Tis the season to be jolly and in anticipation of those eager Christmas shoppers, here at Upperdog HQ we thought we’d share some tips dedicated to increasing your online seasonal sales!
As the most prolific spending months, November and December pit retailer against retailer in a Crimbo showdown of massive proportions. So take note on how you can stand out from the crowd to encourage purchases pre-Christmas and through to the New Year.
A theme with all the trimmings
To get your customers in the spending spirit you should be adapting your website design to the time of year. This will create a festive atmosphere and make you more attractive as a website and retailer to those seasonal shoppers. You can also highlight products that are perfect for Christmas, or any festive stock that you only sell at this time of year. From subtle snowflake patterns to an animated Santa on his sleigh you can be as indulgent as you like!
Discounts, discounts, discounts
No-one likes paying full price for something, and anyone who’s anyone knows that discounts are the way into a shopper’s heart. There are a number of discounts that you can promote depending on the product or service you are selling.
From 5%, 10%, or 20% off you can either create a blanket discount (20% off all ladies boots) or reward your customers when they spend over a certain amount (20% off your basket when you spend over £50).
Offering a certain amount off such as “£10 off every order” can be more appealing as shoppers feel they are saving more money – and sometimes these offers do provide a better discount.
BOGOF/2-4-1 – Buy One Get One Free Offers never fail to please especially if there are a lot people to buy for. It’s a great way to encourage online shoppers to buy more of your product, and also try out things they wouldn’t of usually purchased. New fans of your brand? Tick.
Would you like that gift-wrapped?
There are two types of people in this world: those who can wrap a Christmas present and those who can’t. In offering a gift-wrapping service, you are taking away a stressful part of Christmas and making things easier for a lot of people, which could tempt them just enough to push that ‘buy’ button.
To Free or Not To Free… You can either choose to provide a free gift-wrapping service, one for a small fee or a free gift-wrapping option for items over a certain value. It’s your choice. And depends how good you are at wrapping presents.
Delivery: free, express, or both?
Delivery options could make or break your sale so make sure that you’ve fully thought out how you’re going to play this part.
Free Delivery – Most online retailers now provide a free delivery service, so it would make sense to mean as you go on or to introduce it as a special festive perk.
Express Delivery – Come Christmastime the mail flow clogs up a bit. By offering an express delivery you could be the more tempting choice. For bonus points you could offer free express delivery to customers, ooooooh. Obviously this depends on costs and whether this can form part of your sales plan. You could always trial this and offer it for one day as a special.
The Season of Giving
Charity is rewarding, so in this time of giving and receiving why not focus on the giving? Share your good fortune and set up a giving scheme whereby a set amount of money or percentage of sales are donated to your chosen charity. You’ll be socially conscious and have a warm, fuzzy feeling inside.
Perhaps you already donate to charity, or can’t integrate it with your online checkout in time. So instead why not offer a free gift? No-one can resist something free with a purchase so have a think as to what you could offer which would tempt a customer to click though. Maybe a free sample or some chocolate coins?
And another thing…
Need some help with SEO or PPC? We’ve got you covered. Give your business the best Christmas present this year and get the expertise you need to grow successfully online. Call us on 01202 798 820 or email hello@upperdog.co.uk to find out more.