Expert Hacks for Increasing Your Sales Number This Holiday Season
In US, holiday sale is a highly popular phenomenon today. And being the next big thing in e-commerce, Southeast Asia has been prompt to pick up the trend. According to a study conducted by Criteo in 2015, major e-commerce websites in Southeast see visitor uplift of 54% and sells 126% more products on average during the Black Friday Holiday.
While online holiday sale is a completely western concept, the young and tech savvy population of Southeast Asia has accepted it quite wholeheartedly. Here is a list of major holiday sale dates for Southeast Asia e-commerce market:
- Singles Day (11th November)
- Black Friday & Cyber Monday
- Double Twelve (12th December)
- Christmas (25th December)
- New Year (1st January)
- Valentine’s Day (14th February)
As you can see, with Cyber Monday just leaving the coast, the holiday season has already begun! However, as an online seller, you can still make the most of this season and crunch up some amazing numbers by using expert tips and tricks.
So, here are some tried and tested methods of increase your holiday sales numbers in Southeast Asia.
#1 Mobile First
Southeast Asia is a predominantly mobile first market and thus if you are looking at increasing your sales numbers, going mobile is a priority. According to a study conducted in 2015, in Southeast Asia 33% of total holiday sales is completed through mobile apps. The same study points out that 34% of the population share their preferences, shopping ideas etc. through mobile devices. Thus, it is essential to have strong presence on mobile devices for closing more sales. While many large brands like MatahariMall and Lazada have already launched their mobile apps, other sellers can put up a mobile optimized website to make the most of the holiday sales.
# 2 Cross Device Presence
While mobile is definitely your focal point, when it comes to holiday sales, having a cross device presence can make a huge difference in your bottom line. Most buyers search for a single product from different devices before actually placing the order. Thus, focusing on mobile app only may not be the best way to grab eyeballs. MatahariMall is the best example of that. While the company launched their mobile application first, they went ahead with their desktop website too, to ensure cross device presence.
# 3 Offline to Online
You can get a share of the holiday sales pie, even if you do not have an e-commerce site! Yes, as unlikely as it may sound, in Southeast Asia, the boundaries between offline and online is increasingly blurring. Many brick and mortar stores today set up an online shop through social networking sites like Facebook and Instagram. Social commerce being highly popular in the region, buyers view the products on the social media pages and place order through chat and instant messaging apps such as Line. Following this trend, you can also go offline to online and take advantage of the holiday sales frenzy.
# 4 Start Early to Close More Sales
Get your website or app holiday sale ready, before the sale date! This way you avoid any technical glitch and offer the best user experience to your visitors. Southeast Asia, considered being the goldmine of e-commerce today, sees cut-throat competition. In a climate this competitive, first impression of your website is vital for generating sales. Moreover, offering your holiday offers a bit prior than your competitors can go a long way in attracting visitors.
# 5 Go All Around With Your Marketing Efforts
Holiday sales are the times when online shops amplify their marketing efforts. However, focusing on one marketing channel may not be a great way to grab eye balls here. If you look at e-commerce giants in Southeast Asia, like Lazada, you can see how well they formulate all around activities and offers for grabbing more eye balls, engaging their visitors and finally offer great discounts to generate more sales. This all around approach is what you need to succeed in the highly competitive holiday sales market. Don’t just rely on your social media or Pay-per-click (PPC) campaigns, but create some engaging activity and promote them through your website and social media pages to create user involvement.
# 6 Make Your Advertisements More Interactive
Advertisement still remains one of the major way to grab attention. However, if you are looking at creating an edge over your competitors, video advertisements are the best way to go. Not only video ads are amazingly interactive, they can go viral if created intelligently. Thus, investing in festival specific, story telling video ads can give you much leverage in social media platforms as well as YouTube. Advertising with leading shopping search engines can be a great way to increase interactivity too. Due to the nature of e-commerce market in Southeast Asia, customers are increasingly drawn to the shopping search engines. By placing your advertisement with a leading shopping search engine you can leverage the trust factor of a bigger brand as well as make your brand more visible.
# 7 Don’t Restrict Your Marketing Efforts Till Christmas
Most online businesses give maximum focus towards their marketing efforts till Christmas. However, shopping frenzy of the consumers often continue till New Year, when most of the young people meet their friends and family and tend to shop for gifts for them. Thus, don’t end your efforts at Christmas only, extend them till New Year, to reap maximum benefits for your brand.
# 8 Optimize Your Recommendation Algorithms for Each Holiday
The kind of goodies one shop for in Christmas is definitely different from the kind of products you shop for Valentines’ Day! Thus, optimizing your item recommendation algorithms according to the particular holiday can be a great way to increase your sales number effectively. Here, another smart move can be to tweak the program to recommend products with higher profit margins to gather more revenue with lesser number of sales.
These tips and tricks have been tried and tested by large online sellers for several years. Thus, by following them you can definitely increase your sales number this holiday season. Higher visibility, user engagement, attractive offers and smooth user experience are the keys for success, when it comes to holiday sales.