Christmas is an excellent time to boost sales in both traditional and eCommerce businesses. Unfortunately, due to a lack of preparation, most businesses miss out on the opportunity to meet the target profit margin during the Christmas sale.
You may be one of those who also missed the opportunity last year and are still searching for the solution, right?
Okay, relax! This is not the end of the world. You can still sum it up this year with some new planning and strategies.
Hopefully, you already know that early sales preparation is always important for the growth of a business. People usually take sales preparation two or three times ahead of the event, but why not six months ahead? Because a six-month ahead plan is more effective than two or three-month-ahead plans.
Even making only a six-monthly plan in advance can not boost the sales of your eCommerce business. For instance, as a Shopify store owner, taking part in Christmas preparation requires some steps and strategy as well.
This article will focus on why Christmas sales preparation six months ahead is important for an eCommerce business and how to prepare your eCommerce store six months ahead for Christmas?
How Do You Approach Preparation 6 Months Ahead of the Christmas Sales?
Christmas is the time of year that every business owner looks forward to. During this period, shoppers do frequent shopping at both brick and mortar or online stores. As a result, it is the best time to push your entire sales force before the new year.
But in the holiday season eCommerce business flourish more so, and an online store owner always has to be prepared for any seasonal sale. For example, Halloween, Black Friday, Cyber Monday, New Year, etc. In the same way, a regular sale is also important. But, for now, we will focus on just Christmas sales.
Here are three steps for the preparation of your Christmas sales beforehand. These plans must require a lot of time and six months will be fine:
- Make a budget-friendly early plan
- Budget estimates for advertising and marketing
- Return policy and additional payment
#1 Preparation 1: Make a Budget-Friendly Early Plan
Preparation requires planning and a sales strategy is the pillar of increasing sales throughout the holiday season. If you do not have one, then it is time to jot down and figure out the best plan to accomplish your target sales during this fundamental holiday season. Such as :
- As you are preparing for the Christmas sale, customize your website with a Christmas theme.
- Make an effective business marketing plan to increase your brand's value to customers. Because as a Shopify store owner, creating your own brand value is an important aspect.
- Do focus on customer relationship management so that your customers can stay connected with your service.
- Promote offers and deals on whatever you are offering during the sale.
So far, we have talked about marketing and planning. Now focus on the significance of budgeting. Making a plan includes setting a budget.
A budget is a term that refers to an organized spending strategy. Making a budget helps you to determine whether you have enough money or not.
Do pre-order holiday goods to avoid excessive prices during the holiday. Do not forget to
maintain a healthy cash flow.
For instance, stop buying goods without calculating the net cash. Do a little research about your competitors, what they are offering, and finally, utilize the last year’s unsold goods to cut unnecessary costs.
#2 Preparation 2: Budget Estimates for Advertising and Marketing
You may think that you are planning for Christmas sales so early, but you will never know whether your competitors are already making preparations or not. So get into it as soon as possible and do advertising.
Though excessive advertising is not necessary for the whole year, during the holiday season, a businessman can not ignore the importance of excessive advertising. Especially for an eCommerce business. According to Neil Patel, click-through rates increase by 100% during the holiday season, and direct traffic climbs by 150%.
But where will you do the advertising? You can advertise on-
Email Marketing
It can be one of the top sources of traffic and ROI, based on the scale of the list. The largest benefit of email marketing, according to a study by
“The Good” is, 36% higher engagement rates and sales increases because of email marketing.
Social Media Advertisement
Out of the world's 4.6 billion Internet users, 3.59 billion utilize at least one meta app every month. A bunch of people daily surf Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, and other social media apps, so who wants to miss this golden opportunity to grab customers? So, there is no doubt that meta advertising will give fuel to your Christmas sale.
To provide the finest customer experience, retailers and wholesalers both need a cheerful, effective social media plan to keep the holiday excitement alive. Social media posts and Facebook ads can gather huge traffic during a holiday sale like Christmas.
Display Advertisement
It includes text, photos, and URLs. They are also known as display advertisements. During the holiday season, add impressions increased by 50%, making more people view your adverts. Still, display ads should be like that, too. They will showcase your bargains and special offers.
Blog
To increase brand recognition and enhance the rankings of your product pages, blogging can help a lot. When your clients are looking to buy from you, having a good blog will help them to guide. According to “Optinmonster”, people who use the internet 77% of them read blogs.
Paid Advertising
According to marketing, 72 % of B2B marketers use social media for advertising while utilizing paid marketing platforms online. So, invest some money in paid marketing. Examples, Pay-Per-Click (PPC), Influencer Marketing, Social Media Ads, Ad Retargeting, and Banner Ads.
Retargeting Customers
Retargeting is one of the most effective strategies for promoting your holiday promotions during the holiday season.
Retargeting allows you to show your advertising to people who have already visited the website. Retargeting can decrease cart abandonment by 6.5% and increase online sales by nearly 20%.
#3 Preparation 3: Return Policy and Additional Payment
People buy goods frequently during holiday sales, and the highest chances of returning products are very common.
According to a survey by CNBC, the return rate of goods is about 5% to 10%, and in the case of online shopping, the percentage jumps to 15 to 40%.
As a result, Shopify focuses on a fundamental return policy if you are an eCommerce shop owner.
Secondly, Christmas sales preparation is a good moment to think about expanding your store's payment methods as well. For example, accepting PayPal or even Bitcoin payments can improve your business.
If you only accept Visa and MasterCard, the choice will become limited for the customer, so think outside the box.
Tips for Christmas Sales Preparation at Shopify
The motto behind the early preparation of the Christmas sales is to execute all plans perfectly. However, a few tips can make your plans more effective and successful.
- Observe The Past Previous Christmas Sales Data
- Customize Your Store and Provide Good Packaging
- Get Your Entire Team Ready
- Make An Enticing Offer And A Discount
- Emphasizing The Best Product
Tip 1: Observe The Past Previous Christmas Sales Data
It is really important to start planning before the holiday sales to make them successful. Consider the trends that will make a difference, and work with the suppliers to organize your inventory. Therefore, it is important to pick things that will provide value for your store.
Pay close attention to the holiday bestsellers and keep an eye on which products sold poorly the previous year. Then, grab the rising demand, allow extra storage space for additional inventory, and sell the unused goods first.
Tip 2: Customize Your Store and Provide Good Packaging
Using a
product customization app can help you increase your sales. Do not forget to use a Christmas theme that includes red, white, and silver color gestures with Santa and Christmas trees.
Similarly, customers prefer to have their gifts wrapped in the store when shopping online. Therefore, it is a good idea to order plenty of wrapping paper, ribbons, and gift boxes. If possible, use your corporate logo printed on the gift boxes.
This way, you may promote your company to the people who will receive the gifts.
Tip 3: Get Your Entire Team Ready
One of the most difficult tasks during the holiday season is team preparation. For example, during the Christmas sales, there will be a lot of traffic on your website, and you will receive more orders and customer requests.
To cope with that busy period, hire staff earlier and if needed, train them beforehand.
Tip 4: Make An Enticing Offer And A Discount
Launching special offers to attract online buyers can be tough competition during the holidays. Your promotional strategies must be heavily influenced by your company's unique characteristics, product distribution ideas, and profit margin ideas.
If you want to beat competitors with products, then the product must be outstanding, and you need to make new purchases. However, there is one more advantage to it. A new purchase can loop a loyal customer.
Tip 5: Emphasizing The Best Product
Showcase the best items. Remember to include sharing buttons on your store's website. Create a gift ideas page on your online business or provide gift ideas on social media by showing your best-selling items.
Bottom Line
Christmas sale preparation six months ahead is enough to make a proper plan. Instead of messing up with everything, be precise and focus on your plans.
Every brand has its distinct ideas and innovations during the Christmas season. As a result, it is tough for marketers to develop a solid strategy to help businesses attract new customers. Examine the Christmas marketing concepts to see which one will work best for you.
FAQ:
When should you start preparing for Christmas Sales?
Two or more months are best for preparing for the Christmas sales.
How can I make sales at Christmas?
Make proper plans with keeping maximum time in your hands. Do not just rush into the last moment. Give discount and free shipping offers. Provide gifts to the customer who orders the maximum quantity of product.
