Post pandemic and Australians are now in the habit of shopping online – including for the all important Christmas sales. Is your online shop ready for this Festive Season?
Statistics
In 2019 Australian consumers had the lowest online shopping rates globally with just 24% of their shopping through eCommerce. By 2021 that number had almost doubled to 42%. Accoording to bit.com* most of the growth happened in 2020 during Covid’s first Christmas – but the trend continues to go up.
According to the Trade Desk*, one in three Australians now make a purchase online every week. The same report reveals that 32% of Aussies admitted to making more impulse purchases during Christmas sales and promotions.
Christmas Buying Habits
Many shoppers will make their purchase online. Even if they don’t make the purchase online, they will be researching their Christmas gift purchases online. They are very likely to:
- Compare prices
- Save coupons and digital deals
- Read reviews
- Create shopping lists
- Browse
Online shoppers are often very targeted in their approach, they’re usually searching for a particular item and could be searching by specific brand and model name.
Working on your Search Engine Optimisation for your online shop is an activity you can be doing all year round to ensure you get seen on Google for these specific brand searches.
Local shops need to get themselves in front of the shopper. A Christmas marketing strategy will help with this. Here’s a few tips to consider for your Christmas marketing plan.
Create an Offer
Can you create an offer that is attractive to Christmas shoppers? Things to consider;
- Free shipping
- Special discounts
- Gift vouchers
- VIP sales night
- Christmas drinks
- Secret Santa or Kris Kringle specials
- Gift Pairs
- Gift Packs
It’s a little harder for services to tap into the holiday buzz, but here’s some ideas:
- Christmas Day hair styling tips (hairdressers)
- Fix my door voucher (carpenter)
- Our best Christmas recipes (cafes)
- Decorate your home for Christmas kit (interior decorators)
- Car travel tips (car mechanic)
Think about what’s trending
Theming your offer can create a buzz about your business and products. It can also help online browsers find you as trends influence online searches. Think about what TV shows, movies, toys, fashion, sports and entertainment has happened this year. This might inspire your creativity and help you come up with keywords and keyphrases.
Update Website and Social Media
If you have successfully created an offer, ensure all your channels are updated with a call to action button, banner image, sign up form or splash page to get the message out.
Website
- Add keywords for the new offer into the text
- Think about Christmas specific keyphrases (eg. kris kringle)
- Update front page banner, or button, or both
- Set up promotional codes or offers
- Test your online gift voucher
Facebook, Instagram and other social media
- Update Banners and profile pictures
- Create plenty of different tiles for use throughout the period
Images
Images are a very important part of promoting your offer. Fresh and updated photos reflecting the season will freshen your look and let people know you are open for business. You’ll need them for banner images, Facebook posts, e-newsletters, Instagram content and profile photos.
You can have some fun with your profile image by adding a Santa hat to it, similarly with product shots. A photo of the office with Christmas decorations will add festivity to your social media presence.
As well as helping with point of sale promotional material, suppliers can help with images for websites, social media and other online channels.
Resize images to suit the various places they will appear in.
Be informative
Sales and offers are important, but not the only reason to communicate with your customers over Christmas. It’s also a time to inform your customers of what you’ll be doing and when you’ll be open. At a minimum make sure your trading hours and store locations are easy to find for people browsing on both mobile and desktop. Consider posting:
- Office closures
- Extended open hours
- Deadline for online orders
- Dates for customised orders
Be sure to update all channels with your open and close hours including your socials, website and Google Business Profile.
Have a Calendar
Create a Christmas marketing schedule and include each element of your campaign. For example;
- date by which all Christmas stock is to be online
- schedule for Facebook and Instagram posts
- weekly or fortnightly e-newsletter send dates
Take into account products that are more popular in the early weeks of the Christmas period, last minute shoppers and your own experience and knowledge.
You may need to continue the calendar into the New Year to take into account post-Christmas sales and open hours.
Promote
If you haven’t already, now is a great time to be initiating a newsletter. Newsletters are one of the cheapest and most effective ways small businesses can reach their customers. Most people prefer to shop locally, but if your business isn’t top of mind they may bypass you. Newsletters are a great way to stay top of mind.
Consider targeted Facebook or Google advertising to increase your reach to new customers. You don’t have to be a big retail chain to take advantage of the many cost effective online tools that can find new leads for your business. In fact, being a smaller player can sometimes be an advantage.
Good luck with your Christmas marketing plan.
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