Do Not Let Simple Mistakes Trip You Up
To say the holiday shopping season is important for online sellers would be an understatement. Millions of people will be shopping online to get presents and take advantage of sales, so you have the potential to make big profits. This is why you must start preparing as soon as possible.
You will be getting a lot of traffic, especially on Black Friday, and you are expected to keep your customers happy. A few simple miscalculations can make you miss out on a lot of profits. Use the following tips to avoid common mistakes, and make sure your sales go off without any hitches.
Focus on Inventory Management
A common misstep that fledgling sellers make is not having enough stock for holiday shoppers. You could lose out on thousands of potential sales if you run out of stock while demand is high. It also makes your company look unprofessional, and could lead to your public image being damaged.
You should be working on inventory management well before the shopping season begins. If you have inventory management software, use it to see what you need to restock now. Keep tabs on your highest selling products so you know what should take priority. If you know there are products that are not as popular, do not spend as much money stocking them.
Never Underestimate the Importance of Keywords
Another common mistake that online sellers make is not utilizing keywords. You should always take some time to update your product pages. Optimizing your content with fresh keywords will help your website stand out on search engines like Google. When you are competing with thousands of other companies online, this is crucial.
General phrases like “Black Friday deals” and “gifts under $30” can help you stand out to Black Friday shoppers. You should also opt for specific keywords tailored around your products and business. This will make it easier to attract the right customers to your website.
Without these keywords, you will have a hard time standing out amongst your competitors.
Do Not Wait to Develop Your Social Media Plan
You should never underestimate the power of a good social media marketing plan. With social media, you can let people know about your sales long before they go live. Make sure you develop your social media plan well in advance so you can launch it as soon as your sales are ready to go live.
Create your posts early so you have enough time to make them presentable and eye-catching. Take some time to make a schedule so you know exactly when each announcement should go out. Finally, determine which channels your posts should go on.
By planning early, you have time to tweak the content to perfection before the holiday shopping season begins.
Do Not Discount Products Too Much
On shopping days like Black Friday and Cyber Monday, it can be tempting to go for heavy discounts on your products. As the price goes down, however, you need to sell more items to make a profit. Try to be careful with how much you are discounting items during holiday sales.
Here is a helpful tip: do not put your heaviest discounts on your top sellers. People are already willing to pay for these items, so focus on smaller discounts to entice tempted customers. Save your biggest discounts for products that are not quite as popular.
Relying on heavy discounts could cost your company millions in profits.
Never Ignore the Competition
Do you set aside some time each year to see what your competitors are doing for the holidays? If not, you are missing out on information that could help your business stand out. Your competitors are trying to entice people away from your website, so it would be wise to see what they are up to.
Check competitors’ websites to see what products they are focusing on this year. See if you have any products that they are not offering. Also, take some time to browse their social media pages to see if they have any sales coming up.
With this information, you can develop a unique angle that will help your business stand out.
Need more help getting ready for the holiday shopping season?