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After a long, cold winter that raised plenty of challenges for merchant, summer is finally here!
It’s a season of new beginnings, fresh starts, and usually one of the bigger upticks in spending since Christmas. As temperatures rise, so does the number of shoppers looking to update their wardrobes, homes, and lifestyles.
As a merchant, particularly in the current economic climate, it’s important to take advantage of the traditional spending boost at this time of year.
In this article, we’ll explore how to make the most of summer and increase eCommerce sales for your store to attract new customers – while keeping your current ones satisfied and loyal.
Focus on offers, marketing and messaging on seasonality
Offer products that are relevant to the season and can help shoppers make the transition from winter and spring – especially when spring was as wet as winter. For example, home furnishings merchants may push products that are relevant to summer hosting and home improvement projects. Or fitness merchants may start promoting more outdoor-friendly equipment and gear.
Think about the marketing and messaging surrounding your products. Use summer-related keywords in your product descriptions and advertising, and create a visual style that reflects the season.
By focusing on seasonality, you’ll be able to attract shoppers who are specifically looking for summer-related products and take advantage of the uptick in spending.
For more on this topic, here’s how to use seasonal marketing to increase your sales.
Increase eCommerce sales by capitalising on Public Holidays and Events
Summer is well known for popular purchasing trends, dates and public holidays – not least Father’s Day and numerous Bank Holidays.
As a merchant, it’s vital you tailor your online store and marketing campaigns to align with these dates and ensure you don’t miss the chance to increase eCommerce sales.
For gift merchants, this may mean creating guides for customers specifically for key gift giving days such as Father’s Day. Sports and outdoor living merchants may look to launch campaigns promoting products which become more popular in summer – especially with this year’s UEFA European Football Championship.
All of this will allow you to tap into a large market of shoppers specifically on the lookout for these types of products.
Of course when we’re talking seasonality, it’s all about timing – so bear that in mind when pushing out sales and promotions.
When offering discounts and special deals leading up to these big annual events, it’s good to start well in advance to attract early bird shoppers. But be sure to continue offering promotions throughout the season to keep your customers coming back.
Offer bundles, boost your delivery and make data-driven decisions
So, what else can merchants do during spring to increase eCommerce sales?
Firstly, offering bundled products or packages can be a great way to boost purchases and encourage shoppers to purchase multiple items.
For example, an outdoor leisure merchant could offer a summer bundle that includes a gazebo thrown in at a discounted rate when bought with a hot tub. Or if you’re a fitness and sporting goods merchant, combine a relevant set of your products so customers can buy everything they need, in one click, at a discount.
This means not only increasing your average order value, but also providing convenience and value to your customers. They’ll appreciate the ease of purchasing everything they need in one go, with the added incentive of a discount in the mix.
Offering free or faster delivery as a summer special can be a highly effective way to increase sales and attract new customers.
With the weather warming up and people spending more time outdoors, many shoppers may prefer to avoid the hassle of going to physical stores and instead opt for online shopping. By offering free delivery, you can provide added value to customers and incentivise them to make a purchase. It can also help you stand out from competitors who aren’t doing the same.
With the cost of importing goods on the rise, it pays to invest in stock that you know from experience will perform well during a new season. And the easiest way to do this is by referring to your marketing data.
Work to understand how and why certain products may have sold well last year. Ask your sales and marketing team for input into products they believe may also have potential to perform. If you have a retail finance provider, ask them for insights on credit sale patterns (our Merchant Portal lets you set up custom dashboards for live reporting).
Using this data will inform you purchasing decisions ahead of key trading periods. It may even identify some key product ranges that may not have been on your radar.
Take full advantage by offering your customers retail finance
More and more shoppers are using flexible finance options to spread the cost of payments. And given the current economic climate and cost of living crisis, that number is only set to rise.
When done correctly and ethically, retail finance helps your customers access larger seasonable purchases. It also gives you an edge over your competitors who may not offer this, and attracts new customers who wouldn’t be able or willing to buy these items upfront.
As a digital lender, we use our own credit engine – which means we can adjust our retail finance options to fit your business.
To find out more about why leading UK merchants are choosing Zopa’s retail finance solution, DivideBuy, to offer credit to their customers, book a fifteen-minute demo today.
