Our 37 Tips for Christmas E-Commerce Success
Follow these 37 tips to effortlessly prepare your online store for the year-end holiday season. Promotional SEO, design, and navigation offers: this list covers everything you need to know to succeed during the most important time of the year!
Nearly 8 out of 10 online shoppers say they have surfed the web to plan or purchase their year-end gifts (78%) and 2 out of 3 say they have purchased at least one gift online (66%).
Here are 37 tips to help you take advantage of the action and boost your sales with modules to help you implement each action.
store Stock
1. Analyze what you have available: Based on your statistics for this year and last year during the same period, come up with a realistic estimate of the number of items you will need in the coming weeks.
2. Update your stock alert: Anticipate potential stock shortages! By increasing the minimum stock level that will set off your alert, you’ll be able to process your orders without stock shortages and without stress.
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3. Hide products that are out-of-stock: Deactivate the product display for out-of-stock items. You’ll avoid disappointing your customers and wasting their time. Instead, they’ll be able to concentrate solely on available items.
4. Indicate how much stock you have available: Post how much stock you have available on your product records to encourage customers to finalize their purchases.
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local_shipping Deliveries
5. Anticipate: Ask each of your carriers to provide you with the shipping deadline (date and time) for guaranteed delivery of your customers’ orders before Christmas. Do not assume that all of your carriers have the same deadline (this is not the case).
6. Post order deadlines: Indicate estimated delivery dates and, in particular, the order deadline to receive gifts in time - on your site’s home page.
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7. Offer several delivery options: Offer in-store pickup, collection point pickup, and home delivery to satisfy all of your customers - those who are well-organized and those who are in a hurry.
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8. Offer free returns: Offering unconditional free returns is a strong incentive to help convince those who are still hesitating to take the leap and order from your site.
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9. Don’t forget the wrapping paper: Offer gift wrap (free of charge or at a low price) to save your customers time. Don't forget to stock up on wrapping paper and scotch tape!
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brush Design
10. Embellish your online store: Create a universe adapted to the year-end holidays! Attract customers by adding Christmas spirit without changing the design of your store.
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11. Optimize your home page: Change your banners and slideshow to guide your visitors to your special promotions, gift ideas, and best sellers
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12. Reassure your visitors so that they become customers: Encourage purchases by adding reassurance blocks (delivery dates, secure payment, free returns, etc.) to various parts of your site.
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insert_chart Traffic
13. Create an SEO strategy: Stay ahead of your competitors by adapting your SEO to the holidays, emphasizing key words and content dedicated to Christmas (gift selection, gift cards, etc.).
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14. Place your products on price-comparison sites: Synchronizing your catalog with price-comparison sites can increase your sales revenue by up to 30% and gives you much greater visibility!
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15. Opt for a marketplace: Do you want to boost your Christmas sales but have a store that is not well-known? Consider online marketplaces. Each month, there are 16 million unique visitors on Amazon, 9.8 million on Cdiscount and 8.6 million on eBay. Take advantage of them to move your stock!
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person Customer Service
16. Be available: Extend users’ experience of your website through customer service. Ensure that all of your team members respond quickly and warmly by phone or by email, and why not have them wish your customers a “Merry Christmas?”
17. Test out live chat: Test out the live chat feature to communicate with visitors to your store – 68% of Internet users engage in instant message conversations and nearly one out of two finalize a purchase. Don't lose a sale!
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18. Avoid lawsuits: Protect yourself from disputes with your customers by making sure that your website complies with your country’s laws.
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attach_money Sales Drives
26. Plan your sales promotions strategically: Download PrestaShop’s e-commerce calendar so that you’re ready for the most important time of the year.
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27. Create an Advent calendar: By offering a promotion each day (one product on Mondays, another product on Tuesdays, free shipping on Wednesdays, etc.) and sharing them on social media and your site via a pop-up, you’ll incite your customers to visit regularly.
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28. Create a treasure hunt: Try implementing a commercial transaction in which you hide an image (e.g. your logo or your mascot, if you have one) on one of your website pages. Offer a gift to those people who first find this image. The goal is to incite your visitors to browse your entire site so that they are exposed to a greater number of your products.
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29. Reward your customer’s loyalty: Promote your loyalty program on your home page to remind your customers that the more they buy, the more points and vouchers they’ll receive.
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30. Prepare for each commercial transaction: Take advantage of the opportunity to promote other special events by offering special deals valid on Cyber Monday, Black Friday, etc.
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email Email
31. Start sending discount vouchers after purchases now: By thanking your existing customers for their order and automatically sending them an email containing a purchase voucher (for the offering and duration of your choice), you’ll ensure sales over the Christmas season.
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32. Expand your contact list: Highlight your newsletter to increase subscriptions. Remember, it is less expensive to retain existing customers than to acquire new ones.
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33. Entice your customers: Starting in the beginning of November, send a newsletter to customers in your database, highlighting the section “Special Gifts for Christmas.” Consider categorizing your selection by age, sex, interests, etc.
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34. Send automatic reminders: In 2016, 68% of online shopping carts were abandoned. If you haven't done so already, activate the abandoned cart reminder and personalize the purchase total and content of the email sent to users who haven't yet finalized their order.
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card_giftcard Gift Cards
Practical and simple, gift cards are one of the most popular gifts, with sales up by 20%!
35. Display them prominently: Showcase your gift cards clearly and visibly on your website’s homepage and present them in all your gift idea selections.
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36. Increase average shopping orders: offer your customers the option of adding gift wrap, a personalized message, or mail delivery so that they can slide the card under the tree on Christmas Day.
37. Present terms of use clearly: If you're selling gift cards that have an expiration date, clearly post the validity period.
Come discover more features in our special Christmas selection.
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We wish you all a successful retail season and a Merry Christmas!
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