Despite the slick advertising that publicists put out on holidays that imbue those special days with warm and fuzzy feelings, holidays represent merchants’ biggest sellers of the year.
The Importance of Holidays
Reuters recently published an article that spelled out the importance of holidays for retailers, outlining how eight retailers increased their circulars by 6 percent and promotional emails by 57 percent during the Christmas holiday season (3 November to 4 January). The winter/Christmas holiday season is easily the biggest of the year, but Mother’s Day, Father’s Day and Easter aren’t too far behind.
But simply knowing that holidays are the biggest shopping days of the year isn’t enough, and understanding how to prepare for them is the other part of the equation, with RepricerExpress there to help every step of the way—along with all the tips we’ve outlined below, remember also to get your Amazon repricing in order and competitive for the upcoming online Spring sales.
An Ounce of Preparation is Worth a Pound of Profit
Dr. Phil may have been one of the most prominent to say this, but the best indication of future behaviour is past performance. To that extent, knowing how shoppers bought on previous holidays can help you tailor your approach to the upcoming ones.
Using reports like those from shop.org can help you plan ahead to this year’s holidays by examining past results. Here are some of it major insights:
- Free Shipping: It’s hard to overstate just how important this point is, as buyers repeatedly say this is one of the main reasons they’ll pick one product over another. This isn’t to say you should abandon all your practices in favour of putting up free shipping on all your merchandise, but it’s definitely something you should make a priority.
- Streamlined Process: No consumer enjoys buying a product if the process is fraught with difficulties and delays. Keep things as simple as possible by making key icons clear and visible: store locator and checkout cart at the top, contact information on the bottom, location services that point the buyer to the store (usually near the bottom), and calls to action sprinkled throughout.
- Device Connectivity: Buyers have the world at their fingertips and utilise every option available, the retailers that get left behind are the ones who don’t adapt to that. Employ practices like desktop mobility to aid shoppers who use their smartphones, and embed relevant hyperlinks.
- Customer Service: It’s a given that consumers want to shop independently and their own way, but they also want help when they get stuck. That’s where you step in by providing an extra level of service by utilising things like social media, live chat assistance, and FAQs.
- Return Policy: In an ideal world, consumers will buy your products and remain happy with them forever. Unfortunately, that’s not the case and merchandise is—and will continue to be—returned. By having more than one return option open, your buyers will feel more comfortable shopping from you knowing that they can return the item should anything go wrong.
When it comes to holidays, those biggest shopping days of the year, make sure you’ve got everything you need to be on board and prepared. One of the easiest ways you can get there is by examining past years’ trends and practices, and then employing them in the coming months. But the best way, hands down, is to keep reading RepricerExpress’s blog to learn the latest tips and news on ecommerce.
