4 Tips that every Ecommerce manager needs to know this Christmas 2020 season

Holidays are not going to be like any other season this year.

The 2020 holiday shopping season is looking to be extremely virtual as thousands of retail stores seemingly closed overnight.

But at least, there’s still hope in saving this sector as people are still planning to spend money.

If you are looking into selling online this year, we can help. 
MEM was launched a couple of months ago with small businesses in mind. With MEM we can build your stunning e-commerce site that defines your brand & launch it crazy fast. All this with a fraction of the previously needed traditional investment & a much better result.

We have gathered 4 trends solutions that every retailer should focus on while trying to align his business during this period:

Trend #1: Delivery Services

This year, shifts towards online shopping are expected to place burdens on shipping infrastructures as the expected increase in online orders will cause delays and surcharges from shipping and fulfillment services.

To alleviate these concerns, we’ve put together 3 of the most common delivery services problems and provided tips on how you can avoid them in order to guarantee delivery in time with the best services.

1. Late deliveries: Late deliveries are a problem for both recipient and sender. The recipient doesn’t want to wait longer than necessary for delivery, and you don’t want your business getting a bad rap for not being able to deliver on time.
   Solutions: First of all, it is recommended that retailers advise shoppers to purchase early and avoid the busiest shipping weeks.
   On another note, it’s preferable that every shopper take a look at the testimonials and reviews before buying anything.
   
2. Goods Delivered in an Unacceptable Condition: Every shopper should receive his order in the condition that you originally sent them in, to avoid receiving calls about broken items.
   Solutions: To avoid your goods arriving to their destination in an unacceptable condition, the best thing you can do is work with a reputable courier that will be able to offer advice on safely packing your products. Each and every item should be packed safely and securely so that nothing is damaged or lost during the delivery. If this happens, you’ll have to send a replacement item and apologies from the customer to preserve the reputation and image of your business.
   
3. Poor Customer service: In some unfortunate situations, when something goes wrong with the delivery order and the customers call to complain, they receives rude, unfriendly and unhelpful customer service or deal with a bad-mannered person on the other end of the phone. This can lead to the loss of the customers.
   Solutions: Generally, shoppers will be more forgiving when something wrong happens if they’re being treated with respect.
   On another point when you are searching for your employees make sure that they are polite, do they seem willing to help and to be patient?
   If not, then that’s not a person you should be looking to partner up with.

Trend #2: Buying online & pickup-in-store

BOPIS is not a new concepts for retail. With its speed, convenience, and low cost for both shoppers and retailers, it became a trend that took off during COVID–and it’s not leaving anytime soon.

Buying online and picking in store can be a win-win deal for both retailers and customers with extra advantages:

• No need to worry about tracking the order, since it’ll picked up at the store.
• No need to wait your order to arrive, you can pick it directly whenever you want.

Sometimes, in order to be able to convince the customers of the solution that you are offering them, working on new ideas may increase their enthusiasm.

Like what?

1. Promotions: Promotions can always be an incentive to encourage customers making a quick sale and help you move your inventory.
   So try always to add new discount offers and gifts to motivate the shoppers to do their purchases.
   
2. Packaging: The right packaging is an important vital part of marketing.
   In many cases, it is the last “ad” a person will see for the product as they browse store shelves before deciding what to buy. Effective product packaging attracts attention in a positive way and entices consumers to buy. Training the sales team on how to fill the orders and learn the perfect way of packaging can help you to keep the shoppers motivated.
   
3. Clear and visible inventory: People usually don’t like to search too long for the products needed while purchasing. So clear and visible inventory can help them to do less casual browsing and let them stay on your web pages.

Trend #3: Growth of digital channels

For many marketers, growth marketing is a new challenge. It’s different from other marketing strategies. It can takes a broad approach for reaching and converting your target audience and uses a variety of channels, from traditional to digital, to engaging with potential and current clients.

For many businesses, it makes sense to not only market their products and services online, but to sell them too.

The main advantage of digital marketing is that a targeted audience can be reached in a cost-effective and measurable way. Other digital marketing advantages include increasing brand loyalty and driving online sales.

We’ve listed below 3 principal digital marketing channels examples to help grow your audience:

1. Social media: With social media you can take advantage of both organic and paid marketing channels. you’ll be able to take advantage of the platform’s demographic data and specifically target your desired audience.
2. Paid search: How many times a day do you use a search engine? Probably a lot. Through a paid search digital media channel, you can get in front of potential customers at the very moment they are looking for what you have to offer.
3. Email: We can’t leave out the importance of email marketing. If you stick to your own email lists, you’ll definitely see more success since these are people who have opted in to receive your emails. When compared to other paid marketing channels, email still has a reputation for lower costs and higher returns.

Trend #4: Transparency

The key to achieving customer happiness, is to focus on the employee happiness while maintaining transparency and a beautiful spirit at work.

It’s simple — happier employees make happier customers.

How to achieve this happiness?

1. Establishes trust: Transparency builds trust, and makes employees feel that they’re working for a company with higher ethical standards and help visitors also to trust your company and be your customers.
   Make sure your current policies and procedures are truthful and establish trust
2. Expands relationships: It is known that usually people do not leave the job itself but leave the managers associated with it.  Solid relationships with strong foundations are built from being transparent.
   Empower come from trusting and managing together as a team.
3. Increases productivity: It urges employees to feel a sense of belonging to the company in which they work and increases their sense of responsibility. Sharing also information upfront and being honest with every situation no matter how bad it may be can help a lot.
   

So, there you have it, a glimpse into the future Christmas 2020 holiday shopping season!

The key takeaway, as of now, is to stay connected and to benefit from every new information or technology that allows you to stay and endure in this sector. As many shoppers have limited budgets this year, try to soften tone the prices comparing to the other holidays season to make them buy and to not lose them as customers.

We know that managing an e-commerce store is not an easy nor short period task. Check MEM, our affordable solution, that can help you build your store & deploy lightning-fast at an affordable price.

Hoping that this pandemic will be end soon with the least possible damage.

Happy Early Holidays and enjoy your shopping !

If you need to know more, please do not hesitate to check our next article that contains all the information needed about the Step-by-Step Guide to E-commerce DIY Advertising for the upcoming 2020 Holidays.