The Best Holiday Guide for Online Retailers and Brands

The joyous season of the year is almost upon us! And, it brings with it opportunities worth billions of dollars, as evident from the sales of the last holiday season!

• In 2021, the total holiday retail sales in the US rose by 8.5%, the most significant annual increase in 17 years. 
• The US e-commerce sales increased by 11% in 2021 compared with 2020 and by 64.1% compared with 2019.
• Consumers are expected to spend around $770 each (on average) on gifts during the 2022 holiday season.
• In 2022, US holiday retail sales can cross $1.3 trillion as per predictions (a 3.3% increase over 2021)

During this celebratory season (including Halloween, Thanksgiving, Black Friday, Cyber Monday, and Christmas), consumers are out and hungry, hunting for the best deals, cheap gifts, and quick deliveries; such is the spirit of the holidays.

So, how can you grab your fair share of this pie?

Invest in product listing optimization, prepare your eStore, and launch careful eCommerce marketing campaigns to increase traffic, sales, and conversions this holiday season. Here’s a detailed plan for your convenience.

Table of Content

Steps for preparing for the 2022 Holiday Season

There are many things to focus on when preparing for the holiday season sales but let’s tackle this one by one!

1. Get your eStore SEO strategy ready 

There are millions of eCommerce sellers out there preparing for the upcoming holidays. The competition is going to be intense like it always has been. To ensure that your eStore doesn’t lose its voice in the noise, it must rank high enough to bag maximum customer attention and hence, maximum conversions.

How can you achieve that?

The answer is SEO.

Optimizing your eStore with the right keywords and covering the latest trends of 2022 is pretty much what you need to do. But before that, you’ll need to conduct extensive research wherein you find all the trending keywords (both targeted and LSIs).

You can use a keyword tool like Google keyword planner. And, since the holidays are primarily about gifts and decorations, highlighting products as gift ideas could work well, as it is precisely what customers are looking for. Know your target customers and develop a strategy for listing optimization for the holiday season accordingly.

And while you’re at it, don’t forget to optimize your listing for mobile, as a lot of traffic this season is expected from mobile devices. So, make sure you leave no stone unturned.

2. Be mobile-friendly

M-commerce, or “mobile commerce,” is expanding and gaining popularity, especially in the run-up to Christmas. Data from eMarketer shows that around this time of year, individuals primarily utilize mobile devices for shopping because they are on the go and don’t have access to a PC. 

Although your website probably functions flawlessly on mobile devices, you should still make sure that there are no issues when people are purchasing on it. The items that the customer is looking for should be easily searchable. 

3. Get ready for coming traffic

Your online store will get more traffic around the holidays, especially on busy days like Cyber Monday. Nothing could be more detrimental than a site outage at a crucial moment.

You can ensure that you are ready for the busy days with the help of the following methods:

• Check your scalability & stability: Revenue and the speed at which page loads are directly related. For your web infrastructure to meet heightened demands, your site must be stable and scalable. Despite increased traffic, your website must be accessible when you need it.

• Ensure your inventory is stocked: Follow up with suppliers to ensure you’re adequately stocked, especially for potential gift items, to avoid extended wait times. Customers quickly get frustrated (and maybe wouldn’t return to that site) when they learn that the gift they intend to purchase is no longer in stock. Therefore, it is necessary to follow up with suppliers to ensure an adequate stock. 

4. Analyze your third-party integrations: 

Look at your integrations with external parties. Are they up to date? Don’t add any more until you’ve tested them and made sure that they can handle the load. Additional or impromptu app add-ons can disrupt some aspects of your site’s flow or slow it down.

5. Market your store right

You can consider the following points for marketing your store right:

A. Want to break your sales records? Market that eStore of yours like crazy!

Buyers look for offers and discounts during the holidays by recklessly spending on gifts, decorations, food, and whatnot. If your listing makes the cut and can grab the customers’ attention, you’re in for a treat!

In fact, if you do market your eStore right, you might be able to break your previous sales records all at once! 

B. Competition is hard, but you have to come through with improved CTR

A low click-through rate is bad news. If no one clicks on your product ads or social media posts that lead to your eStore, the entire point of those marketing tools is lost. Therefore, CTR is one of the most important things that you should be focussing on around the holidays.

Sometimes, you might sell the right products but may lag in marketing them right. Meanwhile, another seller with almost the same products is way ahead of you in conversions. The reason is his high click-through rate.

So, take PPC and store marketing seriously if you want prospects to find you!

C. Attracting Consumers Works Well If You Cater To Their Demands

Buyers will buy. And if your eStore supplies meet their demands, you’re there!

Of course, it would take some research to see what they are demanding. You can always opt for eCommerce marketing services if you don’t know how to go about it. Go whichever way seems right. Just do not skip this part.

D. Roll out a brilliant marketing campaign to leverage the holiday season

There are millions of other sellers fighting for customer attention. If you don’t do something to make yourself heard, you’ll be overshadowed by your competition.

Thus, preparing for the holidays entails a brilliant marketing campaign to make your eStore stand out.

6. This Is your chance to get the creative juices flowing

Not every day do you get a chance to be creative with your online store. The holidays give you a fair opportunity to play around with your website design and your marketing campaign.

Illustrative and creative marketing campaigns gather enough customer attention to increase your sales.

Here is how you can go about it!

• Holidays are coming: Let your website make it obvious

  People are in a festive mood. Let your eCommerce website make it seem obvious! And by that, we don’t just mean creating an interesting theme (well, that too), but setting up one that incorporates smart marketing efforts to keep your buyers hooked.

  For example, each page of your eStore must be themed according to the holidays, along with a banner that displays some of your best offers. Opt for eCommerce store development services to ensure you do it right and quickly get a unique website designed.

• Social Media is like wildfire. Use it wisely

  Nothing spreads a piece of news like social media. Once you’ve decided on your holiday offers and have a fully-functional holiday-themed website, it’s time to spread awareness.

  Take to social media. Use Facebook, Twitter, etc., to post updates and let people know what you have to offer. Trending hashtags around the holiday season work brilliantly in getting some traffic through social media. Instagram and Pinterest could also help if you have ample visual content to share.

• Throw in some enthusiasm with a contest

  Organizing a fun contest on social media can help direct some quality traffic and customer attention to your eCommerce website.

  For example, if your eStore sells clothes, you can use Christmas-related costumes and organize a contest wherein you invite users to send their pictures in a Halloween costume and choose a winner. Why stop at that? Choose three winners instead.

  It’s all about making people happy. To gain traction, you can even make a separate webpage on your website showing the spirit of the holidays. Not only will that impress your buyers, but it could also increase subscriptions to your eStore, thus increasing your customer base.

  So, get as creative as you can!

7. Come up with some useful content related to holidays

Publishing some valuable and fun holiday-related content in the form of blog posts, videos, or infographics can instantly get you noticed.

For example, you could cover a blog post titled: ‘10 Super Scary Halloween Costume Ideas’ or ‘7 Things To Gift Your Daughter This Christmas.’ Not only will you be able to interlink some of your product pages on such blogs and posts, but you’ll be letting out information that could be useful for the buyers. Try not to be too salesy, though!

8. This is the right time for PPC

Many eCommerce sellers focus only on their existing customers, which is good as a strategy but not enough. The holiday season is the perfect time to add new ones to your customer list.

This is where PPC comes in handy.

If your product listing’s ad matches consumers’ demands, they will likely buy the product immediately. So, launch a well-thought PPC campaign before the holidays to let new customers discover your eStore.

9. Don’t forget about emails

The festive season calls for attractive mailers.

This is yet another area to get creative and sway your customers by presenting your holiday offers in a complex way to say no to. Use illustrative fonts, attractive images, and innovative designs to create intriguing emails. Remember not to include too much text. Stick to visual representations for most parts.

10. Launch occasion-specific programs and campaigns

The holiday season comprises multiple events. If leveraged separately, each of these can take your sales graph up significantly. We have covered a few in this space to give you a better idea of the sales potential of these holidays and how you can utilize the opportunity to grow your business.

• Halloween: Increase eStore Sales with a Spookfest

  This super fun trick-and-treat holiday can bring lots of benefits to your eCommerce business.

  • In 2021, Americans spent around $10.14 billion on Halloween, according to the National Retail Federation (NRF). 
  • On average, $102.74 was spent on greeting cards, candy, decorations, and costumes per individual in the US.
  • Halloween costumes are expected to grow significantly between 2022 and 2027.

  Halloween’s most significant revenue categories this year are costumes, candy, decorations, and greeting cards.

  The possibilities with this festival stretch far out. Halloween can significantly benefit you if you know where to invest your time and money.

  • Offer Halloween gifts as freebies.
  • Create a Halloween-theme landing page.
  • Decorate your home page with contextual banners, headers, and images.
  • Retarget customers with gift cards aimed at Halloween products.
  • Send product recommendations and promotions.
  • Create blogs for Halloween gift ideas and other exciting topics.

  If the holiday is already overhead and you can not find the time to lay down a detailed marketing campaign, you can outsource eCommerce marketing services.

• Thanksgiving

  Thanksgiving is a critical annual highlight for online sellers. Despite the pandemic changing the rhythm of online shopping, Thanksgiving is expected to contribute to this year’s holiday season sales quite effectively, as always. That, combined with the time of the year, makes this a perfect opportunity to push sales higher, especially for sellers targeting local sales.

  Here are a few thanksgiving marketing ideas to help you tap into that revenue pool. 

  • Use your content to showcase community support.
  • Create giveaway campaigns.
  • Put together product catalogs that highlight Thanksgiving-based items.
  • Send thank-you notes to your subscriber list.
  • Add deals and coupons to your emailers.
  • Host live shopping events (if possible).
  • Look for relevant local events in your neighborhood and showcase them in your profile.

• Black Friday & Cyber Monday

  Black Friday comes right after Thanksgiving, and the weekend is followed by Cyber Monday. These two days are almost always in a battle for sales and traffic. That is all the more reason you should have a strategy prepared to market and sell on these days.

  However, remember that these two days fall during Thanksgiving week; therefore, there is already a sale frenzy. You must tweak your strategy accordingly to make the most of this occasion.

• Christmas: Make it merry!

  Christmas is an exceptionally opportune marketing moment because it rides on the momentum built by Thanksgiving, Black Friday, and Cyber Monday. There is also the added factor of Christmas being the year’s most important holiday. Crazy spending is an expected trend this time of the year.

  You have all the opportunities you need!

  Publishing impressive content around this holiday could direct many customers to your eStore. Plus, discounted offers and deals are what every buyer is in for! The trick lies in how well you can present them to your customers. Other Christmas marketing ideas include:

  • Prepare your website for conversions
  • Focus on product listing optimization
  • Use creative Christmas-based descriptions, headers, and images
  • Create gift guides based on consumer profiles
  • Create product bundles for successful cross-selling and upselling
  • Use an omnichannel marketing strategy (emailers, newsletters, SMS, social media, WhatsApp)
  • Create personalized retargeting campaigns
  • Run PPC campaigns for multiple regions
  • Use social proof to enhance brand reputation

Gear up for the Holiday Season (for this year and next) with SunTec India

We have readied you with some of the best holiday-selling strategies for sellers. But, our best suggestion would be that you start preparing for the holiday season in 2022 as soon as possible.

Let SunTec India help you create, optimize, or maintain an eStore that won’t just embrace the holiday spirit but also help you lock in maximum prospects. Try our eCommerce store development services to get a one-of-a-kind website design or our eCommerce marketing services to amplify the impact of advertising for your online business.

Just write to us at info@suntecindia.com and get started. Stay tuned for updated information on this year’s holiday season.