With the holiday season coming up, most stores will see an increase in sales and online stores are no exception. As with most stores, the ability to offer incentives and deals during the holiday season can help tremendously in increasing your sales during the months of November and December.
Here are some tips to help you generate more sales during the holiday season.
Keep yourself open to international sales
The recognition of international sales has grown over the last few years. Sales days like Black Friday and Cyber-Monday, with traditional holiday sales has become common all over the world.
It is best to see if you can offer some form of incentive to increase sales during those days. Discounts and free or reduced shipping rates are a great way to generate more sales. The deals can also help generate higher amount sales. The option to add an incentive over a certain amount is a great way to increase shopping cart totals. 10% for any sale over $100 and a flat rate shipping fee over a certain amount are just some of the examples of what you can offer during the holiday season.
Make sure your refund policy is set up for holiday shopping
A lot of holiday shopping is done early. It is best to alter your refund policy to allow purchases during December to be refunded up until mid-January. Getting your refund policy holiday-friendly, is not only best practice, but is also an incentive to bring in more sales.
Naturally, the more sales you make, the more disputes could be filed. Creating a refund policy that will cover the sales made during the holiday season can help in reducing chargebacks and disputes. Be open to the fact that not everyone likes what they get as a present, and having a refund policy to accommodate them is good for both you and the customer.
Mobile
More online shoppers are moving to their smartphones and tablets when placing online transactions. It is a good idea to look into what is needed to make sure your store is mobile ready. If you have not optimized your store to work on mobile devices, contact your webmaster and processor/PSP to see what is needed.
This season is expected to see a surge in mobile Payments . Having a mobile store insures that all the outlets are covered for your shoppers.
Decoration
As with brick and mortar counterparts, the need to decorate your store during the holiday season helps with gaining a sense of holiday shopping for your customers. Displaying your promotions for the holidays on your homepage and throughout your web-store with relevant decorations exposes the customers to your offerings this holiday season.
Decorating your outgoing promotional material, like mailing lists and product updates can help gear more people to click on your links and visit your online store as well.
The holiday season brings in a lot of traffic. Every merchant should take advantage of the season, and make sure their store gets their share of holiday shoppers.
Image courtesy of Christmasstockimage
