For many ecommerce businesses, the summer months bring in lower revenues with sales falling as much as 30 percent compared to winter holiday months. This should come as no surprise since consumers are busy traveling, spending more time outside, and spending less time on their mobile devices and computers.
The key is to find ways to generate revenue during this seasonal lull. In order to keep your summer sales season moving, you need to get creative in how you engage current and potential customers. Below are some ways you can expand your reach and increase the bottom line of your summer ecommerce sales.
Get seasonal with your website.
Brands that update their websites to match the seasons and different holidays more readily encourage shoppers to engage than sites that remain stagnate. You can use different design elements, images, video, promotions, and product rotation to showcase a new website look for the summer season. You can always opt for seasonally based banners or pop-ups if you are reluctant to completely overhaul your website. Just focus on engagement and compelling calls to action with whatever you do.
Have a summer sale.
Summer is a great time to move extra inventory. Use clearance and other sales to clear out excess items remaining in your stock. Not only will consumers get excited about finding great deals and saving money, but you will also free up inventory space for new products or more of your most popular and quick-selling products.
Feature pop-up sales, specific day, or weekend promotions. Know that consumers visit online stores most often at the beginning of the week so hosting “Monday Mania” is always a solid choice. Pop-up sales aside, keep in mind that you’ll want plenty of lead time to promote your sale or sales. And remember to fully think out your discounting strategy as you are planning.
Run a giveaway or other type of contest.
There are many advantages to hosting a well-executed giveaway contest. It helps build brand awareness with prospective customers and leverages the loyalty of your existing customers. It also helps to differentiate your brand from your competitors. Contests tend to drive more traffic to your website and e-store which should increase your sales.
Contests also help you capture more email addresses from potential customers to grow the list for your newsletter and email campaigns. Offer a fabulous prize or product bundle to consumers who simply enter an email address. This, alone, will help your bottom line when you move out of the slower summer months towards the fall and winter holiday season.
As with anything, build up to your contest on your social media accounts, your website, and in your physical store, if you have one. Without getting too complicated, communicate how the contest process will play out and what people need to do to sign up. Provide updates on all of your marketing channels to keep consumers aware of the countdown to the “big drawing,” the prizes being offered, and how many people have entered the contest.
Create product collections.
Create specific collections of products to help shoppers not only find what they are looking for but also encourage them to purchase more from your e-store. Many of today’s busy consumers struggle with making decisions, especially when they are shopping for someone other than themselves. Put together a collection of related items or seasonal collections of products. Or, create buying guides that provide multiple collection options that site visitors might not have considered purchasing together.
Feature these collections in your newsletter and in a special section on your website. Use persuasive calls to action to convince people to check things out more closely. Use your social media accounts to push out bits of information about your product collections. Considering offering channel specific discounts or pricing. (This also helps you understand more about which channels are driving the most traffic to your ecommerce website.)
The easier it is for shoppers to make decisions, the more likely it is they will complete a purchase. Contemplate pairing up with other businesses if your products or services complement one another. Think – “buy two bags of gourmet coffee from Business X and receive a 10% discount on a coffee maker from Business Y.”
Start a customer loyalty program.
Sales from existing customers can be effectively increased through the implementation of a loyalty program. It takes the stress off of you in regards to acquiring new customers, allows you to build relationships with loyal consumers, and drives more sales.
This strategy is most easily employed if you benefit from the use of customer relationship management (CRM) software. This technology helps you track customers’ purchases so you can reward them with a discount or free product as outlined in your customer loyalty program. You can include customer referral rewards in your loyalty program. If your existing customers can get their friends, family, and colleagues excited about your brand utilize that energy and provide people with some sort of discount or prize every time they refer someone else to your business (that, ultimately, ends in a purchase, of course).
Host events if you have a brick and mortar store.
Have an open house to either offer short demonstrations of your services or (free) samples of your products. You can center your events around established or relevant holidays or your brand anniversary. Use a half-anniversary if it doesn’t fall in the summer. Partner with neighboring businesses (non-competitive) or local charity groups to create a memorable party. Feature live music and offer refreshments if you want to go all out. If your budget is too small for that, invite a food truck business to operate in your parking lot for the day.
Create your own holiday whether it is for an online or in-person celebration.
Create a holiday that is relevant either to your products, your target audience, or how your target audience uses your products. Consider what sort of discounts you can offer to determine if you celebrate for a day, a weekend, or a full week. Create digital or actual signage that is persuasive and compelling enough to encourage immediate action from site or store visitors. In addition to signage, create other marketing material that can be plastered on your website, pushed out via social media platforms, featured in your blog posts, and highlighted in your email campaigns.
CLOSING
As you move towards a time of year that has, historically, been slow for your business, don’t just sit and fret. Be proactive, be creative. Focus your energy on developing and launching new campaigns that will drive more traffic to your ecommerce website. Consider both the short and long-term benefits of strategies you intend to employ. The more you can create annual events, the more your existing customers will look forward to continuing to engage with your brand, even in the slower sales months.
Get seasonal with your website.
Have a summer sale.
Run a summer giveaway or other type of contest.
Create product collections.
Start a customer loyalty program.
Host events if you have a brick and mortar store.
Create your own holiday whether it is for an online or in-person celebration.
The team at Strategy Driven Marketing understands the natural peaks and valleys that are part of growing and running a business. We also understand the importance of continuously working towards increased brand awareness, driving traffic to an ecommerce website, and keeping the conversion rate as high as possible, regardless of the sales season. We’d love to learn more about your business and help you create and execute a specifically tailored marketing plan that works for your brand throughout the calendar year. Contact us today to get started!