For most eCommerce stores, summertime means lower revenues, sales are usually going down, as most people are away for holidays. With gross sales dropping by as much as 30% from top sales months like December, retailers need to look for creative ways and follow expert tips on how they can improve their practices for increasing sales and surviving the off-summer season. Read the article to make your store bigger, better, and busier for the summer season. Why are summer sales slow in online eCommerce business? · People are out and about more, enjoying their summer vacations or hitting up the beach. People spend less on shopping. · It’s that time of year when many of your target customers go on holiday which means spending less time on their devices, leading to fewer purchases overall. · Many companies often hold onto their new releases for high-peak sales periods resulting in quiet times in summer. · In Europe, this year overall growth is slowing, inflation is rising, and thus, eCommerce sales are falling. Because of the uncertain political situation and the rising cost of living, consumers don’t have much spending power and so retail is feeling the crunch – with people around the globe buying less to save money. 10 ways to boost your summer sales To keep your sales hot this summer, you got to be diligent and look for creative ways to sell your products and improve the shopping experience during the sluggish summer season. Look out for some valuable tips for keeping your e-commerce store thriving, 1. Launch Summer Products Some products are absolutely essential and practically sell themselves most in the summer. Sunglasses, sunscreens, athleisure wear, sportswear, backpacks, and watches are especially hot this year. Analyse and understand which items will sell particularly well during the summer months, and shelve the ones that won’t. 2. Stay on top of your stock and Inventor Plan smartly and buy accordingly. Take stock of your stock. Review your inventory forecasting well and run flash sales to shift any excess products to make room for better seasonal stock in the process. 3. Attractive Product packaging Consider listing items under summer themed approaches related to holidays and events in the summertime. Try bundling products by offering recommended products like Amazon. Run summer marketing campaigns offering discounted prices on the purchase of multiple items to get a better deal. Run BOGO promotions, and summer sale ads for further increasing order sizes. 4. Start selling across international borders Take your business international and expand your customer base and offer worldwide shipping to beat the summer slump. Cross-border commerce can be a great way to excel in new markets by moving products that are out-of-season in your home market to target market places where they are in season. Consider proper marketing strategies, summer shopping campaigns, and tailor them, keeping in mind cultural differences and traditions, to ensure better reach and connect with that market. 5. Start chatting with your customers Considering Chatbots, Messaging apps, live representatives, and voice assistants can prove to be especially valuable in off-seasons. With a robust chatbot strategy, up to 80% of your common customer service questions could be easily answered by bots. This kind of conversational commerce is very responsive and helps your loyal customers to address any queries quickly, giving shoppers the confidence to buy, increase order value, and trust you as a brand. By building personalised relationships with your potential customers you can raise the complete browsing experience. 6.Weather-based product segmentation Weather-based segmentation approach means promoting warm weather season products, such as sunscreen and picnic blankets, and hitting the “launch” button as soon as the summer season begins across the country. 7. Plan A Summer Sale When the temperature rises, let the prices drop. Hold a summer sale and give away free gifts to boost sales and shift the unwanted stock. Run flash sales, weekend promotions, or clearance sales using social media platforms. Tip-Summer shoppers mostly make their most expensive online purchases on Mondays, so consider this when planning your promotions. 8. Run A Contest Giveaway Running a commerce summer contest is an excellent idea to increase engagement and conversions and boost your summer sales. It gives a good opportunity to generate buzz or excitement about your products and is ideal for increasing the email capture base and generating new leads to market during the busier months. 9. Review your shipping setup and consider drop-shipping Check your shipping and service fees and consider implementing drop-shipping to get otherwise reluctant shoppers over the line and enjoy increased traffic. Shipping costs are always one of the leading causes of shopping cart abandonment. So offering free shipping or embedding shipping costs into the total product price is a solution. If you can’t offer free shipping, offer discounts on product bundles or other incentives for the purchase of summer products. 10. Make your website mobile-friendly Studies show that between 50-70% of people (or higher) abandon their cart due to slow-running websites. Quick sites convert a lot fast than slow ones. Use fewer pop-ups, enable file compression, reduce image sizes, experiment with tweaks to your mobile web browsers, and use Google Optimisation to cut some milliseconds off your website’s load time. Summer eCommerce trends in the United Kingdom · Worldwide, online traffic to eCommerce sites experiences a significant slump between July and September each year before increasing again towards Black Friday. · One study has found sunny Saturdays the worst days for online sales in summer. · When temperatures exceed 18 degrees, UK supermarkets experience a 22% increase in soft drink sales, a 20% rise in juices, and a 90% rise in garden furniture. Let’s outsmart the summer sales slump with some smart planning Focus on the bigger picture, and use this summer season to make your store bigger and better for the forthcoming busier seasons ahead. Smartly plan the list of things you can do to help your business stay healthy during the summer months. Use your time productively during the summer months and use this time to strategise for planning a new product launch, arranging new promotions, ad discounting strategies, or working towards strengthening your relationships with existing customers are always good ideas. Nealon, G. (2018, July 24). Council post: 10 ways to keep your e-commerce sales hot this summer. Forbes. Retrieved July 20, 2022, from https://www.forbes.com/sites/forbesagencycouncil/2018/07/24/10-ways-to-keep-your-e-commerce-sales-hot-this-summer/ Summer ecommerce tips and trends | mollie. (n.d.). Retrieved July 19, 2022, from https://www.mollie.com/en/news/post/summer-ecommerce-tips GET IN TOUCH: Name * Company * Phone Email * Subject Message *
