According to data published by Forbes, the ecommerce industry in the UK is set to generate £152 billion in sales in 2025. Ecommerce will also account for almost 40% of all total UK retail sales.
Whether you happen to be based in the UK or elsewhere, getting ahead of peak retail seasons is essential to ensure your ecommerce store maximises its success.
At Imaginaire, we design and build ecommerce stores for various industries.
Here are some of the top things we advise you to look out for across your marketing strategy to prepare for retail holidays. This include key events throughout the year such as Mother’s Day, Father’s Day, Black Friday, Cyber Monday and Christmas.
Optimising Your Website For Conversions
When was the last time your website was analysed for performance and user-friendliness?
If there is silence in the room, then there is a real possibility your website is letting conversions slip through the net.
Top things to check for include:
- Broken links or pages
- Frustrating user journey
- Outdated content
- Glitchy checkout experience
- Non-responsive website
- A general lack of trust or authority
In reality, you won’t know about any of the above issues unless your website has not only been built to succeed but is also regularly maintained.
Since building or redesigning a website can be a lengthy process, don’t wait until right before the next big retail holiday to get started. The more time you have, the easier it will be to not only create a seamless experience for users but also to make any necessary adjustments to the content.
Refining Your SEO Strategy
Even if your website looks the part, it won’t show up on search engines if it’s not SEO-friendly.
With ecommerce platforms such as Shopify, there can be lots of aspects to consider beyond the page itself such as the product titles and descriptions. Long before any upcoming retail holiday, you need to be doing checks to determine the search friendliness of your entire store.
Ideally, your website should be connected with SEO software such as Semrush or Ahrefs. Doing this will allow you to continually monitor your website’s SEO performance, plus perform competitor research.
Backing Up SEO With PPC
SEO is essential for every website, but as with all digital marketing techniques, there are limitations too. Namely, SEO takes time to work and for time-sensitive campaigns or highly competitive search terms, ranking on page #1 of Google isn’t always realistic.
Instead, PPC (pay-per-click) can work in tandem with your SEO strategy to make quick wins on search engines or any of the social media platforms which have paid advertising capabilities.
To be successful with ecommerce PPC, factoring in user intent is essential so that you drive relevant traffic to your pages. Also, the landing page where you send users should offer a great experience to close those sales.
Nurturing Your Social Media Campaigns
If you want to sell during any peak retail season, then your social media content is also going to need some attention.
The challenge here is that your competitors will also be vying for the attention of your customers, so what can you do to stand out? This is where a clever social media strategy planned months in advance using data-driven insights can help.
Consider utilising both organic and paid social strategies for the best results. In particular, geotargeting is ideal for retailers who want to target local customers.
However, ecommerce businesses of all types can also make use of segmentation to get any paid campaigns in front of the right people.
Creating A Slick Operation Behind The Scenes
A final tip for preparing your business for peak holidays is to ensure that everything behind the scenes from manufacturing to distribution is in order. For instance, checking that you have enough team members to process orders and also maintain excellent levels of customer support for when the pressure is on.
Combined with fine-tuning your website and digital marketing efforts, having an effective team can make a huge difference in achieving success during peak retail seasons.
Imaginaire – Prepare Your Online Store For Peak Seasons With Our Website Building & Digital Marketing Services
Achieving peak season sales is the aim of every business, especially ecommerce businesses.
Of course, this all depends on having a website which attracts, delights and converts customers. Plus, a strong digital marketing strategy which sends customers your way!
If you need help with your website or digital marketing, then the experts here at Imaginaire can advise you further.
Let us know more about your business and how we can help by getting in touch with our team.
Or, give us a call on 0115 697 1158 to speak with our digital marketing experts.
By
Imaginaire
