Are you up for the e-commerce programs for this upcoming holiday season? Find out how to take advantage of your full potential here.
Congratulations on making the best records with your sales on Black Friday and Cyber Monday deals. The following record-breaking stats and numbers illustrate how busy the online retailers were from November 27-30:
- Amazon posted a 60% increase in its sales on its marketplace.
- Shopify's data shows a 76% increase in their sales on their platforms during the Black Friday to Cyber Monday (BFCM) stretch in 2020 compared to 2019.
- Adobe estimates $9 billion was spent online in the US on Black Friday sales and deals alone.
As retailers, you know from your experience that this BFCM period has now blurred into a long, festive shopping extravaganza. MasterCard has coined the new phrase 'The 75 Days of Christmas' to cover this extended shopping spree on the holiday season that has boosted online spending. Beginning in October on the year's Prime Day, this continues until after Christmas Day.
Moreover, in the broader context of 2020, there were a few winners and losers when it comes to this year's frenzied shopping period. The winners are those who quickly adapted to the Covid-19 economy, considering their shoppers turned to online- both e-commerce and m-commerce for shopping as the brick-and-mortar stores were closed during this unprecedented pandemic situation.
While some of this initial boost is temporary, we are witnessing a more permanent shift in the preference of shoppers across the globe. When the brick-and-mortar stores reopened, they still wanted the convenience and safety of online delivery of the goods and items they required. The two strong indicators of this change are the growth of both the 'Buy Online, Pickup In-Store' (BOPIS)' model and the advent of curbside pickup.
Shopping Online via an E-Commerce Store
Retailers having the agility to offer both these options and the digital know-how to communicate this message through search and social media channels were successful in tapping into new customers' demands. Whereas, losers were those who resisted the move to e-commerce and m-commerce as standard. The most severely impacted retailers were those where the Government announced the strictest restrictions on family gatherings.
According to Adobe, there was higher growth in online shopping in the states with the strictest regulations compared to those with more lenient regulations during Cyber Week.
It is worth noting that just being online in a period of enormous demand is not enough to qualify a retailer as a winner. Those who did not invest enough in their IT infrastructure struggled to process traffic surges, which resulted in missed sales opportunities.
Moving forward, you can learn lessons from the Black Friday data to make the most of Christmas. However, retailers must act now across both the e-commerce and m-commerce space to keep up with the trends and grab the sales opportunities. Also, check out the trends and tips on m-commerce for Christmas 2020.
E-Commerce Versus M-Commerce
- E-Commerce or Electronic Commerce is the online purchase and sale of goods or services.
- M-Commerce or Mobile Commerce is shopping online without a desktop device, often using a smartphone.
Let us now discuss some trends and tips on E-Commerce for Christmas 2020:
Trends and Tips on E-Commerce for Christmas 2020
There has been a significant rise in e-commerce this year, which can be seen from retail statistics from the first period of lockdown. E-commerce websites processed more transactions on average every single day in April 2020 than they did on Black Friday 2019. This is natural- stores closed, and people started shopping online to prevent themselves from getting exposed to the virus.
However, it also means that retailers have had to accustom themselves to the new level of demand that will lead to a particularly busy Christmas. Salesforce predicts about 30% of global holiday sales through online medium this year, while Emarkter puts this figure at 35.8%.
SEO and Content Tips for E-Commerce
1. Optimize the experience of your first-time customer.
Most customers shopping online will be doing so first time this year. It will create a lot of opportunities for one-off sales, but sophisticated retailers will go the extra mile to convert new customers into lifelong fans.
So, create a plan for content marketing and retargeting. It will allow you to follow up with these customers in the future for everything from cart abandonment to loyalty offers. As per the research at BrightEdge, people were buying more items when they shop online, with some of them smaller in value. So, make sure to provide them with options to buy more via discounts and maximize their visit time to your e-commerce stores.
2. Use All Content Assets to Communicate Critical Messages
Shoppers want convenience and safety while shopping this year. Use SEO and content marketing that offers excellent opportunities to get across your message to shop with safety from the comfort of your homes. Consider creating new pages on your site that show your approach and concern to covid-secure shopping. Use titles and descriptions on your e-commerce pages by highlighting the points of difference by focusing on your brand's authority while reassuring your customers. Also, make your delivery and returns policies page very clear.
3. Seek New Keyword Opportunities
Merely swapping out 2019 for 2020 to update your long-standing festive product pages to watch traffic won't be of much help this year, as it is unlikely to match your audience's search behaviors. SEO has an early-mover advantage- research the latest keyword research trends in real-time to understand and model the intent and then use them in your content strategy before the competition gets high. Learn about the content strategy types here.
4. Lean Into Machine Learning Insights and Automation
Machine driven real-time insights, automation, and personalization on e-commerce stores are finally taking off, while voice commerce continues to rise. You can use the development kits for Google Actions and Alexa Skills for quick deployment or use other existing e-commerce technologies to add personalization to your website.
Bottom Line
Now that the lessons from Black Friday are pretty clear, those who act now will reap good rewards in the Christmas Shopping Spree. Retailers still have time to make some all-important updates on their e-commerce platforms to take full advantage of their potential for smashing your sales records. I hope that the trends and tips on e-commerce to align your SEO and PPC strategies will help you prepare for a prosperous Christmas time and a successful start to New Year 2021.
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