2020 Holiday Shopping – How to Position Your Company for Online Shopping – COVID-19

The 2020 holiday shopping season will look different this year. Experts are predicting that sales from retailers will start sooner as the race for revenue is heightened. With travel, sporting events, concerts, and other in-person experiences on hold before a vaccine is available, it is also predicted that purchases of traditional products rather than experiences will take center stage. That being said, it may not be a bad idea to go ahead and book that 2021 vacation! But in the wake of COVID-19 we have seen a pull forward of demand with an adoption of tech, accelerating the movement towards digital transformation. We believe this will accelerate the trend of online holiday shopping. With fewer in-person shopping experiences available, or with new restrictions, people will turn to Cyber Week and online shopping for the holidays. Salesforce is predicting a stronger than normal Cyber Monday for obvious reasons. So, how can you position your company for the digital future, even as early as this holiday season? Here are a few suggestions from our team.

1.Site – Build an online store that performs. As we stated in our previous blogs about SEO, speed is everything online. The faster the user experience, the lower the chances are of people leaving your site quickly (Bounce Rate). A page load time of under 2 seconds is optimal. But how you get there is heavily dependent on your host. If you use WordPress as your CMS, we recommend SiteGround for hosting. SiteGround is known for having some of the fastest WordPress hosting speeds of all web hosts. Integrating SiteGround hosting with a Cloudflare CDN will also help page load times. Make sure that you have performance hosting, this will impact not only your SEO but your CRO, sales, and overall user experience.

2.Shopify – Shopify is the platform of choice for e-commerce entrepreneurs and for good reason. It is the quickest way to start selling online. It comes with turn key merchant services, an easy to use dashboard, built-in apps and sales channels that allow for rapid scaling. Looking to start an online store for the holiday shopping season? Don’t delay! Time is of the essence. Fire Source Media can help you build out your Shopify theme and create an excellent user experience.

3.Email List?Management – Without an owned database you will be at the mercy of paid advertising and SEO. Other than remarketing your website visitors, nurturing your email database is the often overlooked and less sexy side of marketing but it works. Make sure that you use a CRM like HubSpot or an email marketing tool like MailChimp. Sending regular emails and drip campaigns can help drive sales and create brand loyalty.

4.Get Social – Social media is essential for any company, especially in e-commerce. Social media is a great way to drive relevant traffic to your site. Social media helps promote your brand, it provides a channel for press releases, and a way to communicate your brand message to your audience. Platforms such as Pinterest can be used to drive relevant, organic traffic, along with posting regularly on Facebook and Instagram.

All of the above will help you as you launch your online store. Need help? Just fill out the form below and a Fire Source Media representative will contact you.