The holidays are upon us. Only a few more weeks until the almighty Black Friday and Cyber Monday craze gives us a great opportunity to finish with a strong close to the year, sales wise. You may already be done planning Prime Day, which this year is on OCT 13 through 14th and now, it’s time. It’s not a week from now, not 1 month from now, its NOW.
Let’s look at how e-commerce has trended in the last few years, from 2015-2019, from eMarketer.
Planning ahead is really the best strategy to give you a good chance at making the most of a great holiday season sale. This year won’t be like any other. Given what we have seen from the COVID e-comm lift, this may be and I think WILL BE a holiday season unlike any of us have previously experienced. Bye Bye mall, hello digital.
SIDE NOTE: Inventory planning is every bit as important as your marketing planning. Have constant communication with production and operations for the holiday season.
Every year, Shopify release a checklist for the holiday sales and I think anyone running an e-commerce business, marketing teams, designers, and everyone should take a look and go over it with your respective teams.
Important highlights to take note that they highlight which I think are relevant.
>> 34% of U.S. shoppers indicated they would make their holiday purchases before Thanksgiving.
>> Shopify research shows 38% of business owners are introducing new products this BFCM.
>> Promotional messages flood everyone’s inbox during BFCM. With all of this noise, finding ways to stand out is crucial.
>> 82% of Shopify merchants are planning to market their BFCM promotion through Facebook and Instagram this year.
>> Customers who chat with a brand convert three times more often and have a 10%-15% higher average cart value.
>> In 2019, 69% of sales on Shopify were made on phones or tablets, while just 31% occurred on desktops.
>> Knowledge is power and understanding how your customers shop in your online store is crucial knowledge.
In the coming weeks, we’ll analyze some of the key points on their own as theres quite some digging to do here.
Knowing this, it’s time to start taking action. Go to the Black Friday / Cyber Monday E-Commerce checklist now.
