Christmas fever begins as we enter the last quarter of the year. This also marks the most profitable time of the year for online businesses. The holiday season brings a massive opportunity for the e-businesses as not only the number of orders but the size of the orders also gets bigger by manifolds. So much so that businessmen admit that they make almost 40 to 50 percent of the annual revenue during this festive period.

Since it is already the end of November; do you think that your website is Christmas ready? Well, chances are that you almost forgot about it in the day-to-day hustle bustle of running your business and there is no preparation for promotional ads! In order to encash all the festive flair and make more money as an online retailer, you need to plan and prepare ahead.

This post is to give you some tips to make sure you meet your customers’ needs and provide a smooth shopping experience, ending the year on a strong note.

1. Start an email campaign

Email is a clever way to connect with your customers and encourage them to make more purchases. Plan the festive offers ahead and inform your customers about the same. Take note of the following before you start an e-mail campaign.

• The templates should be catchy enough to grab customers’ attention.
• The offers should be clearly mentioned with all the terms and conditions
• Link to the landing pages should work fine
• Make sure that the e-mail is mobile compatible too

2. Make use of social media

One cannot afford to miss this platform to reach out to potential customers and make the most of the season’s boom. Social media is a powerful tool to connect and interact with your existing, old and potential customers. Plan a well structured social ad campaign that includes images and videos showing all the catchy festive offers that your business has to offer.

3. Redesign your website’s layout to suit the festive season

• Make a virtual Christmas tree and add festive colors of greens, gold and reds to let your customers know that the Christmas fever is on and you are about to bring attractive offers for them.
• Make a separate section for Gifts and this will help your customers to decide what they want to buy. Making a separate section will also avoid isolating customers who don’t celebrate Christmas.
• Highlight what is trending in, your best sellers and special offers across the site to grab maximum eyeballs!

4. Make your website mobile compatible

More than 60 percent people use their mobile phones and tablets for online shopping. Investing in a mobile compatible website can benefit both your business and your customers. Make sure that your customers get a flawless shopping experience without any downloading or navigation issue.

5. Remarket

It happens many a time that a customer chooses several items in the shopping cart, but leaves your site without making any purchase. The retail strategy says; do not let any sale slip out of your hands. So, this is the time to remarket via mails or messages, reminding the customer about the abandoned products.

6. Make use of the shopping basket

Display the following to make even more purchases

• similar products
• best sellers
• what others have bought

7. Clarity about the delivery information

Make sure that your customers are well informed in advance about the last order date for a guaranteed Christmas delivery. To do the same, you can use e-mails, text messages and social media.

8. Introduce new payment options

Make sure that you offer hassle free payment options and as many options as possible. Don’t get limited to the same old debit, credit and COD options. Expand it to PayPal and American express; if you do not want your customers to go to your competitor’s website!

9. Evaluate your stock

There is nothing more annoying for any shopper than finding a perfect choice and then discovering that it’s out of stock! Keep your customers happy – make sure you have enough stock for the season.

10. Don’t forget January

The post Christmas time can go really dry in terms of sales. Try to expand the festive flair till January owing to the New Year celebrations. Utilize this in your benefit by bringing a new set of discounts and offers.

We hope these tips will help you reap the benefits of Christmas time!