The winter holiday season is a time for friends and loved ones to reunite and be thankful for the chance to be together. But consumers have an entirely different reason to be excited about the gift-giving season. The winter holidays are also the time of the most anticipated annual sales. The pandemic may have forced Black Friday sales into hiatus for the past couple of years, but they are finally returning in 2022. This presents an incredible opportunity for brands to take advantage of. So with the winter holiday shopping season quickly approaching, let’s take a look at some strategies your business can take to boost your sales.
Social Media’s Influence on Consumers Continues to Grow
The fact that social media influences consumers’ shopping behaviours are common knowledge at this point. But the level of influence social media campaigns have on the public is higher than ever before in 2022. Influencers in particular play a key role in consumer shopping habits when it comes to gift-giving. When buying a gift for a loved one, consumers may not know a great deal about the products their shopping for. This is why they turn to trusted influencers to find the best product quickly.
If you want to reap the benefit of an influencer campaign while keeping costs to a minimum, consider partnering with a micro-influencer. Micro-influencers are social media personalities that have incredibly dedicated albeit niche audiences. Though these sorts of influencers tend to have smaller audiences, their followers can be every bit as dedicated as a large influencer. Micro-influencers tend to be easier and cheaper to work with because they are usually less busy and expensive.
Omni-channel Purchases & Shipping
In the age of the internet, consumers have become accustomed to purchasing the products they want from whatever channel is most convenient to them. The forced lockdowns resulting from the pandemic have made this even more true. This is why it is important to offer your products in several locations. Investing solely in a dedicated website to sell your products isn’t enough anymore. It’s best to make your products available on as many platforms as possible. This includes third-party online marketplaces such as Amazon or Etsy and even directly through social media such as Facebook Business. Making your products easy to find on any online platform will result in more consumers making a purchase.
Consumers have also gotten used to being able to have their products delivered to them in the method they prefer. Unfortunately, no shipping method is one size fits all. Instead, you’ll have to determine which shipping methods are most popular with your target audience. For instance, last-minute holiday shoppers will appreciate online retailers that offer expedited shipping options. Regardless of what shipping methods you decide to offer, you’ll need to ensure that your warehouse can keep up with the influx of holiday orders. Fortunately, there are shipping APIs available that can streamline your order fulfilment process. In some cases, these APIs can even automate entire processes such as label generation and package tracking.
Consumers Are Starting Their Holiday Shopping Early
Many holiday gift buyers are starting their shopping spree earlier in 2022 than in previous years. According to some studies, as much as 70% of holiday shoppers plan to start finding gifts before Thanksgiving. As a result, many businesses have extended their winter holiday sales to include some time before Thanksgiving as well. If extending your sale period is unreasonable then consider advertising for your sale earlier. This will at least give consumers the opportunity to plan for your holiday sale in advance and mark their calendars.
Online Presence is Essential
Many holiday shoppers start their search for a gift with a simple google search for the product they want to find. Google will then show the shopper a search engine results page (SERP) with the ten web pages it thinks is most relevant. The top 3 links on this SERP will generally receive roughly the same amount of traffic as the following 7. Having a consistent online presence will help you rank higher on this list and earn you more traffic organically.
Making changes to your website with the intention of ranking higher in Google’s algorithm is called search engine optimization or SEO. One of the easiest ways you can begin optimizing your website for search is to add a blog. Blogging is the bread and butter of SEO because of how effective it is with such little investment. Creating content that your audience finds informative, entertaining, or interesting can attract more online traffic to your website. If you’re consistent with your blogging efforts then your website will start ranking higher in Google’s algorithm and you’ll have the opportunity to grow your audience.
Conclusion
This holiday season is expected to play out a little differently than it has in earlier years. Consumers are enjoying the first winter sale without restrictions resulting from the pandemic. This means that in-person sales are expected to be high, but online sales are still likely going to dominate. To make the most of the 2022 holiday season follow these quick tips.
- Partner with influencers to capitalize on social media’s impact on shopping behaviors.
- Offer your products on as many platforms as possible.
- Start your sale early this year!
- Maintain a consistent online presence to attract consumers.
