Have you noticed it too? It seems the e-commerce seasonality landscape has permanently changed. Previously there were a few primary annual, sometimes quarterly, sale events, such as post-Holiday January sales, summer season, Black Friday. Due to social media, it now feels like there are special discounts and online sales going on all the time – everything from International Popcorn Day to World Emoji Day.
Last year’s exceptional situation has also significantly altered the e-commerce world by increasing consumers’ demand for 24/7 online service. In a study on the future of commerce, Shopify reported that: “Brands must adapt or risk becoming irrelevant. Never has the consumer expected more of businesses. Not only do shoppers want to buy online, but they also expect it to be fast and convenient.”The report added that these shifts are sticky with 75% of the consumers saying they tried different online brands during the pandemic, 60% expecting to integrate the new brands and stores into their post-COVID lives. Mobile payments, video calling, and video conferencing, which all took hold during stay-at-home orders, are expected to persist, making competition for online retail sales increasingly fierce.
As the competitive fall holiday season approaches, e-commerce businesses need to plan ahead and develop a strong campaign calendar.
This by far is the most important tip of all. If you cannot accurately identify your target audience, you can’t know how best to market to them and you run the risk of missing the mark completely. Knowing your audience means identifying the following:
Knowing your audience also leads to providing a better customer experience through personalization. With consumers growing increasingly savvier, generic messages are not as effective as those that speak to them on a personal level. And studies have shown that 80% of consumers are more likely to purchase from a brand that provides personalized experiences, while 66% of consumers expect brands to understand their individual needs.
The worst thing you can do as a business is over-promise and under-deliver. Although it may be tempting to make bold claims and promises, the short-term success you might get will not outweigh the long-term effect of a negative reputation for being a company that does not deliver on its promises.
While having your products sell out is a good problem to have, it can become a downside if your company is not equipped to restock sold out- products quickly. A third-party agent can handle the packaging and shipping of your goods to help simplify the supply chain process and improve overall service. At OGOship, we help our e-commerce customers ship their products quickly and cost-effectively.
Essential to the success of any campaign is a plan that includes the overall goal and objectives of the campaign, target, overall budget, a content calendar of events, strategies and tactics, and KPIs.
As noted above, it is essential to establish the key performance indicators of your campaign. And specifically how you will measure and analyze the results. For e-commerce businesses, the common KPIs include conversion rate, cost of customer acquisition, shopping cart abandonment rate, average order value, and more.
When developing a campaign plan, a content calendar is an essential element. It establishes the key events to center your online promotions around, which helps businesses plan better ahead. The following are a few calendar events to play around with, or even worth centering your online retail campaign around.
August
September
October
November
December
Once you have established the specific holidays and observances you will leverage for your online retail campaign, and have a solid plan in hand, the next step is to work out the details of your campaign. Here are some additional aspects you might want to consider.
The fall season is one of the most lucrative for the retail industry, which as a result, also makes it the most competitive. To stand out in a sea of competitors, it’s important to plan ahead and develop a solid campaign that targets the right audience and takes advantage of the best opportunities.