Tips for a successful Christmas business
Thinking about Christmas now? Yes, of course – because as an online retailer, you should set the course for the fourth quarter in the next few weeks. Below you will find out what to look out for.
Even if it sounds strange to report on the pre-Christmas shopping frenzy at the end of July, when the last federal states start their summer vacation, there is a reason for that. Because Christmas is coming faster than many think – and this year, according to a representative survey by Ebay Ads, the gift business could start even earlier than usual (we reported in the t3n Pro Briefing).
In the past two years, as the report also shows, there have been shopping peaks over the entire fourth quarter, at least on Ebay. In calendar weeks 48 to 51 (end of November to mid-December), Christmas shopping started its hot phase with growth of up to 159 percent. Unlike last year, in which Amazon’s Prime Day was only made up for in October, this year, however, no additional central shopping event is to be expected for which retailers could be prepared now.
But back to the findings of the survey: In autumn, most Germans begin to think about possible Christmas presents for family and friends. For more than one in four Germans (27 percent), November is the most popular month to research suitable Christmas presents. Only 17 percent count themselves among the last-minute shoppers who do not start hunting for gifts until mid-December. In this group of buyers, it is especially the young consumers between the ages of 18 and 29 (37 percent) and men (23 percent, women: 11 percent) who are looking for Christmas presents at the last minute.
The price comparison website Idealo determined similar findings, albeit more related to October and November. In a nutshell: retailers do not only post their special offers on Black Friday, but on Singles’ Day on November 11th and throughout the weeks around these central events. For customers, this means that a large number of bargains can be found in the weeks leading up to Black Friday and Cyber Week: because companies are testing price elasticity, want to free their warehouses and simply because (as a consultant in the E -Commerce area formulated) the Christmas business starts earlier and earlier and is now more of a Q4 peak than a short flash in the pan in December.
Tips for the Christmas business in e-commerce
It makes sense for both retailers with face-to-face business and online retailers to develop strategies for the fourth quarter at an early stage. Retailers in particular who use different channels should be flexible right up to the end and plan differently in order to avoid full warehouses. What does that mean in concrete terms? Basically, there are a variety of ways you can start your pre-Christmas business early:
Plan campaigns early. Especially if you take over your marketing with the help of agencies and service providers, you should set the course for the planned measures and campaigns by August and September at the latest. If you ask about this fact in the industry, many experts roll their eyes. One could, as an agency owner explains behind closed doors, calculate three times the workload in October and November through December, but of course you don’t have the resources or the staff.
Also, think about special seasonal packaging. There are a variety of customization options for parcels and shipping services that are worthwhile for you even with lower sales. Many manufacturers of packaging solutions, for example Cardstock, Medewo, Packhelp or Printmate, offer cardboard boxes and packaging material with a seasonal design even in smaller quantities. In this way you strengthen customer loyalty, because the packaging is the first and often the only physical connection to your customer – and suitable for either making a good impression or not. Whatever you do here – interior fittings, inserts, package material per se – should fit your brand essence.
Deliver gifts, but with style. You should also pay special attention to ordering gifts that have already been prepared for the recipient. The Federal Association of E-Commerce and Mail Order Germany (BEVH) sees that a good 20 percent of customers also make use of the gift delivery and packaging services in the online shops – even though many retailers here still use the careless run-of-the-mill program.
Optimize your processes. Before Christmas in particular, you have to be able to rely on the fact that everything will arrive at the customer on time and that the customer will know when this will happen. Tracking links and other measures for greater transparency are helpful here. Feel free to ask people who pack your parcels, for example, which measures can streamline your processes.
Invest in your customer service. Regardless of whether you have e-mail support, a telephone hotline or chat and WhatsApp service chat: There are now a number of ways that your customers want to reach you. The important thing is: Regardless of which channel is used, you should create short response times and be able to offer the customer the information they want. The availability is the new price.
Optimize your website copy. In the best case, you can have some particularly important products individually rewritten or you can do this with a text robot using text automation via services such as AX Semantics, Retresco or associated service providers such as Hmmh or Unaice. Texts are optimized on a database basis and can be generated according to predefined patterns. The following applies here: the greater the number of pieces of content to be written, the more it pays off.
Make sure you have sufficient logistics. This year, too, all parcel service providers will drive to the limit – and beyond. This means that you may not get any special conditions over and above your firmly booked contingents, as was more or less a matter of course in the past. So negotiate accordingly with your parcel service provider and try to secure additional resources from your competitor, which you can call up if necessary.
Be generous with the exchange to the customer. Many online retailers will again offer an early exchange period until mid or late January this year. You should do that too, even if you fear that some customers will take advantage of this for their own use. Amazon and a few other e-commerce players have created facts here and retailers who are less generous will otherwise not be able to make the Christmas sales or receive a lot of orders at the last minute that they can hardly handle. Because the bottleneck, as we have already said, will again be the logistics and delivery infrastructure at the dealerships, especially this year.
