Everywhere you look, it’s easy to see: Holiday shopping is in full swing. After last year’s record-breaking holiday sales totaling over $700 billion, and forecasts of increased spending this year, the pressure for online retailers is on.
But if you’re a smaller business, competing for shoppers’ attention (and dollars) with the likes of Amazon and Walmart — all using sizable advertising budgets to continuously roll out not-to-be-missed deals for Black Friday and beyond — how can you stand out?
I’ve worked with hundreds of retailers to build and optimize their online return strategies. Here are a few strategies I’ve seen help these brands stand out among the crowd, sell more and keep customers coming back.
Tell your brand story.
While you may not be able to match price discounts of the e-commerce juggernauts to attract shoppers, you can control the narrative and how your brand is presented.
A strong brand story is one of the most powerful competitive weapons you have. It differentiates you, your products and your mission from the rest of the world. So, whether in email, on your website, or in social media, tell your story authentically and proudly.
For example, allow shoppers to follow your journey as a founder and how your mission influences everything from your company culture to your product design.
Don’t underestimate the power of scarcity.
Another powerful way to drive sales this holiday season is to leverage the power of scarcity. Shoppers don’t like missing out. Beauty brands like Kylie Cosmetics and Glossier do this well by keeping sold-out products listed on their sites to encourage exclusivity and returning visitors. They also push restock alerts of sold-out products across email and social to promote a fear of missing out.
Consider creating limited-time or invite-only holiday discounts to drive urgency and help convert those on the fence.
Test out free shipping or free shipping minimums.
Amazon turned fast, free shipping into an expectation over ten years ago when it launched its Prime two-day shipping service. And PayPal data reveals that nearly half of online shoppers don't check out if they see high shipping charges. Of course, free shipping does not always make sense for every business.
If free shipping on all orders isn't an option for your business, consider adding free shipping minimums. Consumers may add more items to their cart to meet a free shipping minimum, and the holiday season is the perfect time to test this selling strategy.
Simplify the path to purchase — and think mobile.
While the checkout process is an obvious area to improve in advance of the holiday shopping season, there are a number of ways to help streamline the buyer’s journey that are worth considering.
1. One-click checkout experiences like PayPal, Amazon Pay and Apple Pay make buying easier than ever. Installment payment services like Afterpay and Affirm can help increase your holiday sales and improve margins.
2. Simplified on-site messaging makes it easier for shoppers to browse and buy. Pura Vida Bracelets, for example, stripped down the layout of its website to encourage sales.
3. Make mobile-first shopping a priority. Holiday shoppers will be making online purchases on their phones this year. Keep in mind, a shopping experience optimized for mobile extends beyond checkout to include tracking orders, marketing promotion and returns.
Make gift returns easy.
Offering holiday shoppers a smooth returns experience can be extremely valuable for your business. According to UPS’s annual online shopping report, nearly three in four consumers agree that the returns experience influences whether they would continue shopping with a retailer or not.
To make sure you are best positioned for holiday success, here are a few helpful questions I encourage you to ask yourself:
1. Is my return policy easy to read? Simple, clean, and jargon-free copy can go a long way to earn a shopper’s trust.
2. Is my returns policy easy to find? A hard-to-find returns policy can kill a sale. Promote your policy prominently and often. For example, make it available in your website’s header, FAQ page, product page, shopping cart and email marketing campaigns.
3. How can I make my returns process easier or more appealing than my competitors’? Consider offering automated services that generate labels and offer immediate refunds to simplify the experience even further for your shoppers.
Taking time to create a simple and hassle-free returns experience can not only help capture sales and build brand loyalty; it can also unlock a wealth of shopper data to help reduce future returns, refine supply chain management and improve marketing efforts.
As you can see, there are many ways small and medium brands can rise above the noise without slashing their prices. While promotions can be the mechanism that brings new customers through the door, the considerations above have a big impact on turning a deal-searching shopper into a customer for life.
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December 04, 2019 at 07:00PM
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