The pre-Christmas period is a real goldmine in trade. Every year, profits made in this period reach even 40% of the entire annual turnover. The customers, fuelled by the joyous rhythm of Christmas hits and indulged in a shopping spree, are more likely to open their wallets and allow themselves for larger and less balanced expenditure. During this period, the price loses a bit in its position in the hierarchy of purchasing decisions, at the expense of good marketing or attractive packaging. The sales potential that opens up in this period is invaluable.
So how do you prepare your online shop for Christmas?
The most important thing is a good preparation for the sales base and the development of emergency plans for non-standard situations.
Increase your inventory
In the period of intense sales traffic, we must skilfully plan the work and tasks of individual departments and employees. We have to bear in mind the fact that the daily work system will be disturbed by a larger number of orders placed by customers, who will want to receive their parcels on time, more than any time of the year. Therefore, let's not count on quick deliveries from business partners that will fill our inventory gaps. Preparing for the time of pre-Christmas shopping, you first need to secure your warehouses in the number of goods that without any major problems will allow you to satisfy the needs of customers.Sign more contacts with courier companies
Christmas is a hot period also for companies dealing in order logistics. Practically every year we hear about parcels that did not arrive on time to the recipients. If you want to avoid this problem, take care of additional contracts with courier services. Then, in the event of problems with one of the subcontractors, you will be able to redirect the delivery service to another company. This approach will also have a positive impact on the consumers’ opinion about your business.Make the system work quickly and adapt your e-shop to mobile devices
If you are serious about the topic of increasing the sales results at the end of the year, remember about the technical preparation of the platform on which your online shop operates. You have to be sure that it will deal with intense traffic. It is also very important to adapt the shop to mobile devices. Today, more and more people use phones for shopping. Give them a chance!
How to promote an online shop during the Christmas period?
When your e-business is secure in terms of logistics and technical issues, it's time to start Christmas promotional preparations. What should you pay special attention to?
Change the graphic layout for Christmas
Creating a special graphic for the Christmas period is an investment that will surely result in a positive mood of the customers and their desire to stay longer on the site. If you do not have time for more interference in its appearance, you can only invest in delicate elements integrated into its everyday look. A Christmas banner with Santa, a pop-up with presents or a Christmas logo will certainly bring your potential buyer into a cheerful, festive mood.Show customers the benefits of online shopping!
A long list of gifts, a tight schedule at work, an unfavourable weather outside. Online shopping is usually interesting for customers who don’t like wasting their time running around shops and standing in giant queues. This is quite important information about our potential buyer!
Clearly communicate to your customers that thanks to your help and the offer of your online shop they will save the time needed to do holiday shopping and avoid queuing. The selected item will be quickly delivered to the given address.A gift category!
Create special gift categories in your e-shop. It will also save your clients' time. Usually, the division into groups is made according to – sex, age, interests or level of prices. Try to categorise your products in such a way that the customer entering the site has no doubts about how to navigate it, in order to find the desired products in the shortest possible time.Mailing and gift guides
Establish direct relations with existing customers by sending them a Christmas edition of your newsletter. Show the categories of products that you have created for them and the bonuses that you have for them. Everything, of course, in a nice Christmas setting.
Also, take care of the personalisation of the message. Our experience shows that this is a factor that can increase the effectiveness of mailing campaigns up to 300%! You can read more about this topic on our website in the “Personalised recommendations in email messages” section.E-marketing
Christmas is the perfect time to intensify your activities in the space of classic internet advertising. You can consider using paid Google Ads campaigns with appropriately selected keywords that help direct traffic to your website or ads on Facebook.
In addition to these activities, it is also worth running regular communication on social media. Thanks to this, you will reduce the distance in relations with your fans and you will be able to regularly inform them about the Christmas assortment of your online shop. Take advantage of the potential of the blog – regular publication of new content increases the visibility of your brand in Google and makes it easier to find the offer of your e-shop.