How to increase online sale in festivals
Rajendra Zadpe
With every burgeoning year, the Indian e-commerce Industry gets better and better. At the forefront of this phenomenon, is the spike in sales during the festive sale period which coincides with many traditional holidays and events. While festivals and holidays take place throughout the year in India, the October to December period is widely considered the festive sales period, as it fits in nicely with a lot of celebrated holidays, like Diwali. As online sellers it is very important to forecast for busy festive sale periods and plan accordingly to ensure enough inventory is available to meet demand. It is also essential to execute effective promotional campaigns to make sure you get your message across in time, as there is a lot of cash up for grabs.
So just how much money changes hands during the busy festive period?
So just how much money changes hands during the busy festive period?
In October 2015, before the festive sales sprang into action an insightful ASSOCHAM report proclaimed that this year’s festive season would cross $8 billion, 5 times bigger than the previous year. It also included 5 Indian festivals in no particular order that would contribute to the total:
- Diwali
- Navratri
- Durga Puja
- Dusshera
- Christmas
The biggies’ take on festival sales
The recent festive season was dominated by Flipkart’s ‘Big Billion Days sale’, Snapdeal’s ‘Yeh Diwali Dil ki Deal Wali’ sale and Amazon’s ‘Great Indian Festive Sale’. It is very interesting to read what the big 2 homegrown ecommerce marketplaces had to say about holiday sales in 2013, a year before their respective festive sales exploded.
“Seasonal offers and the occasion of gifting during festivals definitely create significant spikes in sales. There is a sizeable consumer demand that companies like ours can tap into. However there is still a long way to go before it assumes the proportions that larger markets like US & China see, said Ravi Vora, Former Senior VP Marketing, Flipkart.
Dussehra, Diwali and Christmas
The months of October-December, especially, see a big push, as Dussehra, Diwali and Christmas are to be celebrated at this time. Here is a list of seven best strategies which can help you increase your sales this festive season:
1. Dedicated Landing Page
The first thing is to embellish your website/store to highlight the festive mood. This can definitely establish a good connect between your online store and your customers. Create a dedicated banner for your website’s home page, which communicates the best site-wide offers. You can also design a detailed landing page highlighting the exclusive Diwali sale.
2. Create Co-Branding Networks
When using affiliate marketing for your online business, the risks are very low while the conversion is high. The best payment gateway solutions should be adopted only when a customer converts, meaning when a sale occurs. So it's a clever idea to team up with various Coupon sites and start co-branding initiatives. These websites can affect more conversions by channeling traffic to your website.
3. Email Marketing
The best way to connect with customers is email marketing. It can also help to increase reach and boost sales. When the email marketing is effective, it can mean more qualified lead for the online business. Make sure that the best Diwali offers and deals are being communicated to your customers in all your mailers. By incorporating value proposition into your customers’ minds, you can create interest and generate more traffic to your site.
4. Social Media Push
The target audience should know about the offers and exclusive deals that you are planning for the festive season. As Social Media comes with a huge customer base and easy-to-navigate interface plus reasonable cost, Social Media Marketing is an excellent tool to boost customer engagement directly.
5. Content Marketing
Content marketing is very important during the festive season. Content should be delivered in the best possible way so that your brand will connect with your audience. Optimize your website content so that it highlights the deals you are offering. Increase engagement by having a dedicated Diwali Blog and many more. This will help connect your online business with your customers.
6. Re-target Customers
The most crucial step to boost sales is to re-target the customers who have expressed interest in your product/service, on earlier occasions. Identify the customers who abandoned your shopping cart and offer them value preposition in terms of exclusive deals and offers through Search and Display ads.
7.Surprise gifts with purchases
Include a special surprise with each delivery this festive season. It may be in the form of an exclusive/additional discount voucher for the next purchase. .Or it could be a small ‘Thank You’ gift. What is important is to use the gift (however small) to create a memory for the customer. Whether it’s a special voucher or a gift, make sure it is creatively designed.
As the festive season rolls in, use these strategies, and you will be pleasantly surprised to find the sales for your online business booming!.