After the holiday sales boom, eCommerce businesses aren’t able to relax. Your consumers received money and gift cards as Christmas presents and want to spend the extra cash at your business. Plus, after Christmas sales are the best way to kick off the New Year strong. That’s why you should take advantage of the After Christmas sale boom.
While there’s a chance to make serious profits, businesses must implement this strategy correctly. But how do you target the post-Christmas consumer versus ones shopping for gifts? Here’s how to prepare for your after Christmas sale, with some extra strategies to consider.
How to Prepare for Your After Christmas Sale
Preparing for your after Christmas sales is the same as approaching any other sale event: it’s all about planning. Here are some tactics to use.
Re-Evaluate Your Prices
During the holidays, buyers were used to seeing low prices. You may be tempted to continue this trend for your after Christmas sale. At the same time, these sales won’t last forever. That’s why you should re-evaluate how you’ll price your items.
Should you keep your prices low or restore them? First, see what your competitors are doing. If they restore their prices, you’ll lose money if you don’t. But if they keep their prices low and you restore yours, you’ll lose sales.
It’s also a good idea to check your sales traction. If you’re selling items quickly, restoring your prices to earn more revenue is a good idea. But if your sales are lacking, keeping your prices low will keep your business competitive.
Set up New Discounts
When you evaluate your new prices during your after Christmas sale, you can take this opportunity to set up new prices.
For example, what if you have excess inventory from the holiday season? Discount those items to post-holiday shoppers so you can sell that stock quicker. You’ll not only gain more sales but can decrease storage fees.
Extend Holiday Deals
You can also extend the deals you had during the holiday season to your after Christmas sale. This is a great way to extend post-holiday sales–especially for customers who may have been too busy shopping for others during the season and are now ready to buy something for themselves.
If you extend your holiday deals, don’t be afraid to promote them. Sponsor more products on Amazon and advertise your sales on Google and social media.
That said, it’s important to communicate that these deals are for a limited time. This will entice spontaneous sales, keeping up with the holiday momentum while engaging your most devoted customers.
Create Product Bundles
Your customers want to make the most out of their post-holiday shopping. Therefore, you should make the process easier for them by creating product bundles. This way, your customers can buy multiple products in one or at a lower price. They can use these items as extras for them or even as a belated gift for a loved one.
For many stores, offering product bundles is a more attractive option than discounts. You can liquidate excess stock without decreasing prices or hosting a holiday clearance. Plus, bundling products is a great way to increase sales for low-selling items–if you sell them with a popular product, customers will be more inclined to purchase both.
Related content: Amazon Seller Promotions
Target Repeat Customers
If your consumers bought items for their loved ones at your store, there’s a good chance they will return.
How do you target repeat customers? First, always offer complimentary products. For example, if you sell makeup, sell simple skincare such as a priming moisturizer or lip mask.
You can also use different marketing methods to inform them of new products and sales. We’ll discuss this tactic more in another section.
After Christmas Selling Strategies
Do you want to keep up the sales momentum after the holidays? Here are some strategies to try.
Set New Goals
As an eCommerce seller, you gain experience and learn new lessons yearly. This is the perfect time to set and implement new goals after the holidays.
When setting new goals, start by looking back on your past year. Note any successes you achieved and struggles you endured. This will help you understand which strategies worked and which products sold the best.
Continue using your most successful strategies and stock up on your best-selling products, but set new goals to increase sales from the previous year.
Update Your SEO
Just because you achieved success during the holidays doesn’t mean you can use the same marketing tactics for your after Christmas sale.
Update your SEO strategies to reflect the current season. This will help increase traffic to your store and product pages while engaging your customers.
Start by researching post-holiday sale keywords. Collect the ones that have the highest traffic and lowest competition. Use these search terms in your product titles and descriptions. It’s also a good idea to use keywords in your social media marketing, adding them as hashtags to your promotional posts.
Related content: Drive Outside Traffic on Amazon
Grow Your Email Marketing List
While increasing your email subscribers is something all businesses should focus on throughout the year, this is the most important tactic after the holidays.
Your consumers are likely looking for new stores and products at the beginning of the year. Collecting emails after the holidays will do more than widen your audience–it will increase the visibility of your products in time for the new year.
This is especially beneficial if you sell products in a “New Year’s Resolution” industry, such as health and fitness. At the start of the year, your customers will want to stock up on healthy food and fitness gear, so market your products by collecting emails.
Conduct Competitor Research
While creating your after Christmas strategy, consider what your competitors are doing.
Are they hosting post-holiday sales? Advertising their store on Amazon? Investing in more product listing creatives? Are they restoring their prices or keeping their holiday discounts?
Learn what your competitors are doing and implement their practices into your own.
Cross-Selling
With after Christmas sales, you can reel customers in with low prices but cross-sell to increase revenue.
There are different ways to cross-sell on Amazon. You can create product bundles and offer promotions when customers buy multiple products.
Other marketing tactics like SEO and sponsoring products can also entice cross-selling.
Host a Giveaway
Hosting a giveaway is an easy way to attract new customers and engage existing ones. Many businesses hand out a low-selling product or one with excess stock. Some opt to give out gift cards instead of products. You can engage customers to participate by asking them to follow your social media profile and/or share a post.
Hosting a giveaway offers many benefits. This tactic not only widens your reach but also increases sales. Let’s say you own a kitchen goods company and are giving away a small appliance. New customers who signed up for your giveaway may be curious about your store. They may see an item they want or need and will order it.
Before planning your giveaway, note any potential restrictions. While you can host a giveaway on Amazon, you must enable your Seller Central account for Amazon Giveaway. If you want to promote your giveaway on social media, understand that many platforms will not allow you to post about it.
Profit With Your After Christmas Sale Strategy
Many eCommerce businesses think the holiday season is the only sales boom before the New Year. In reality, an after Christmas sale is a great way to increase your revenue. That said, it’s best to prepare for your after Christmas strategy and plan your tactics.
This varies between targeting customers and evaluating your pricing. You’ll also want to consider using different strategies during this sale, such as hosting a giveaway.
Have you tried this and still find it difficult to unlock your full potential on Amazon during the holiday season? We can help. Our Accelerator program is designed to increase growth on Amazon for existing stores that need a boost.
Authors
Esteban Muñoz is a content writer at AMZ Advisers, with several years’ experience in digital marketing and e-commerce. Esteban and the AMZ Advisers team have been able to achieve incredible growth on Amazon for their clients by optimizing and managing their accounts, and creating in-depth content marketing strategies.
Stephanie Jensen has been writing e-commerce content for seven years, and her copy has helped numerous stores rank on Amazon. Follow her on LinkedIn for more insight into freelance writing and creating high-quality content.
