eCommerce is still booming, yes, but this doesn’t mean you should take it for granted. Historically, summer is NOT a good time for sales. Summers bring on dreaded sales slumps, which affect most retailers, especially those that rely heavily on online sales.
We may not like it, but it makes perfect sense.
During summer, online shoppers are either on vacation – mostly traveling to far-flung beach resorts or outdoors enjoying the awesome weather, and therefore spend minimal time surfing the web or shopping. We could all use a screen break, don’t you think?
But even as the consumers’ digital-centric shopping behavior is largely expected to continue into 2021 and beyond, eCommerce retailers cannot afford to relax as the summer sale slump trend is very much alive.
In August 2020, for instance, online outlets experienced lower consumer spending compared with July but still jumped 21.2 percent year-on-year, according to a recent governmental report.
Despite the after-effects of the pandemic and their impact on online shopping, retail and eCommerce insiders are still predicting a tapering off of online sales throughout the summer of 2021.
According to data insights giant Adobe Analytics, July’s 55 percent year-on-year growth in online sales was already a marked deceleration from the projected 76 percent jump in June.
This is despite the U.S. eCommerce sales getting a 42 percent year-over-year boost.
So, with all these factors and trends at play, what do eCommerce retailers need to do to: one – stay in business, two – remain competitive enough to attract decent sales figures throughout the summer months without necessarily spending a fortune on their marketing activities?
In this article, we take a look at some compelling tips that should come in handy for online stores even as they prepare for the dreaded summer months.
Sounds cliche but planning ahead will definitely set the tone for your eCommerce summer sales slump strategy. This is probably not your first summer and by now you have an idea of how your business performs during this season.
Armed with crucial sales and marketing data from your previous summers, you are in a better position to counter the summer slump and cushion the impact of the season.
For instance, during the planning ahead phase, you need to have some key stats such as your site’s bounce rate, which will help you answer the all-important question, “why are my customers leaving without making a purchase?”.
Image Source: Neil Patel
You might also need to relook at your landing pages – Google Analytics reports come in handy here – to establish on which sections of your site it would be most effective to add more products or even sales copy.
It’s also highly recommended that you get an Exit Page report to help you determine pages that are somewhat problematic or outright frustrating causing prospects to ditch your site altogether.
Despite summers being slow and uninspiring for many marketers, staying connected and networking with your customers is super important. Reconnecting with existing customers, even though they might be on vacation, boosts your chances of making a sale, especially if they see a deal that’s priced right and one that aligns with a problem they might have been trying to solve just before summer.
For this strategy, you can use tactics such as automated email blast to customers that have opted in for email marketing. However, for this to work, you will need special tools to make work easier for your team (more on these superhero tools later in the article!)
Keeping your customers engaged on social media is also another effective tactic to use during summer. Even though most are out enjoying the weather, a good chunk of them are constantly on social media uploading pictures.
Use this opportunity to sneak in cleverly crafted Facebook, Instagram, and Snapchat posts that will grab their attention. This way you maintain top-of-mind awareness, which is crucial.
eCommerce is the poster child for technology-driven industries. Feel like your business wouldn’t quite make the cut here? Feel a bit left behind on eCommerce technology? Summer is the perfect time to look into new tools and tricks.
When customers are not overflowing, you have the time to test new tactics and even sign up for some free trials.
A sales team with the right set of tools is highly motivated to go the extra mile to hit and surpass their sales target, regardless of the season.
It is, therefore, advisable that you periodically introduce new sales and productivity tools or even update existing ones. This is not only a morale booster but will also give your sales team the confidence they need to face the summer sales slump head-on.
Having set the tone and pace for your eCommerce summer sales strategy with the above tips and tactics, it’s now time to bring in the big guns!
As mentioned earlier in the article, for this strategy to be successful, you will definitely need a set of special, tried-and-tested tools that will help your sales and marketing team to mount a formidable onslaught against the dreaded summer sale season. Let’s take a look at some of these result-oriented tools real quick, shall we?
This tool is arguably one of the most popular and effective integration tools in the market to date. Designed for bidirectional marketing, the Mailchimp for Salesforce integration can help sales teams and marketing executives use their leads and contacts in their Salesforce to design, deliver, and track email campaigns.
The Mailchimp and Salesforce integration also allows your sales and marketing teams to effectively manage data seamlessly. This, in turn, enables them to manage their email campaign data for better optimization.
It also allows you to customize your emailer data with themes, visuals, and templates for better personalized email blasts to customers.
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This is your go-to integration tool for better-targeted marketing. The Mailchimp for NetSuite integration allows you to effectively use NetSuite Contact and Customer Subscriptions to Audience(s) and Group(s) to create, with military precision, spot-on email campaigns that ultimately boost your lead conversion.
It also significantly improves your abandoned cart issues as well as it helps you to filter and sync only those records that meet specific criteria from your CRM or vice-versa.
Remember this tip – Networking & Reconnecting? Well, the Constant Contact for Dynamics 365 integration was designed to help you do just that. It’s ideal to re-engage dormant customers, even if they are currently sleeping under an umbrella on a beach somewhere.
This integration will help your sales and marketing team to engage your prospects, clients, and partners in real-time and keep a close eye on your most effective campaigns as well as on those you should ditch.
With Dynamics 365 and Constant Contact, you can easily sync accounts, contacts, and leads to Constant Contact Lists as well as filter and sync only those records that meet specific criteria.
When you see your first ad for flip-flops, you should get ready for the summer sales slump. It may not be what you want to hear, but you know that summer is eCommerce’s winter of discontent.
Brace yourself and take this time to find new ways to retain existing customers and attract new ones. After all, the industry is still going strong, so a few months of reflection might do you more good than another growth spurt.
