As more people shop online, the global eCommerce market is expected to exceed $83 trillion by 2030. According to Deloitte, the Holiday Season (from Thanksgiving to December 31) on its own will bring a nice $289 to $294 billion in online sales in 2024.
Making Your Holiday Season Rock
It’s a crucial period in the retail calendar. Retailers typically make 25 percent of their annual sales between October and December; for some businesses, like department stores, it can be over a third. Plus, according to Ipsos Iris data from 2023, average time spent online went up by 17% in the year’s final quarter compared to the first 3 quarters. If the run-up to and over Christmas could be better, then any business that depends on eCommerce sales can look forward to a challenging 12 months.
To steal a famous quote, “A goal without a plan is just a wish”. It says it all, really, because just hoping you’ll make it big over the Holiday Season isn’t enough. Companies need to start planning to capture all of the potential business coming their way in the coming days and weeks.
This blog will help you ace your plan and get your data-centric approach lined up to pump your eCommerce business. It’s more straightforward than you probably think, and its benefits are huge!
Ways That Planning Makes a Difference
With the world and his dog going online to shop, you want to maximise the likelihood of them buying your products or services when they land on your website. Well, that takes planning. You need to analyse your website and your marketing strategy to see where improvements can be made. And, importantly, where to focus your budget.
Here’s what you should be doing:
- Propensity Modelling –
We discussed propensity modelling in an earlier blog and how you can use it to predict the likelihood of certain website visitors performing specific actions. With so much at stake, propensity modelling is a valuable tool right now. Decide on the action or actions you want to model, collect the data and start scoring the possibilities of that action or those actions taking place. Using these insights, you can determine if your operation is ready for the holiday surge.
- Marketing Mix Modelling (MMM) –
You want to forecast the effect of different marketing tactics and strategies on product sales. Start by looking at your historical data from previous holiday seasons. Analyse your marketing spend across different channels over this period, pinpointing which had the greatest impact. With these insights in your pocket, you can optimise your budget allocation across the channels to drive sales and stand out from the competition.
- User Experience Optimisation –
Increase the chance of converting visitors by enhancing your website’s user experience. Ensure the information architecture design makes sense to visitors and keeps navigation clear and simple. Visual indicators such as breadcrumbs and location indicators help users understand their current website position. Additionally, ensure your website is accessible to everyone, including people with impairments such as visual and cognitive disabilities.
- Customer Journey Analysis and Conversion Rate Optimisation (CRO) –
Improve the website experience for visitors with customer journey analysis and CRO. Through analysis, you can identify friction points in the journey, like lengthy checkout processes or poor mobile usability, and create a plan of action. What’s more, there is a wide range of CRO techniques, such as heatmaps and A/B testing, to improve your website’s performance and conversion rates.
- Tagging and Tracking Accuracy –
Make sure your tagging and tracking are accurate. You want to understand what marketing campaigns and touchpoints are driving the most traffic to your website to optimise your campaign spending, maximising your ROI and sales across these critical weeks.
What Data to Capture When Peak Sales Hits?
Don’t think the work is done once the holiday season lands. There is still valuable data to gather during the most important weeks to drive sales, attract new customers and increase customer satisfaction. Here’s the data you should be focused on:
1. Sales Data
Track data related to sales transactions, such as what was sold, how much, when and to whom. Collect information such as total units sold, average order value and stock data. Then use the insights gained from analysing the data to adjust your pricing, inventory and marketing strategies on the fly.
2. Website Data
Leverage the primary data available through your website. You want to monitor how customers interact with your website to make adjustments that will increase sales. Keep an eye on traffic sources, conversion and drop-off points in the funnel and customer experience data, such as page load times and cart abandonment. Heatmapping will also show which areas of the website draw customer attention and could help identify usability issues to correct.
3. Social Media / Campaign Metrics
Control the effectiveness of your digital marketing strategy. Calculate the return on your digital ad spend and the success of your ads via their click-through rate (CTR). With this information, you can ensure optimal campaign performance at this critical time and focus your budget on the social media platforms or creatives yielding the best returns.
4. Third-Party Data
Besides primary data, you should use third-party data to maximise your holiday season sales. In a previous blog, we discussed web scraping, a great third-party source. There are tools to track and measure your share of voice on third-party retailer sites so you know whether to spend more on improving visibility. Likewise, you can pull data from multiple platforms and tools to identify the number of sales from non-direct-to-consumer channels to enhance your marketing and sales strategy.
The Brands That Get It Right
Some brands, like Walmart, have extremely well-honed peak season strategies. In 2023, the company was one of the big winners from online sales on Black Friday, hitting a record $9.12 billion in the US. This year, it has followed a phased Black Friday strategy, with Black Friday events starting before Thanksgiving and culminating on Cyber Monday, December 1.
In 2023, Walmart beat Amazon, whose peak season strategy is multifaceted. It combines advanced inventory management with listing optimisation, advertising strategies, promotions and deals, and other activities. Between November 17 and November 27, when Amazon ran its extended Black Friday and Cyber Monday events, customers bought more than one billion items on its website.
Get in touch for support
Very few businesses have the resources of a Walmart or an Amazon. Most have to execute their peak season strategies on much smaller budgets. Also, they often have to deliver their strategy through teams that are already time-pressured or lack experience and tool sets for such a critical sales period.
At Ipsos Jarmany, our expertise and experience are helping customers achieve data-driven success over these important weeks. We’re helping businesses master the surge in sales opportunities using tried-and-tested techniques. Through honest conversations, we’re helping them formulate strategies that address current challenges to help their businesses thrive.
If you’d like to learn more about how we can help you develop a data-driven approach to eCommerce success, get in touch with us today.
