Give your store a cornucopia of sales on Thanksgiving 2019

Give your store a cornucopia of sales on Thanksgiving 2019

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As we have just witnessed the Halloween season and the number of crazy sales that it bought to the online market. It gives sellers as well as buyers a sense of excitement on what’s coming this festive season. Well, the shopping fest has just started with one of the biggest days in online shopping and revenue. Yes, we are talking about Thanksgiving 2019 followed up by the Cyber week. Stay with us to know some kooky numbers behind the business and how to increase sales on Thanksgiving by following up on these marketing strategies.

“Did you know? In the year 2016,17 and 2018 thanksgiving day sales went on increasing to $2.4b, $2.9b, $3.7b respectively. Which was a 27.9% rate of increase from 2017 to 2018 Year-Over-Year. “

What’s inside?

  1. Previous year sales stats.
    1. Where does Traffic come from?
    2. Which device had a higher average order value?
  2. 5 Marketing strategies to increase sales on Thanksgiving.
    1. Get your website ready. 
    2. Use email marketing.
    3. Plan a Social media campaign for Thanksgiving.
    4. Buckle up your inventory.
    5. Give Thanksgiving gifts and exclusive products.
  3. Conclusion.

What happened Previously?
(Statistics on Thanksgiving)

As the fourth quarter goes underway. As a seller, you must have already been itching your head and thinking about how to get the most out of thanksgiving week? Well, relax we will provide you with the best statistics and marketing tips on how to increase sales on Thanksgiving. So that you don’t feel like Eustace Bagg on thanksgiving 2019.

Not exceptionally, this year’s Thanksgiving weekend is likely to shatter online shopping records once again. Forecasted by Adobe Digital Insights, total e-commerce sales over the entire Thanksgiving weekend are predicted at $23.4 billion, with Cyber Monday tipped to become the largest online shopping day in U.S. history.

Thanksgiving sales stats

(Source: Bloomberg)

Online sales during Thanksgiving 2018 hit $3.7 bn, representing 27.9 growth year-over-year, outclassing 2017’s 18.3 percent growth rate. This has been seen as the highest growth rate since 2014. One reason is that many merchants changed their strategy, for the first time charging the same prices on Thanksgiving Day as they did on Black Friday.

“Average order values were up 8.0 percent over Thanksgiving Day last year.”

Holiday season spending Bloomed a humongous turnover of $1 trillion during the 2018 season. Thanksgiving Day, Black Friday, and Cyber Monday all illustrate healthy year-over-year sales growth. The most popular commodities were televisions, computers, and other electronics, and toys.

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Where does traffic come from?

  • Over the last few years shopping through mobile devices on the thanksgiving week is rapidly increasing year over year.
  • Last year only 54.3 percent of site visits ( in which 46.6 percent smartphones, 7.7 percent were tablets).
  • Mobile devices collectively engaged 35.9 percent of revenue. Which was 18.9 percent of Year-Over-Year increase.
  • The frenzy of Black Friday brick-and-mortar shopping seems to have faded. People now avoid the traditional style of shopping to stand in longs queues to get the product.

Which device had a higher AOV (Average Order Value)?

  • Although mobile devices managed to get a majority of buyers, Desktop continues to have higher AOV (Average Order Value), followed by tablets and then mobile devices.
  • In some verticals, tablets have higher AOV than their desktop counterparts, though a much lower percentage of GMV all up.
  • Reports suggest that user on desktop spends an average of $122.37 per order which is slightly higher than those of mobile user who spends an average of $88.25 per order.
  • Tablet users found themselves somewhere in the middle of the desktop and mobile users with an AOV of $107.06 per order.

Thanksgiving sales stats

(Source: Bigcommerce)

5 marketing tips to drum up your sales on Thanksgiving 2019

With the year’s biggest event coming and bringing the sea of a digital rush to knock your online store door. Well, you don’t want that when your customer visits they see an improper and outdated version of you.

Here are some important tips that you can keep in mind to increase sales on Thanksgiving and make your store more efficient and your revenue always rising.

1. Get your Website ready

Getting your website ready is probably the first and the most crucial thing to do before the season sales kick-off.

  • Make sure your site is optimized and able to handle a lot of orders at a single time, as there will be a majority of buyers heading to your store at an instant.
  • Slow site loading speed could prove to be hazardous as 80% of mobile users will abandon a website if it doesn’t load in less than 5 seconds.
  • A website taking 3+ seconds to load gets 22% fewer conversion than those who load faster.

a. Optimize your website Mobile friendly

With a majority of buyers coming to your store through mobile devices its never been so important to optimize your website for mobile traffic. Try running a mobile compatibility test with Google, which will give you a glimpse of how well your store will perform on mobile devices.

Check out Google’s developmental tools to run a speed test and get to know more about what is the root cause of low website speed.

b. Website user interface optimization

Physical retail stores often set up special holiday displays during the shopping season. You can take a similar approach to your website as well.

Thanksgiving marketing strategies

This season of festival is the exact time to start flipping over creative and make your site more flashy towards holiday perspective. decorate your digital channel just like you do your brick and mortar store.

2. Use Email Marketing

Email marketing during the thanksgiving week is proven to be one of the best strategies. Personalize your email in a way that it increases more engagement.

Thanksgiving email marketing strategies

a. Create a captivating subject line

an enticing subject line will always get extra attention. So make sure you use an innovative and catchy subject line.

b. Hook your customer to your brand

running a holiday-themed contest can also be a great way to increase engagement and directly help you to boost your sales

c. Schedule your email

Sending an email at the right time could prove a direct conversion. Try sending your email prior to thanksgiving. During this busy week, schedule your email when the consumers are most active. Study your customer’s time zone, browsing pattern, purchase time, etc, then plan an email accordingly.

For more information on email marketing give a read to 6 email marketing tips for upcoming holidays 

3. Utilize the potential of Social Media

In this digital world where nearly everyone is actively using social media platforms like Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, Youtube, etc. you could easily manipulate your marketing strategy to get the most out of your sales through these social media platforms.

a. Make use of Instagram

If you own an Instagram page try to Use Instagram live, stories, polls and CTA’s. Instagram stories are one of the most suitable platforms for businesses who want to showcase their brand to another level. You can increase engagements and gather your customer data using this.

Social media campaign for Thanksgiving

 

b. Facebook marketing

Try engaging a new audience or warm audience (consumers who had previously purchased something from you)

  • Try to make your impact through videos, images, gifs, and Facebook Ads.
  • Be active in groups and communities.
  • Engage with your audience in the comment section to increase positive customer feedback.

c. Give a touch of the festive season

You can change your display picture by some thanksgiving items like pumpkins, desserts, turkeys, etc. Leading up to Thanksgiving 2019, you can make an emotional connection with customers through inspiring imagery and highlighting positive testimonials on social platforms.

also, get some amazing pro tips on how to get higher engagement on social media during the holiday season. 

4. Buckle up your inventory:

Thanksgiving week is one of the most popular shopping events in the US. National Retail Federation forecasted that 164Mn people shopped in stores and online from Thanksgiving to Cyber Monday. So, it becomes very crucial to have the right inventory filled in before the festive season begins.

a. Estimate what’s coming

One way to better prepare for Thanksgiving 2019 is to estimate your numbers for this year. To begin with, you can examine financial data and sales records from the previous years to determine if there are any trends that can be used to estimate inventory that will be used.

Increase sales on Thanksgiving

b. Avoid Stockouts

Nothing ruins the mood of a shopper on holiday season more than the Out of Stock message. If you are a first-time shopper on a particular website, you probably won’t be coming back after getting out of stock message in on your first shop. Try using your last year analytics to find out your best selling products and maintain your inventory likewise.

5. Try exclusive products, cross-sales, and gifts

  • Try to sell some exclusive products just for Thanksgiving. Exclusive products get sold out quickly and increase your brands’ recognization.
  • Cross-selling is proven to be one of the most effective ways to increase your store revenue. Showing customer a similar product related to their purchase in a compelling way always increase the chance of a conversion
  • Surprise your customers with a Thanksgiving 2019 Giftwrap. people appreciate free gifts more than discounts. By offering a complimentary gift, you bring them one step closer to becoming brand ambassadors. Your customers would love some recognition, whether it is for their achievements in the industry or their loyalty to your brand.

Thanksgiving Marketing Strategies

Let’s wrap this up.

So here you are! Armed with all the knowledge needed to drum up your sales this Thanksgiving 2019. Apply these marketing strategies to see the boost in revenue for yourself. I hope that you enjoyed reading this article and it must have given you some ideas and enthusiasm for your Thanksgiving 2019 marketing campaign.

Wishing you all the very best with a successful and happy Thanksgiving!

Anything we missed? Comment below and let us know!

You may be interested in the following:

  1. Marketplaces where maximum shopping takes place on BFCM
  2. Your M-commerce holiday guide: Sales, Mistakes to avoid, Opportunities, and Strategies
  3. 6 tips to reduce return and refund rate this holiday season
  4. 7 Shipment related tips for Holidays

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