Holiday eCommerce Trends That You Need To Know in 2021

Let’s talk eCommerce trends for this holiday! This year has been instrumental for the growth of many small businesses and future online companies. Every year, there are trends to watch out for so you can set yourself up in the best way possible as a small or online business during the holidays. 

Last year we told you the best trends, and we’re back in 2021 to help you succeed again over the holidays. If you’re not on top of trends, you’re behind on sales. Luckily for you, we’ve got you covered. Today, we’ll dive into the best trends for this holiday and how to implement them with ease!

Convenience is key

It’s no surprise we’d start with convenience. For any eCommerce business, this is key in having the best of trends for this holiday! What every customer wants to know as the bottom line is, will your product or service benefit them in any way? That’s what convenience boils down to.

Consider this holiday season having more options like the below:

– Ordering online after-dark

– More than one pick up location with COVID restrictions implemented

– Creating layaway options in-store and online

– More express delivery for loyal customers

– Possibility of returning/refunding products easily online & in-person

Of course, this is for our product-based business owners. For our service-based, this of the following:

– Providing more discounts to loyal customers

– Providing after-hours for online chat leading up to shutdowns

– Creating/providing virtual how-tos & guides for your common FAQ questions 

Of course, though, there are some ways your SEO can improve in these last days leading up to the holiday tiding:

– Optimize your images & visuals

– Boost your website security

– Decrease on slow loading times

– Eliminate duplicate content   

This holiday season, give your customers the best gift by being their number one choice of convenience!

Be timely with your messaging

Maybe some of you have heard, “there’s a time and place for everything”? Well, this holiday season is the perfect time to ensure your online stores are providing the right messages at the right time. Now the holiday season starts as early as mid-October. With only 22% of all shoppers stating they’d wait until after Thanksgiving to shop for the holiday season, your online website needs to captivate them like yesterday.

Ask yourself, what will your landing page look like this holiday? A great way to implement this trend this holiday with ease is simply to make it easier for your customers to find and utilize your discounts earlier than usual. Instead of releasing your deals for your loyal customers in mid-November, starting in October could have benefited you. Or having promos once your customers reach a certain amount of purchases of your products.

Know your customers

Now, none of this matters if you do not take the time all year to foster a healthy relationship with your customers. Whether that’s being more present on your social media, like showing your face, they need to know the face and voice behind your unique products/services.

Through this, you’ll be able to identify your target audience and niche a lot sooner-you’ll know the difference between a younger generation buying from you versus a Baby-boomer, for instance. Furthermore, it has been observed that baby boomers are ⅓ more likely to shop during November than millennials. And Gen Zers are also 2.5 times more likely to shop during October than Generation Z. Ensuring your website is ready for this slight change in audience is necessary. 

Ensuring your message stands out among the crowd this holiday season can make or break your sales. As you prepare to have an influx of shoppers, your inventory should be well sustained as well. We discuss the importance of inventory and what to expect this holiday season on our blog called, The 2021 Holiday Guide for Online Store! Not sure if your website is presenting the right message this holiday season? No worries, our gift to your small business this year is our online experts ready to serve and help you develop the best website you can!

Prepare for all things mobile: Orders, Social, and SMS Marketing

This holiday, it’s imperative every type of customer has access to your online stores. This includes your mobile customers-orders, social media all need to be accounted for. Shopping on mobile is more accessible, and many find it convenient; however, this can lead to high cart abandonment.

This holiday, consider curbing this by providing a frictionless mobile shopping experience and remembering that people are more inclined to purchase from their mobile device if a discount is available. Many online businesses are taking advantage of using coupon codes that can be found in your email newsletters or in your CTA’s with a subscription. Ever thought of going live on social media with your new discounts? 

Why not have incentives or coupons as customers check out your store? For our small business owners with a physical store, placing that code on your door is an alternative and a safe way that’s still following COVID restrictions. These are all wonderful ways this trend can be implemented easily this holiday and bring in more revenue. 

Many brands get discovered on social media. Believe it or not, 45% of people who found something new online referred to it as a gift from someone. What does this mean for you and your business? Simply put, make sure you have a strategic plan in place for your social media customers and newcomers as well. Having content that converts your audience into customers is all you should be worried about this holiday season.

Focus on omnichannel strategies

Alright, so this word may be ample for many of our newcomers. In its simplest terms, though, omnichannel means having many ways of streams & methods for your customers shopping through your business. This can be anything from your own website, in-person shopping, social media, ads, email marketing, SMS-the more, while all balanced, the better revenue you bring in. 

This holiday season, a trend being implemented more and more with ease is having this in your pocket. The reality of it is, customers want to know that despite the channel of engagement, or whether they decide to step out and shop or do it from the comfort of their couch, they will receive the same exceptional experience. This should come with hyper-personalized messaging & always convenience.

The goal should be to have an omnichannel nurture cycle that effectively guides your customers to your sales funnels each time. Those who don’t are destined to lose out on competitors with these plans already in place.

Free shipping and easy checkout

Please see our previous resources on this very topic for those new to our blogs. We can’t stress enough and won’t stop because it’s true and proven to advance many small businesses into larger businesses. 

Free shipping should always say to your customers, you are their friend and the best place to shop. This is one holiday trend you should really consider implementing for your online store to flow with ease. Studies have shown, 90% of consumers would shop online more often if given the option of free shipping. What are we saying here? That offering this service not only increases your revenue but could add to your profit as well.

It’s been sighted that every online parcel to be shipped is currently $63.10. As many larger companies do, start implementing free shipping after $70.00 of your products in your customer’s carts. They will add more and feel they are getting more for their buck. Let’s face it, purchasing 1 or 2 items and paying for the shipping fees feels like adding an extra 2 or 3 things to the list that you didn’t want anyway…Cut out the stress of the shipping fee this holiday season and see how easy it is for your customers to buy more of your inventory. 

With this, though, you will have to ensure you have the capacity for it. The manpower for it and the extra hours for packing and shipping. For this trend, we advise preparing months in advance to ensure all employees are aware of the significant increase of orders coming in.

BONUS POINT: 

If you haven’t noticed, we’ve been giving bonus tips these last couple of blogs because we know how much they’ve helped you all! With that being said, each holiday season having a review section integrated into your emails, social media posts, polls on social even, is a game-changer.

Why do you ask? Well, to boost your customer relationship, of course! You want to hear what your customers think and feel as this is the busiest time of the year-how they perceive your work, and customer service can make or break you for the following years. This will also add to your social discovery and how far your online presence can really go. 

Of course, with offering deals and ways your customers can save, you want them to be educated-this is the best way to do so. Your reviews will give an accurate account of how they believe you can educate, encourage and increase your chance of conversion through them. Do your loyal and future customers’ favour and show them they can trust you by posting your reviews.

At the end of the day

This goes without saying, but we will repeat it today. Your online business is your baby, and for the holidays, you want to make sure it’s reaching everyone it can in the most effective way. These trends and more are here to provide ease to your holiday load in ways that’ll increase your sales and turn the attention to your store with bright lights!

Ensuring you’ve prepared and released the right message this holiday and having all your side covered, including mobile, social media and SMS marketing, are just to name a few. Don’t be afraid to provide omnichannel streams to funnel your sales; offering free shipping doesn’t hurt either. The cherry on top will always be having an advantage against competitors through providing convenience – ask yourself as you utilize these trends. Would you feel comfortable as the customer?

Our best advice is to prepare by covering your bases as much as possible. And provide a seamless shopping experience. We want to leave you with the fact that we at Bookmark.com can help you stay on top of all trends and help your business by being an all-in-one website solution. Come back next week for more tips & tricks in the eCommerce world.