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Seasonal sales can make or break your entire year. Even though there are seasonal spikes in sales throughout the year, focusing on the November & December time frame is what you should be prioritizing. Here’s why!
Skipping the Seasonal sale strategies can cost you up to 30% of the profit. Looking at the small business scale, that is roughly $25 000. However, some small businesses manage to earn 70% of their annual revenue within just these few crucial months if they maximize their strategy. And you should be one of them.
MAXIMIZE YOUR SALES SUCCESS
Meet Mrs. Jones. Known for her loyal customers, Mrs. Jones owns a small cupcake business in her town. She even opened a webshop two years back that generated some great results. Now summer is over and a chill is in the air, so we all know what that means – here comes the festive season!
Starting with Halloween, all up until New Year, cookie enthusiasts are buying lovely treats from Mrs. Jones’ online store. She never used any marketing strategies or specialized plugins on her WooCommerce site, believing that her sales were doing pretty well. But how well is it actually pretty well? She assumed that her 10% holiday sales increase was above average, until she found out that she can achieve between 30%-40% easily. How? By following these tactics and having little Santa helpers in the form of quality plugins.
5 WINNING SEASONAL SALE STRATEGIES
1. TIMING
It’s all about being in the right place at the right time (and having the right tools). Perfect timing is a crucial aspect of the business since it allows you to accomplish more in a shorter period of time. And the good news is that you can largely control it.
Now check this out – For most Americans, the winter holiday shopping season begins in November with preparations for Thanksgiving, Hanukkah, Christmas, and New Year’s. Up to 1/3 of U.S. customers will start shopping even earlier than November. No more last-minute day before Christmas bulk shopping Mrs. Jones was counting on all these years. But the biggest shopping days (online and offline) are Thanksgiving Day, Black Friday, and Cyber Monday. By New Year’s Eve, the average American holiday shopper is expected to spend almost $1,300! For someone like Mrs. Jones, that’s quite a bit of cupcake orders!
You can also jump on the bandwagon and we got you covered – our Halloween sale is just around the corner and you can grab some of the goodies and have the best Seasonal sale of your business. It’s that simple.
2. PERSONALIZATION
During the Seasonal sale, customers are in a hurry. A real hurry. Have you ever heard of the “Urgency Effect” marketing strategy? Basically, individuals may be forced to quickly perform tasks when they are under time pressure. That makes sense, but how does this relate to your business? Well, in addition to that, customers even prefer undertaking urgent tasks to those that do not have a time limit. And what is more urgent than holiday shopping when the big days are approaching?
The sole purpose of personal emails is to convey that urgency. It’s impossible to keep an eye on the abandoned carts on your own, so this is where good ol` plugins come into the game. Our Abandoned Cart plugin will set up automated emails, texts, and Facebook messages to customers who abandon their shopping carts. What do you say about a little reminder in the form of: “We’re keeping your product at a 30% discount for 24 hours, checkout immediately before it ends!” I sure would think twice about that gift for my aunt.
Now let’s bring back these 7/10 customers that abandoned your shopping cart and get you 70% more sale volume!
3. HANDLING DELIVERIES
Customers are anxious to receive their gifts by a particular date, so they back out if there is even a slight doubt that the package will arrive on time. Does this sound familiar? No wonder, because the survey showed that 77% of customers have “abandoned a purchase due to unsatisfactory shipping options.” Moreover, data shows that lackluster shipping options are the primary reason consumers abandon their carts.
What can you do to fix it? We have an instant solution – Put shoppers in charge and let them completely control the situation. You instantly improve your customer service by delivering items at the client’s preferred date & time. And you can count on us to help you with it. Our Order Delivery Date plugin can create different delivery charges for Weekdays & dates and sync them to Google Calendar in real-time. If that’s not convincing enough, 57% of consumers shifted their purchases from physical stores to online channels last year alone. And this way – you won them over. Check out our article about how can you transform your business in just one year of using the Order Delivery Date plugin.
4. UNIQUE PRODUCTS
Longer shopping lists, more demanding customers, and a broader range of businesses to compete with… Handling the holiday season is no easy task. What is the best way to stand out? Stock up on different products. For example, instead of a physical product, why don’t you offer different classes, events, and services? Differentiating your brand is what gives you an advantage over your competitors. It enables you to be noticed, encourage interest and retain customers. You can expect your buyers to assess your product against similar ones on the market; therefore, prepare yourself for these comparisons by knowing what makes your product or service unique. Making even the smallest change will make a difference, for instance, offering products in a variety of colors or including free gift wrapping will enhance your service. Furthermore, don’t be afraid to try diverse products or services, you will understand your customers better based on their preferences, and that will lead to a stronger long-term relationship.
5. DISCOUNTS
The survey found that 64% of millennials plan to shop for deals this holiday season. This is why the store that offers holiday door-busters, discounts when you spend a certain amount of money, and special holiday-centric sales is the store that wins. Having special offers really pays off in the long run. Here is how to make it happen properly:
By using plugins like Payment gateway you can add fees and discounts based on the payment gateway and they can be applied globally or at the product level. The plugin also provides the ability to apply taxes on fees and they can be calculated by excluding the shipping charges if needed. To make things even easier for your customers (so you can get on their list of favorite stores), you can check out our Deposits for WooCommerce plugin that allows businesses to accept deposit payments by percentage or flat amount. With it, you can also accept partial payments that are spread across a time period, like 10% at the time of placing an order, 40% after a week & the remaining 50% in 2 weeks. Win-win situation, don’t you think?
6. SPIKE YOUR SALES THIS YEAR
With only a few changes, you can truly skyrocket your Seasonal sales. eCommerce spending rose 13.1% last year and it will continue to grow big time. In 2021, experts predict that online retail sales will make up 16.3% of total retail sales. It will hit 18.3% in 2023 and 19.9% by 2025. This is a nice ride, and we can help you reap its benefits.
Our big Halloween sale is just around the corner and there you can get some massive discounts on all of the plugins above. It will help you get off to a great start straightaway. By signing up for our newsletter, you’ll be the first to know when the Halloween sale begins. Moreover, if you need advice on what plugin is the best one for your business niche, feel free to contact our customer service and let us help you!
Scale your business to the highest possible level, just as Mrs. Jones did. So are you ready to grab the opportunity and boost your eCommerce sales?
