It's that time of year again: the streets are lit up for the holidays, the days are getting shorter, and mulled wine is flowing as the cold weather sets in. All of this adds up to one thing: people will look for ways to buy gifts without leaving their warm homes. This is where your online store comes in!
We've come up with 4 ways to help you boost sales in your online eCommerce store during the Christmas holiday season.
Using specialised gift collections in your navigation is a great way to show off your Christmas items to visitors.
You can sort these collections by gender (like Gifts for Men or Gifts for Women), age (like Toddlers, Teens, and Adults), or type (such as Gifts for Home, Gifts for the Tech and Gifts for the Foodie). Including quirky options like a custom ugly Christmas sweater, novelty mugs, or personalised ornaments can also add a playful and memorable touch to your offerings.
By doing this, visitors who aren't sure what to buy will find it easier to find things in your eCommerce store, which will help them decide faster. This takes away any doubts that visitors might have because they now see clean, simple, and easy-to-navigate collections that are grouped together. This helps increase conversions.
In these gift sections, pointing out which of your products are the most popular with other customers will also help increase the conversion rate. Product badges can show these suggestions in the same way that "on sale" icons do.
Your sale prices need to not only be tempting but also feel like a holiday treat that is only available for a short time. You could increase sales by making it clear to your customers that the deals you're offering are part of a "Christmas Sale" that will end soon.
Adding a timer to your store to show how long is left in the sale gives your visitors a sense of urgency because they feel like they are racing against the clock to decide whether to buy or miss out. This fear of missing out (FOMO) can make people decide much faster to buy from your store, which can help you make more money at Christmas.
Depending on the integrations your store has, this timer can be shown on a message bar across the whole site or only on certain product pages. If you use Shopify, you might want to check out the Countdown Cart app here.
When people order Christmas gifts online, one thing they want is for their gifts to arrive before Christmas. Offer a delivery option that guarantees the order will arrive on time and will be a priority during the holiday. This makes people feel like they're getting a holiday bonus and shows that you know how important it is for them to get their items as soon as possible. It also takes away the customer's worry that they won't get their items on time, which is especially true if it's their first time buying from your online store. You should also think about making sure you have shipping insurance so you are able to account for lost parcels that don’t arrive to your customers. Choose DHL insurance to help with this.
Now, this may seem like the most obvious of our suggestions, but we can assure you that there are still a lot of stores that don't have good sales around holidays or themes. Themed sales are a great way to get people to shop because they make people feel like they don't have much time to look around and buy things.
But a Christmas sale doesn't always have to mean discounts. Think about whether you can get people to buy your product by giving them something for free with every purchase or by getting them to spend a certain amount.