Amazon launches AI Powered ‘Interests’ Feature to Improve Shopping Experience
Amazon launches AI Powered ‘Interests’ Feature to Improve Shopping Experience
Christmas shopping is one of the biggest shopping carnivals on the planet. The enormity of the shopping extravaganza can be gauged from the fact that just in the US, people spend more than $1 trillion on Christmas shopping. But, gone are the days when people used to shop from nearby stores. With the rise of the internet, the majority of the retailers have taken their Christmas sales online. Herein, but one question bewilders online retailers – How to increase online sales? or What should be my holiday sales strategy? In this post, we’ll be dealing exactly with the same question.
Here’s the list of the broad topics that we’ll be covering in this post:
You must be very well knowing that the Holiday shopping season starts well before November and continues to the end of December. This is the time when most of the retailers gear up to offer the best to woo the largest segment of consumers. As a matter of fact, the better the Holiday sales strategy, the greater are the chances that you could sell well beyond your expectations.
While planning your Christmas sales online, a better guide is following closely the Christmas Shopping Trends of 2018 and before. Let’s look at some of the Christmas shopping trends:
You need a concrete Holiday Sales Strategy to ace a Christmas shopping spree. Consider the graph below and understand what does it signify.
Source: Salesforce
A closer look at the graph reveals that 80% of the shopping season’s revenue is earned well before Christmas itself. Only 20% of revenue is earned after mid-December. What does it mean?
It means you need to prepare early, preferably in the month of November itself to grab most of the shoppers. Your holiday sales strategy must include Cyber Week as it is during this period that most of the shoppers are online.
The second important aspect to notice is that over the years, consumers have shifted to online shopping. What is significant is mobile is the main driver of online shopping in 2019. In short, you cannot ignore while planning your online Holiday sales.
As compared to Mobile Web, Mobile Apps are found to deliver consistent traffic. The reason is simple – once downloaded, it becomes the first choice of people to shop online because a mobile app works comparatively faster and offer user-specific suggestions.
This makes Mobile Apps perfect for cultivating brand loyalty among consumers.
Don’t forget the content. There are many shoppers out there looking for suggestions and information online. Be the first to guide them in making the right purchases this Christmas. Blogs and Press releases are the best media in informing people what’s out there in this crowded market. And, how your store has all the Christmas under one roof that too at the most reasonable rates.
Social Media is the first choice for many shoppers for finding cool offers and latest deals. As a matter of fact, people trust and rely more on social media suggestions. So frame your killing social media strategy. Highlight the offers and discounts that you are offering.
Optimize your holiday sales strategy with terrific discount offers and customer loyalty programs.
Black Friday is generally pictured with hordes of shoppers lined outside shopping stores. But, for the invention of the internet, more shoppers are shopping online than ever before.
This phenomenon took a definite turn with the coming of smartphones. Between 2011 and 2019, mobile internet usage increased by more than 504%, a staggering figure by any measure.
Research points out that by 2021, Mobile Commerce is set to donate the eCommerce market with 54% of all eCommerce sales happening through mobiles.
This implies a more dominating role of mobile phones in the Holiday shopping season.
This Holiday season, more shoppers will shop on Mobile than on Desktops – BounceX
Mobile is also expected to witness the highest conversion rate across all devices this Holiday season.
According to Pricegrabber, 84% of the mobile app downloaders are expected to shop for holiday sales through their mobile app. Moreover, over 42% will download a shopping mobile app just for Holiday shopping.
Also, according to Adobe, shoppers spend 2.4 times more on mobile apps than mobile websites, leading to more mobile purchases.
This reflects a definite pattern to Mobile Commerce and online marketers will benefit the most by investing in mobile commerce.
Christmas and New Year are two shopping holidays that are celebrated across the world with equal zeal and flavor. That is why you need a global strategy to boost your Christmas sales online. Below we present to you some of the time tested strategies on how to increase online sales.
Your holiday sales strategy is incomplete without social media. Customers are mostly looking for Christmas shopping ideas over social media and research suggests that people rely on them pretty often. Optimize your Social media pages and post relevant content to woo customers. Actively engage your prospective customers on Facebook/Twitter and negotiate a better deal.
It is obvious from the figures above that mobile shopping is already dominating all the season sales. Your holiday sales strategy is incomplete without a mobile app. Building a mobile app for your online will be a smart move by you. Go for a Native Android or iOS mobile app for it runs comparatively more smoothly and uses all the features of the phone as compared to a Hybrid App.
Give your mobile app a festive look with Christmas themed icons and home page pictures. Let the design of your mobile app create curiosity among the shoppers about the items and offers that your store is offering. People will browse an app 4 times more that is designed on a festive theme than otherwise.
Offers and Discounts are the first things customers are looking for during the festive season. Boost your Christmas sales online by running flash discount offers so tempting that customers cannot resist buying from you. Sliding banners are the most preferred mode of attracting the attention of shoppers. And, mobile apps offer the perfect platform for running flash sales and banners.
Push Notifications are the best mode for engaging shoppers. They are opened 18x more than emails. They are easy to open and follow. You can send Push Notifications to customers alerting them of the upcoming festive discounts and deals. The trick here is to build a list of prospective customers and creating segments. It is best to send personalized push notifications with the names of the customers attached.
Despite all the marketing tactics, cart abandonment continues to be a major to mobile commerce. But, we have covered up that for you. MageNative will run dedicated FB Remarketing Ads that run Facebook pages of the customers and remind them of their left-over purchases. They offer a perfect medium for reducing cart abandonment rates.
One of the top reasons why customers abandon carts at the checkout page is when they can’t find their preferred mode of payment. Some have Debit Card, others have Credit Card, while others prefer Cash on Delivery method. All the payment gateways like Mastercard, Visa, PayPal, Google pay, etc. should be included in your payment process.
Festive shoppers try to gauge the festive fever and trending items by reading online. If you could provide them with informative content, you get one step ahead of your competitors. Once customers perceive you as a helping hand, you have gained the biggest victory – you have earned their trust. Blogs and Press releases gather enough steam around your store and are a must in order to generate additional sales.
Run customer loyalty programs by offering points as rewards on every purchase that can be redeemed as discounts on purchases. Offer privilege benefits like One-day shipping or Free delivery for a fee. Customers appreciate a retailer when he is accorded certain privileges.
A simple checkout process is what you need to boost your festive sales. Make sure your checkout process has the following elements:
In online shopping, the world is fast moving towards Mobile shopping. thanks to the unprecedented improvement in mobile technology. So, the answer is simple – you cannot expect to win among the tech honchos without a dedicated mobile commerce strategy.
As suggested earlier, it is better to have a native mobile app for your online store for it far outweighs others in terms of customer loyalty and engagement.
MageNative brings to you one of the hottest offers this Christmas and New Year to boost your online sale. Avail a Flat 20% discount on all Mobile Apps. Now is your chance to improve your Christmas sales online by investing the least amount of time and money. So, make Mobile App a crucial part of your holiday sales strategy.
Guess what MageNative is 2 Times Magento Innovations Lab Winner, 3 Times Deloitte Technology Fast 50 Winner, and has countless 5-star reviews on Capterra, Trustpilot, and Shopify.
More than increasing your sales, Christmas and New Year offers the perfect opportunity to acquire new customers. It’s all about how you can keep them engaged throughout and after Christmas. Once you have gained their trust, your ROI will be way beyond your investment during holiday campaigns.
So, give your customers the perfect Christmas gift. Get a mobile app for your customers and give them the gift of convenience shopping. And, by the way, Merry Christmas.