Getting Your E-Commerce Retailer Prepared for Christmas and New Years
12 mins read

Getting Your E-Commerce Retailer Prepared for Christmas and New Years


So, by this time in the vacation season, possibly you’re feeling a little bit….bloated. Whether or not that be from Thanksgiving turkey, or vacation promotions. And we get it. The vacation season is a marathon of creating e-mail campaigns, designing pop-ups and banners, even exploring new app market companions. And hopefully, by now, you’ve completed some mild homework on issues like getting Black Friday and Cyber Monday Prepared.

However of course, it doesn’t take an knowledgeable in e-commerce to know that for many individuals, the vacation season is about one main occasion: Christmas. Or, nicely, Christmas and different household and culture-oriented December holidays, main up to New 12 months’s. Christmas e-commerce gross sales are a very important a part of sustaining a profitable on-line retailer, so determining some Christmas-specific methods will go a good distance in making the total season profitable.

Whereas Christmas is a gift-giving vacation, and New 12 months’s typically isn’t, we assume each are necessary elements of a wholesome e-commerce finish of the yr season, and wish to do our greatest to carry you some up to the minute ideas and tips to ringing in the new yr in the black.

Christmas: What You Have to Know

Okay, we take it that you simply already know one thing about Christmas and the way it’s a nice alternative to run promotions and enhance gross sales. However do you know that it’s additionally a nice time to give your store a spruce (no, not a spruce tree) to be sure that every part is prepared for an inflow of new clients? Out of your web site’s design and product descriptions to the total look and really feel of the retailer (excited by a new theme? Try some recommendations in our article all about it), a as soon as over might imply a two-fold return on your invested time.

What share of vacation gross sales are on-line? Effectively, estimates counsel that gross sales went up 13.6% in 2019, and with the pandemic, this quantity is solely anticipated to develop.

Additionally, it’s value noting that, no matter the place you might be in the world, your vacation promoting season technique shouldn’t be about one vacation in explicit. Even when you might be zeroing on “Christmas” as your largest money-making alternative, hold in thoughts there’s a wealth of culturally necessary gift-giving holidays in December, throughout the world. And whereas many manufacturers (particularly these primarily based in Europe or North America) use Christmas as shorthand to seek advice from gift-giving in December, relying on your goal advertising, it could be worthwhile to additionally do some planning round holidays like Hanukkah, Kwanzaa, Tet, and many others, that individuals have a good time and change items for.

Throughout the world, the finish of the yr indicators a time to be with household and associates, and to take inventory of the yr. Take into consideration your store’s function in spreading this festivity and cheer, whether or not or not it falls into conventional “Christmasy” fare.

Don’t be afraid to have a good time variety and be multifaceted in your method to the vacation season. As lengthy as you do so in a means that honors the spirit of the particular person vacation and feels genuine to you, it ought to really feel the similar to your potential clients.

USPS stamps Christmas

This USPS banner takes a multicultural method to the vacation season

In different phrases, no matter what you might be promoting this vacation season, there’s a technique to do so in a means that brings real pleasure to your clients, as nicely as income to your retailer.

Getting Your Store Prepared for Christmas Gross sales

As we mentioned in our information to preparing for Thanksgiving, the key to a profitable vacation promoting season is a little little bit of superior planning. The identical goes much more for the Christmas gross sales season, as a result of you’ll be able to guess that your clients can be fascinated by their vacation plans earlier than we hit December 1st. So, how does one get their shope revved up for some Christmas buying?

Gift ideas labeled on the storefront

Do you will have a present thought? Assist your clients to discover it!

The primary reply lies in vacation storefront preparedness. Peek our entire article on 8 Issues You Have to Do to Get Your Website Prepared for the Holidays, or learn on for some Christmas particular highlights:

  • Select a seasonal merchandise to spotlight for Christmas (and one other for New Years!): This could possibly be a small merchandise that might make a excellent stocking stuffer or “I’m stumped” present, one with a nice thematic tie-in to Christmas (say, a pine scented candle, or gingerbread scented cleaning soap), or simply one in every of your best-sellers.
  • Examine your stock inventory for Finest promoting merchandise: talking of greatest sellers, an e-commerce retailer’s worst nightmare has received to be working out of common items at the peak of the vacation buying season (on this case, a couple of weeks earlier than Christmas). Examine your stock now, and be sure to’ve ready (and even overprepared) for a rush of December gross sales.
  • Take into account buyer loyalty: the greatest clients are repeat ones. How is your store interesting to clients who’ve already purchased (and beloved!) your wares? Take into consideration a particular coupon for repeat clients for the festive season to get them fascinated by your store once more.
  • Spend money on promoting: which brings us to…

Christmas + Promoting = Your Success Technique

Of course rising vacation income no doubt entails amping up your promotional calendar, and giving your clients a justifiable share of nice offers and specials to get them to come to you for the gadgets on their vacation buying checklist.

A key part of on-line promoting through the Christmas vacation rush is by way of promoting these offers. And also you’re in luck, as a result of we have already got a step-by-step information detailing all of the ins and outs of creating your greatest vacation promoting plan.

Learn all about eCommerce promoting for the holidays, and keep in mind to adapt your plan particularly to Christmas and its December counterparts.

Don’t Overlook! Christmas Transport Deadlines

As an e-commerce store, you’re no stranger to planning for uncertainty, particularly when it involves transport and supply. However when it involves getting prepped for Christmas gross sales, listed below are some necessary dates to hold in thoughts:

For USPS: to be secure, they counsel getting retail floor shipments in by December fifteenth and USPS Precedence mail in by December twenty third.

For UPS Transport: the vary is nearly the similar, with the slowest mail (UPS floor) transport out by December fifteenth and UPS Subsequent Day Air Transport by round December twenty third.

For FedEx: the ranges are extra drastic, with their slowest companies suggesting a transport date of no later than December ninth.

Arka Packaging and Supplies

Ecwid pal Arka can even assist packaging wants

In normal, a good rule of thumb is, the earlier you ship, the higher. Many retailers get outcomes by doing a post-office drop each two or three days. US-based retailers may also benefit from USPS pickups throughout their common supply instances.

Bonus Suggestions for Christmas Preparedness

There isn’t a lot we haven’t lined as far as technique is involved in our all-encompassing Important Information to Vacation Promotions for E-Commerce Shops, however it could be useful to spotlight some methods in which Christmas (and associated gift-giving) presents distinctive alternatives.

Tip 1: Don’t neglect about decorations! Suppose snowflakes on banners and festive color-coordinated decorations. We know your e-commerce platform can’t supply contemporary baked cookies to greet clients at the door, so rolling out a festive, digital welcome mat is going to take a little little bit of further creativity.

Ecwid email marketing guide cover

Even Ecwid takes benefit of vacation theming with our personal content material

Tip 2: We advocate getting further ready for the vacation season by including some helpful key phrases to product descriptions. Something from “nice present” to “stocking stuffer” may assist information your clients to the gadgets that you simply assume will work greatest for their vacation wants.

On the lookout for extra? Learn all about getting your product descriptions prepared for your market’s Christmas season, and different site visitors era concepts in our article particularly about all issues vacation advertising.

New 12 months’s = New Alternative

Of course the largest gift-giving holidays are the ones that usually fall in mid-to-late-December. However, it’s necessary to not neglect about New 12 months’s (each Eve and Day). Although New 12 months’s is not often forgotten as the end-cap of the vacation season, usually it’s dominated out as a income driver for e-commerce shops. We assume that’s a huge mistake!

Not solely are their nice “new yr’s decision” sort promotions run throughout this week between Christmas and the begin of the new yr, but additionally, New 12 months’s celebrations have gotten an more and more common time to carry host items to events, or to put money into some joyful take-out, celebration appetizers, and many others, to kick the New 12 months off in a hearty means (we’re  you, eating places!).

So, the right way to capitalize on the New 12 months’s crowd? Right here, we current you with a couple of our greatest ideas:

New messaging (New you)

Even when you’re not promoting fitness center memberships, you’ll be able to nonetheless get a lot of mileage out of a sensible New 12 months’s promotion. Take into consideration the methods in which the merchandise you promote may assist a particular person flip over a new leaf, check out one thing new, or turn into empowered to be their greatest self.

Now, create a advertising marketing campaign that goes together with that message (pulling out the standard stops like e-mail advertising, product ribbons and social media commercials), a voila! A new gross sales alternative to carry that vacation season income push into the New 12 months.

Low cost festivity

When all else fails, run a new sort of sale. A good one. One thing that can sign to your clients that this yr, they need to be trying ahead to new and thrilling alternatives together with your retailer.

By no means provided free transport earlier than? Now’s a nice time! Have a lot of unsold stock left? How a couple of clearance sale? A departure from the regular supply will sign to potential patrons that your store is one that may embrace new concepts and roll out pleasure for everybody.

Need Even Extra Suggestions?

We have a entire studying checklist of related articles, ideas, and tips for promoting on-line through the vacation season. Need a break from the weblog kind? Try our podcast particular on getting vacation prepared.

After which head over to your management panel to get in the promoting spirit.

Allow us to know what labored for you this Christmas and New 12 months, in the feedback beneath!

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