Jingle Bells, Jingle Bells: 9 ways to prepare for the 2022 shopping season
Summer is over, and the winter holiday shopping season is on its way. Some of the big brick-and-mortar stores already have Christmas decorations up, so it’s not too soon to begin preparing your ecommerce business.
Whether you have an online store on your own website, sell products through your blog, or run a storefront on a marketplace like Amazon, you have big hopes for the next few months. This is the time when consumers are ready to buy, and online sellers are ready to hit their sales goals for the year.
There’s a lot of opportunity to grow your revenue and increase your profits — but success depends on the preparation and hard work you put in now. To help you meet your goals, we’ve gathered 9 tips to guide you as you get your business ready for significant growth over the 2022 winter holiday shopping season.
1. Order early
The best time to order stock is now. Although no one is predicting another supply chain crisis, last year taught us to expect the unexpected. If you place orders early for winter holiday items, you won’t worry that your shipment will be delayed and arrive too late, and you’ll usually get better prices from suppliers.
If you don’t have the cash flow to order now, try Payoneer’s Working Capital program. Often, ecommerce sellers can’t place their orders until they have the income, so they can’t take advantage of early shoppers and supplier discounts to grow their business. With Payoneer Working Capital, Amazon and Walmart sellers can get the funds they need to buy more stock now, even if they have poor credit, without a long loan application.
2. Plan your business strategy
To make the most of the holiday shopping season, you need to approach it strategically. Gather business data like sales reports from the last 12 months, last year’s holiday shopping season sales, expense reports, etc.
Forecast your likely demand and costs for the next few months to work out details like pricing, set yourself business goals, and choose which metrics you’ll measure to define success.
3. Decide on your discounts
Setting business strategy includes planning how and when to offer discounts and run flash sales. Discounts are a big part of the shopping season, but if you don’t plan ahead you could find yourself losing money.
Some questions to ask include:
- Will you offer a 25% discount, or free shipping?
- Will you send an exclusive offer to email subscribers, or cut prices for everyone?
- Will you run a flash sale before the Black Friday offers, or wait till Cyber Monday?
When you think about these issues now, you’ll be able to offer discounts at the best time, instead of panic-discounting when you see your competitors’ campaigns.
4. Prepare marketing content
Take advantage of the quiet time to plan and write marketing content, including social media posts and any blog posts. Use a social media tool like Hootsuite or Buffer to schedule when each post should be published on each channel. That way, you won’t need to remember to post about your one-day sale 2 days before Thanksgiving, when you’re very busy.
5. Polish up your product descriptions
Set some time aside to write product descriptions too. Customers are looking for well written, clear product descriptions that answer all their questions, so detailed content can help you sell more goods.
Pay attention to SEO, especially on marketplaces like Amazon where SEO makes a difference to where you appear in the search results rankings.
6. Check in with your customers
When people decide to shop at your store instead of your competition, it’s not just because of your prices or shipping times. It’s because they feel a relationship with you. Strengthen that relationship by sending a personalized email or text message that isn’t selling anything. Just say hi, ask how their year has been, and share a little about your year. The personal touch can make a difference.
7. Review the purchase journey
Double check that everything is working properly on your online store. It’s a good idea to ask a friend or family member to visit your site and make a purchase, so they can tell you if there are any broken links, confusing instructions, or unnecessary forms that make them want to give up.
That way you can fix it before the shopping season gets going, and feel confident that the purchase journey is smooth and easy.
8. Decorate your online store
Brick and mortar stores set up enticing window displays and in-store decorations to get their shoppers into the winter spirit, and you can (and should) follow their lead. If you run your own online store, there are plenty of seasonal themes and templates you can use that help you keep up your branding but add some seasonal details to each page.
When you show that you’re excited for the holidays, it’ll rub off on your customers and encourage them to buy.
9. Set up marketing automation
It’s common for people to visit your store, fill their virtual cart, and then pause while they think about what they’re buying or wonder whether to add another item. This is when cart abandonment can happen, but you can help prevent it.
Use an email marketing automation tool like MailChimp or ConstantContact to set up a campaign which automatically sends visitors an email or text message reminder that they left items in their cart, and encourages them to finish the purchase.
Payoneer can help you prepare for a successful winter holiday shopping season
With careful planning, including strategic discounting, timely marketing, and effective business processes, you can grow your ecommerce business over the winter holiday shopping season. Payoneer is here with working capital support, easy international payments, and useful business tools to help you make 2022 a record sales year.