Christmas is on the way and of course all retailers will know this is the busiest time of year for gift, food and clothing retailers. But many still struggle to be ready in time for the big rush and miss out on key opportunities that could see their sales not reach their full potential. Like selling in store, targeting those online Christmas sales really do take some meticulous planning, especially when your competition is so much greater. At Vertical Plus, we are experts in helping our E-Commerce Partners get ready for the Christmas shopping period so that they get the very most out of their campaigns. If you are new to selling online at Christmas or you are a long-running business who feels that they need a little boost, take a look at our 4 top tips to getting your website ready for Christmas.
1 – Work out your last postage dates
This is absolutely critical when selling online. As we have stated before, Christmas is such a busy time of year that of course postal services and couriers are in much higher demand than usual. Contact your delivery service and work out what their recommended last postage dates are and let your customers know in advance. This helps them plan when they are going to order and also avoids any disappointment and customer complaints if their items fail to arrive when they expected them to.
2- Identify any key selling trends from previous years
When did you make the largest amount of sales last year? When did you see the largest amount of traffic on your website? What product sold well? These are all questions that you need to ask yourself to prepare for the Christmas period. If you discover that you had a popular product last year that you predict will sell well again, then order more stock. Information from previous years sales are gold when planning a successful E-commerce campaign.
3- Plan your campaigns in advance
If you have a new product or offer that you really want to push, make sure you plan these in advance. This allows you to be proactive rather that reactive and takes away any stress of suddenly sorting out a campaign or price decrease when you already have so many orders to process. Plan ahead and reduce the stress.
4 – Plan for seasonal changes in Adwords
Around the festive season your competition is fierce online with so many retailers bidding for the same keyword. Keep in mind that your budgets may need to be increased and keywords changed to keep your ads in the limelight. This will also allow you to have a greater chance of increasing your ad’s ROI.
If you are struggling with your campaigns or you would like more advice on running a successful campaign over Christmas, contact us today and see how we can help you. If you are interested in becoming an E-Commerce Partner then read more about what we can offer you and your business on our website.