The last months of the year are the period when the highest increase in sales and revenue is recorded for merchants and, consequently, for online stores. This is because the last quarter is marked by events that users look forward to for shopping. 

BlackFriday, CyberMonday and Christmas are the three main events that close out the year 2020. Consumer spending is concentrated in these three key holidays, as people wait to finalize purchases to take advantage of promotions and new collections. 

So if you already have an e-commerce, now is the right time to reorganize your online showcase and plan your marketing strategies. If instead you’re thinking of opening your online store, this is the perfect moment to jump into the digital world and maximize your earnings right away by leveraging these profitable events for your sales. 

But I also suggest you start planning for 2021 and be ready for other commercial occasions, such as winter sales, Valentine’s Day, Father’s Day and Mother’s Day.

Here is a short infographic on the upcoming holidays:

E-commerce data 2020 Italy: the boom of the online sales channel

Immediately grasping consumers’ needs is essential to take the right path toward achieving goals. 

The first question that naturally arises in this pandemic period is whether habits have changed and how customers’ consumption habits have changed. Despite the difficult moment, e-commerce data are more than positive and translate into a forecast of steady growth. 

According to data provided by the B2C Observatory of the Politecnico di Milano Italian consumers’ online purchases in 2020 are worth 22.7 billion euros, corresponding to 4.7 billion more than in 2019. It’s the highest absolute increase ever!

This shows how online selling is no longer a secondary channel, but today plays a decisive role in reorganizing sales strategies! Store closures caused by the lockdown pushed consumers to appreciate and rely more and more on channels that enable online purchasing.

And again, another interesting figure emerging from research by Nielsen and Sendcloud is that Italy is among the top in Europe for online purchases. On average, 2.9 more products are purchased compared to the period before the lockdown. Finally, the same research shows that today in Italy a customer is willing to wait for shipping for an average time of 6.3 days before declaring a delivery late. 

It’s clear that the distance between physical store and online store is increasingly less defined and that having a website is now essential. E-commerce is now the only channel  to avoid succumbing due to recent closures and to meet the “online shoppers’” preference for buying online. 

Plan your marketing strategies in advance with Flazio

Get your e-commerce ready now for Black Friday and other profitable events. Before you start, think about which products you want to push, which offers to promote, and which channels to use to give visibility to your e-commerce. 

These events are a great opportunity for your business not only because they allow you to earn immediately, but above all because they let you acquire new contacts to keep for the future. 

Create coupon codes or discount sessions

Offer your customers coupon codes on their purchases. Discount codes are highly appreciated by customers and help maximize conversions. You’ll only need to decide the discount percentage you want to apply to your products and create the coupon from the site’s e-commerce management. You can also create discount sessions, meaning put only some products on sale and highlight them in your product showcase. I suggest you differentiate between new customers and returning customers. You can use social media to promote discounts and drive all your followers to your website. For existing customers, instead, you can send promotional emails with exclusive codes, making them feel special!

Announce your promotions with personalized communications

Use all Flazio tools to communicate your promotions

Website and social media are the tools to use to promote your offers and products. 
First, make your discount codes or promotional products visible on your website, so both new and existing customers will be informed about your promotions. A great tool, for example, is pop-ups—those windows that open as soon as the user clicks a button, enters your site, or changes page. Pop-ups communicate your message clearly and precisely! 

You can also create a specific page dedicated to your discounted products to add to the navigation menu. In any case, always remember that the site must be easy to navigate, so choose carefully the areas of the site where you promote your offer. 

I also suggest enriching the site with informative content; in this case you’ll need to use the blog. The blog is an essential resource for any site that wants to reach great positions on Google and satisfy users’ curiosity. The blog should not be used to sell the product directly, but to create interest in the product itself by telling its story. Interesting content will strengthen your promotions! 

Create search engine campaigns

We know that 71% of clicks happen on the results at the top of the SERP (search results page). To rank among the top results, it’s necessary to implement different marketing strategies. Among these, launching AdWords campaigns to promote periodic offers is an effective strategy to achieve great rankings and increase conversions. Every good campaign always includes creating a specific landing page where users will land after clicking the ad. The landing page must follow a very specific structure to help us reach our goal, and content is the key. In this link you can find out how to create a landing page for your website