The holiday season is almost here! That means now is the perfect time to start planning and launching your holiday marketing campaigns for your ecommerce store.
The peak holiday season, including Christmas, Boxing Day, and New Year’s, is your chance to drive serious sales for your ecommerce business and finish the year on a high.
But it also means fiercer competition, making it more challenging for your business to stand out. That’s why you need to run strategic, well-executed and creative sales campaigns to cut through the noise and make the most of the festive season.
In this article, we’re sharing 5 of our top ecommerce sales boosters for holiday success.
1. Offer Early Access Deals
One way to cut through the noise and secure sales for your brand is to run an early access campaign for Christmas, Boxing Day, or New Year’s. Early access campaigns are all about exclusivity. Through offering a sneak peek or special deal to your loyal customers ahead of the event, you create a buzz and a sense of loyalty. Think of it like rolling out the red carpet for your special guests.
Early access deals offer you many benefits, including:
- Builds hype & anticipation
- Creates loyalty
- Gives you a competitive edge
- Improves conversion rates
- Improves inventory management
- Tests your marketing strategies
- Reduces your server load on the day
2. Run a Flash Sale
Running a flash sale will help you create a sense of urgency and drive sales. This is a powerful strategy that can turn casual and indecisive browsers into instant buyers. Flash sales help you to build excitement and hype around your brand and attract new customers.
For example, you can offer exclusive hourly deals on important days like Christmas Eve or Boxing Day to entice customers to make a purchase. Another option is to offer limited-time deals on specific products or collections. In the lead up to Christmas, you could run a 12 Days of Gifts Flash Sale, with different deals on offer each day.
3. Offer Free Shipping for a Limited Time
Offering free shipping for a limited time like 24 hours only or only on selected products is another way to stand out from competitors and entice customers to buy from your store. Free shipping also encourages customers to add more items to their cart to qualify for free shipping. It helps to reduce customer friction about paying for shipping, and encourage them to buy more. This helps to drive your sales and revenue.
4. Run a Boxing Day Sale
Coming just after Christmas, Boxing Day is an important event for your ecommerce store to drive extra sales and finish the year strongly. In Australia, Boxing Day is typically a day of relaxing, eating leftovers, watching cricket, and indulging in online shopping. This slow, leisurely day is the perfect time for you to entice your customers into making a purchase.
Here are our top tips for running a successful ecommerce Boxing Day sale:
- Grab attention with visuals
- Keep messaging short and sweet
- Leverage FOMO tactics
- Offer ‘me time’ deals
- Countdown to the new year
5. Start the New Year with a Summer Sale
Kick off the new year with a summer sale, starting on the 1st of January. This is a good opportunity to start the new year strong and generate extra sales for your brand. Most of your customers will still be on holidays, and so have more time for leisurely viewing your ecommerce store, and can be tempted to make a purchase. They also may have received gift cards for Christmas that they’re looking to spend.
Another option is to run an Australia Day sale on January 26. This way, you can still tap into summer and holiday vibes, but give your customers a break straight after Christmas. If your brand sells outdoors, barbeque, camping, beach, sports, stationary or school products, then leveraging the summer holidays can be a great way to drive sales and increase revenue in the new year.
Summing Up
The holiday season is a hugely competitive yet rewarding time for ecommerce businesses. Through running strategic campaigns like early access, flash sales, limited free shipping, Boxing Day and summer sales, you can drive sales and stand out from the crowd.
