Post-Christmas retail is normally a quiet time, but it doesn’t have to be. For many eCommerce merchants, the last few months have been a bit of a blur. Over the Christmas period, you’ve most likely spent a lot of time and energy acquiring new customers and converting returning ones.
While January may be a slow time in retail, research states that 68% of holiday shoppers plan to continue browsing and buying after Christmas! This means there’s an opportunity to overcome the post-Christmas sales slump.
Here are our top tips on how to generate sales post-Christmas!
Retarget customers acquired during the Christmas period
Over the last couple of months, you’ve worked hard to attract potential buyers to your site. You’ve probably encouraged some of them to convert, too. It can be discouraging to learn that many shoppers acquired during the Christmas season have an overall lower lifetime value, with some of them never buying from you again.
Did you know it’s five times easier to convert a returning customer than a first-time buyer? So it is in your best interest to market to this crowd.
Here are some great ways to incentivise them to purchase again
- Introduce Loyalty programmes: Invite these customers into a loyalty program, and in turn, reward them with extra perks with their next purchase.
- Relevant emails: During the Christmas period you should have collected a number of new email addresses. Why not send your email list some extra high-quality content during the slow period, you can also share recent customer reviews to keep up engagement.
- Social Ads: Retarget Christmas shoppers and share user-generated content within your ad set to remind these customers of their experience with your brand.
Use a clearance sale to your advantage
It is more than likely you’ve ended up with excess stock after the Christmas period. An easy way to take advantage of this extra stock and drive traffic to your site is by running a January clearance sale. Post-Christmas, generally people received gift cards and cash to spend. Running a January sale is a fantastic way to keep your sales momentum going strong!
Use seasonality as a sales tool
In particular, winter provides huge opportunities to boost your seasonal sales. Items such as warm clothing and skincare products are in high demand at the minute. You can use this to your advantage! Alternatively why not market products ideal for the New Year. Certain products such as kids toys or electronics might not be high on the list for some consumers, but items that enhance their New Year’s goals are. If you have products that are focused on fitness or specifically boost productivity, now is the ideal time to pull attention to them.
Leverage email automation
One of the perks of the Christmas period is the growth of your email list. Alongside an increase in sales, you’ve hopefully noticed a nice surge in your subscriber amount. You should welcome these new email subscribers in style. Try sending them friendly and educational emails. Show them why they should buy from you and your brand. Be consistent but not too persistent and you can gradually move these visitors down the sales funnel and convince them to buy from you.
Create a frictionless shopping experience
One of the most important things when running an eCommerce business is making sure the shopping experience runs smoothly. One thing that makes customers not want to return to a brand, it’s a poor shopping experience. Difficulty navigating your site can lead to feelings of frustration which reflect negatively on your brand and products.
Here are some easy ways to help improve this:
- Monitoring page speed
- Improving customer support
- Boosting accessibility
- Make sure your website looks great and represents your brand well
Any questions? Feel free to email us directly and we’d be happy to help. If you’d like to learn more about our E-Commerce Web Design & Development services, you can take a look here.
