Mariya Kupriyenko- Mariya Kupriyenko
7 Strategies to Grow eCommerce Sales this Christmas
Updated: Apr 21
The Christmas season is one of the busiest times for eCommerce. Gifts to loved ones and colleagues, paired with donating to causes mark the occasion. We put together this guide to help you stand out from the crowd, incentivize customers, and make a meaningful impact this Christmas. Effectively.
Success metrics / KPIs
When running a campaign, it's a good idea to pick a few key metrics as a measure of success. Here are some typical eCommerce KPIs & success metrics:
Average Order Value (AOV) - this is how much shoppers will spend with your store per order, on average. Selling more and selling more expensive items will shift this digit up.
Average basket size - this is the number of items customers will purchase in an order, on average. Bundling is a great way to up this number.
Increase Conversion / Decrease abandoned cart - this is about decreasing the number of shoppers that leave your cart before purchasing. Ensuring a simple and clear pathway to payments and offering a number of payment options are key here.
Increase Shopper Life Time Value (LTV) & repeat sales - this is how much revenue a customer will bring to your store over their lifetime as your customer. A great way to increase LTV & repeat sales is through rewards, member discounts, subscriptions, and loyalty schemes.
Sales volumes - total sales made by your store. This is the broadest KPI and should be paired with a second success metric to help you develop a clear strategy.
Traffic to the site - lead a lot of people to your site via marketing activities this Christmas. Increase sales or re-engage the shopper at a later date (remember to grab their email address).
Sales Strategies for your eCommerce store
1. Run a Giving Campaign (aka Cause Marketing)
Giving is good for the heart and it's good for growth. It helps brands stand out, tell a story, connect with customers' values, and up commercial metrics. From driving new customers to the site to re-engaging existing customers. Cause marketing is a trading strategy that gives your store a competitive advantage and doesn't break your wallet like aggressive discounting.
2. Discounting
Time-bound discounts can be a great way to 'tip over the edge' shoppers that are already interested in your products or products like yours. Discounting is one of the most common eCommerce trading tactics. While it may not be as helpful in differentiating your brand or necessarily help build loyalty right away, it is a powerful way to increase sales volumes and introduce people to your product.
3. Free shipping and product giveaways
Customers appreciate added value such as free shipping and getting free gifts with their orders. Unlike discounting, this strategy does not take value away from your products. Free products can be sample testers of your new stock or less valuable product that you wish to 'move'.
4. Loyalty incentives
Allow customers to earn additional rewards and loyalty points. These can then be converted to products or credits. These types of incentives are a great way to increase repeat purchasing.
5. Bundling
Make it easy for shoppers to buy more by offering products that complement their purchases.
6. Be social
Whatever strategy you choose this Christmas - tell the world about it! Tell it more than once and across channels. Consumers are distracted so seeing and hearing your message consistently and across channels (social media/email/web) is a must for a successful campaign.
7. Offer flexible payment options
If you don't already, look into connecting Buy Now Pay Later products such as Klarna into your Shopify store. This doesn't cost you anything and reduces abandoned carts.
Set up a Giving Campaign with Pledger,
in minutes
Install Pledger App from the Shopify App Store
Select how much your want to give from product sales as a store and/or empower customers to give after the purchase with the Customer Donations widget
3. Choose up to 3 Causes to partner with. See our causes.
4. Apply Product Page Banner, Post Purchase interactive widget, and the impact calculator to your store
5. Go live!
6. Tell your customers about your Giving Campaign and how their purchase makes an impact via social media, an email out, your website, and other channels. Remember -shoppers are distracted so it will pay off telling them more than once.
Recommended Causes this Christmas
Here is a selection of Pledger causes that help make this winter a warmer season and this Christmas a happier occasion.
Enjoy this stunning autumn & get your store ready for Christmas!
Pledger Team