Black Friday and Cyber Monday are just ahead, which means the biggest shopping time of the year is right around the corner.
Cyber Monday has become the biggest day of the year for online sales; while it was once restricted to the realm of software, electronics and tech, it has become an international online shopping event for businesses in every industry including clothes, jewellery, cosmetics, shoes, toys, and many others. And with the year that 2020 has been, even the hospitality sector is getting in on the action.
While Black Friday was traditionally held in the realm of in-store sales, this year most retailers will be selling online, and Cyber Week sales are expected to be bigger than ever. According to an October survey by PWC, with most physical stores closed, consumers in the UK expect to do 88% of their Black Friday shopping online this year, up from 77% in 2019.
On average, Irish consumers are expected to spend approximately €250 each, and UK consumers are expected to spend €260. With Irish consumers spending around €250 million on Black Friday and Cyber Monday last year, this year’s cyber weekend is expected to set new records.
In this article, we’ll outline some great strategies online retailers can use to stand out on the biggest shopping weekend of the year, maximise online sales and keep the orders rolling in.
Maximise Cyber Monday Sales with Exclusive Discounts
During the holiday season, especially on Cyber Monday, people expect that there will be a deal waiting for them when they open any online shop.
Black Friday and Cyber Monday are the biggest shopping days of the year because they offer a once-a-year chance to save, so don’t skimp on your discounts. Put this trick at the top of your checklist because this will have a tremendous impact on your sales.
Your discounts must be compelling to earn more sales. Offering 10% off during Cyber Monday isn’t likely to do the trick because it’s not enough to grab the attention of the shoppers with many brands offering 40 and 50% or even more. So try to aim a little higher if you can manage it.
Promote Your Business Through Social Media Platforms
69% of the people find stories on Facebook and Instagram to be a source to discover new products and services so make sure to leverage your social media accounts to maximise your Cyber Monday sales.
Billions of people are on Instagram, Facebook and Twitter on a daily basis. It’s a part of our daily routine, and your customers are checking their accounts many times a day. Your social media platforms are golden marketing channels, so advertise your Cyber Monday deals on them and generate excitement and buzz beforehand with teasers and to prime customers by showing them what products they can get at discounted prices.
Leverage Email Marketing
Getting visitors to your online store is the key strategy to maximise Cyber Monday Sale and using email campaigns to drive traffic to your site is a must. According to TechCrunch, email marketing drives approx. 20% of online holiday traffic, and Wordstream reports that buyers are likely to spend 138% more than those that don’t receive email offers.
So when Cyber Monday hits, use email marketing to drive immediate results, send emails and newsletters to all of your existing customers and make sure they know about upcoming deals for Cyber Monday, then let them know the moment they launch.
Send an email to your targeted audience days before Cyber Monday, and follow this up with a second email on the morning of Cyber Monday.
If you have visitors who have clicked on a previous promotion but didn’t purchase, make sure to follow up with a second email to them. These people are more likely to buy than those who didn’t engage at all. So it pays to know about your target audience and have them segmented in time for your promotions.
Another tip for capitalising on Cyber Monday sales is to use your order confirmation emails to get even more sales. These transactional emails have some of the highest open rates of any emails that are sent, so if you are offering 20% off a product, when they purchase one, offer them an additional 10% off a second one, or an additional code that applies site-wide. This rewards their commitment to buy and can dramatically increase your customer value.
Get Your Site Ready for Cyber Monday
There will be a digital rush to your website on Cyber Monday, so make your online store better able to handle huge traffic. Make sure that your website is fully responsive, mobile-compatible, and running properly without errors and bugs.
Test your website, increase the speed, and make it able to handle many requests without any lag. Improve your website’s navigation so that your customers will get an instant and accurate search result.
Offer Shipping Deals
Keep in mind that holiday shoppers expect free shipping deals. Customers will not spend more at your store if they have to pay an inflated shipping fee. Free shipping encourages customers to spend more at your store, and you will get positive feedback and increased sales.
Offering next day delivery or even fast delivery will also improve your conversion rate, so make sure to talk to your warehousing staff and courier to get your delivery rates up (or your 3PL partner if you outsource your fulfilment!).
Maximise Average Order Value
Offering great deals and free or fast delivery will improve your conversion rate and turn more of your visitors into customers. But there are also things you can do to increase the amount that these conversions are worth.
Create product bundles, so users buy multiple products together to get really great discounts. Offering extras like gift-wrapping can add high-margin value to your orders. You can also add additional discounts over certain spend amounts and tailor discounts for the purchase of two or more products from the same category.
All of these techniques will help increase the overall value of each order coming through your site, as well as improving your conversion rate.
Get Your Order Fulfilment Ready
Order fulfilment includes everything from receiving a new order to getting that order into the customer’s hand from picking and packing to delivery and returns. Cyber Monday and Cyber Week in general are going to push your internal processes to their limit, and they need to be firing 100% because they also have a big impact on the success of your Cyber Monday.
Cheap of free delivery, fast delivery, good stock maintenance, free returns, good consumer support all play vital roles in a successful Cyber Monday sale. Online consumers have very high expectations of their retailers and if they are not met they will shop elsewhere.
And nothing slashes an online retailer’s Cyber Monday success like a huge return and cancellation rate after the fact, so speed and accuracy are of utmost importance. Not to mention great stock management to make sure that you can capitalise on the most successful sales.
Having a smooth order fulfilment process start to finish will help to make sure your business capitalises on Cyber Monday sales but will also help your business grow into the future. Cyber Monday is an excellent opportunity to get new customers ‘in the door’ and into your email marketing lists which makes them much more likely to come back again in future.
So, getting your fulfilment right is an absolute must as well.
In Summary
These should help you to maximise your Cyber Monday sales. There’s a lot to consider, from your website and online marketing to your internal fulfilment processes. So, put a clear plan in place, delegate the preparation and management of the two key areas – online and internal – to capable team members and make sure that your business is ready to take advantage of the biggest sales period of the year.
If you need assistance with your order fulfilment, our team is standing by to help. So give us a call on +353 1 902 9510 or email us at enquires@parcelplanet.com, and we’ll be in touch right away.
