The conscientious eSeller is aware that there is always an opportunity to increase sales; you just need to find it. With the back-to-school rush accounted for and Halloween preparations already set in motion, smart sellers will look towards additional venues for bringing in a greater profit. While many of the same principles apply, merchants need to know how to look for the niche audiences who are spending right now to maximize their customer reach and overall profits for this season.
Here are a few ways eSellers can jump on the holiday bandwagon for this festive time of year.
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With all the emphasis on Halloween and Black Friday, most eSellers will overlook several other holidays that they can take advantage of this fall. Some of the opportunities waiting to be uncovered are:
The first day of the Jewish calendar, Rosh Hashanah is a festive time where Jews around the world will be celebrating the New Year. Themes sellers should focus on include apples and honey (a sweet treat eaten before the big meal to invoke a sweet year), pomegranates (a symbol for prosperity and growth), festive clothing, greeting cards, reading glasses (the Rosh Hashanah prayer book is long), and items that relate to the idea of new beginnings.
Diwali is one of the major Hindu holidays and is known as the festival of lights. Hindus decorate their homes with lights, candles, and prayer mats. Retailers can stock up on these items, as well as sweet treats, fireworks, decks of cards, elephants, and other home decor for this holiday. Whether you’re selling on local Indian marketplaces or big international ones, this is a big shopping holiday across multiple channels and product categories.
Known as the harvest festival, this festival is celebrated by Chinese and Vietnamese cultures. This is a family-oriented holiday, where small gifts are often exchanged among loved ones. Shoppers will be looking for paper lanterns, incense, dragons, flowers (fresh and synthetic), and authentic Chinese warrior paraphernalia. For marketing to Chinese consumers, check out this helpful eCommerce marketing timeline.
Also known as All Soul’s Day, Día de Muertos is a Mexican holiday celebrated locally and by Mexicans worldwide. The Day of the Dead is a celebration of life that falls right after Halloween. Celebrants adorn tables with flowers, candles, skull-shaped ornaments and cookies, sweet treats, and delicious food. They’ll also be looking for updated music devices (MP3 players, speakers), stationary for writing letters to their deceased loved ones, and arts and crafts supplies.
Of course, regardless of which holiday or culture you are catering to, you can use some basic holiday retail selling prowess to maximize traffic and sales. Follow these guidelines for a smashing holiday season:
While there’s no avoiding the last-minute shoppers, eSellers can minimize this stressful situation by offering their customers incentives for shopping early. Run early-bird specials to get people shopping before the crunch time.
Everyone loves seeing Buy-One-Get-One (BOGO) sales, so utilize this tactic at a time when people are spending money anyways.
You can’t anticipate every sale you are going to make during the holiday seasons, but you can prepare yourself for the rush. Base your product choices on previous years’ sales records to see which items you should select. Then pre-package these goods so you can ship faster and more conveniently.
Holiday marketing is one of the smartest ways to bring in business. Most retailers have something to offer seasonal shoppers, even if it’s as abstract as “Your loved one deserves a new X during this Y holiday season!”
Attract holiday shoppers by personalizing your marketing campaigns including your website ads, banners, pop-ups, product descriptions, titles, and email campaign messages. Fill your site with video or pictorial demonstrations about how your products can be used specifically during their holiday season. You can even change the color scheme of your homepage to match the seasonal vibe.
One of the most important things to remember during the holiday seasons is to keep your workers happy. Happy workers will output better, faster, and more productive work, so remember employees during this stressful and rushed time. Give holiday bonuses or incentives to get workers into the right mood and reward positive output.
And no matter which crowd you are catering to, the holiday season always brings on an air of giving. So stock up on gift items and project these in your marketing efforts.
One last tip before you go off to arrange your winning fall campaign. While it’s important to look for and cater to niche audiences as much as possible to expand your customer base, eSellers should not overextend their reach. Trying to cater to too many audiences can spread your efforts, staff, and budget too thin, and make all your efforts less potent than they could be. Analyze your audience and products to see which niches are a good fit and which opportunities should be left for other, more suitable industries.
Holiday season shopping is a gold mine for the savvy eSeller. Use these tips to keep your fall season as profitable as ever.
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