According to Experian Hitwise and Econsultancy, last December there were 2.1 billion UK visits to online retail websites in the UK and the total value of online purchases to £2.8bn. In spite of the gloomy economic situation, Christmas 2010 was one of the most successful ever festive seasons for online retail.
With November and December typically accounting for around 20-30% of the retail industry’s annual sales, blending together the right mix of digital marketing activities is vitally important to ensure your business capitalises on the festive boom in sales.
With Christmas less than three months away, it’s essential you start planning and implementing your strategy, so here are some essential ecommerce strategy takeaways for the 3 month run in:
Plan early
Failing to fully capitalise on people’s willingness to spend at Christmas can really effect a retailers overall profits for the year. It pays to make some solid preparations, which means planning early. Ensure that you have plenty of time to put the basics in place and to get them right. The ideal run up should be around six months, so if your team or agency isn’t busy working on it already, it could be your competitors could be the ones to pick up your sales.
Mutichannel, multichannel, multichannel
With the continued integration of on and offline retailing, customers now expect to a retailer to have a multichannel offering. Your customers don’t see your channels as separate, they simply ride the user journey wave to that final sale. Whether your remit is online or offline, as a retailer you need to be aware of the overall plans of the business in order to align your marketing roadmap, maximise cross-channel opportunities and ensure a connected approach. This can only be achieved by getting all channels talking, so make sure you communicate clearly and effectively with both senior management and your marketing colleagues across the business.
Go mobile
Mobile commerce is set to be huge this Christmas. Many retailers have not implemented a mobile strategy because they feel they still have work to do on maximising sales through the main desktop site version. In reality, it’s likely those retailers are missing out on mobile sales, particularly through the iPad and iPhone. For those who already have a mobile strategy in place, your website should now be optimised for mobile and tablet devices, and your mobile search strategy should be up and running. If your mobile site is transactional then your paid search keywords should be directing traffic to mobile landing pages. Make sure that your mobile site includes key information such as opening times, store locators, delivery tracking, and in-store promotions and ensure that your Google Places listings are optimised. According to Google, “44% of total searches for last minute gifts and store locator terms will be from mobile devices” this Xmas. Whilst this is a US statistic, the UK won’t be far behind. Double checking opening times, store locator and gift content are easily accessible by mobile devices through organic searches and PPC ads will ensure you capture those last minute shoppers.
Update, monitor and improve
Being vigilant and keeping a close eye on your various data sources is vital to any price led online campaign. Whether you’ve bid on the right keywords, got the copy right in your adverts, offered the right social incentives, created the right content and offered your products or service at the right price – all of this information is at your fingertips in practically real-time, so make the most of it. Don’t be afraid to change your plans either if the data you have tells you you’re not on the right course.
Have a contingency plan
With so much at stake in such a short period, it pays to have all possible scenarios covered. Expect the unexpected and be ready to alter your plans and incorporate last minute variations if circumstances change. For example, some retailers were quick and clever enough to see last year’s bad weather as an opportunity, and immediately started publishing their altered last delivery dates, which gave customers much-needed confidence. Consider if your overall strategy would be able to react quickly and effectively to a similar contingency in terms of website content, paid search and social media. Make sure you have a copywriting team ready to react quickly to any developments or opportunities. It definitely pays to have a Plan B.
Hopefully by putting getting your ecommerce strategy right, you’ll be able to get to December 24th, crack open a bottle of champers, toast to yet another impeccable Christmas campaign – and relax for a day and a half before the Boxing Day madness begins.
