Shipping
With delivery and shipping, you need to confirm your business has it under control and organised. With more people buying gifts and shopping online during this time, everything can get congested exceptionally quickly. This is especially true for deliveries! Courier companies are never busier than during the festive season, and you don’t want to disappoint your customers by not sticking to your delivery and shipping promises.
You need to state clearly what options customers have when it comes to delivery. Can they do a rush order? Will customers get their order 2-4 business days from ordering, or will it be late because of how under strain the courier company is?
Your delivery options also need to be competitive in the market, as a high shipping rate will scare away customers. People know how much they are willing to pay for delivery. If you exceed that amount, they are unlikely to want to go ahead with the order because they know they can get a better deal with another company.
Being honest with your customers is definitely necessary if you have a backlog of orders and orders are not going out as quickly as they should. Be upfront with your customers and let them know it will be longer. You do not want to overpromise and underdeliver!
User Experience and Website design for maximum functionality.
Your customers will not enjoy shopping on your eCommerce website if the website was not designed with the human experience in mind. Your customer needs to be able to find what they are looking for as easily as possible, either by searching or going through your category tree.
Your site must be mobile-friendly, as many people shop on their phones, not desktops. Foster trust with your customers by using informative content and enough images to show them exactly what they are buying. The more information you supply on a product, the more it will convince your customer to buy it. Creating trust and confidence is important for sales! If your customers don’t trust your company or the products you supply, you won’t get the conversions you should be getting.
What does your stock look like?
Having little to no stock will turn your customers away from your website if they can get the product quicker from a competitor. For the upcoming busy festive season, you must check the stock of your best-selling items. You don’t want your company to miss out on sales, so keep your product’s stock level constant.
What is vital is your stock count reflecting the actual amount of stock you have. You will create a bad relationship with clients if they part with their hard-earned money and then get told that the product is out of stock and will be arriving later than they expected.
Plan ahead and ensure low stock is not the problem you are facing in this busy time for online shopping.
Marketing your eCommerce site
Do not underestimate the power of digital marketing, namely a targeted mailer to your audience. Informing your customers about sales and specials will lead to conversions if the mailer is done correctly!
Link to your specific promotions and make sure these links work to not frustrate your customers.
Your eCommerce business should use social media platforms and advertise your promotions on every platform you can. You don’t want to have amazing specials that no one is buying!
As a whole, ensure your website has an adequate variety of specials, value for money, and new products and ranges to peak interest.
Invest in SEO to maximise your search engine visibility because this will lead to more traffic to your eCommerce site. Pay-per-click advertising is another way to get your brand out there to a specific target market; Google and Facebook ads are the most popular.
In summary, we suggest you have a strategy for the upcoming end-of-year shopping bonanza. Keep the customer in mind and what they will be looking for and wanting to buy.
It is all about thinking like your customer, as this will guarantee you make the right decisions.
If all of this information has overwhelmed you, don’t worry! Polkadot Digital can help you navigate the best solutions for your eCommerce business.
Contact us at hello@polkadotdigital.co.za and 064 8077 268 for all the help you could ever need!