Following all of the excitement in those first few weeks with the launch of sales, the summer represents a period of calm that many e-traders find difficult to overcome.
Not everyone sells summer and heat-related items, so a natural slowdown should be expected during the hotter climate. Most of your customers will be spending more time outdoors or going to luxurious holiday destinations, with online shopping practically standing still whilst they take a break from home.
July tends to be the least profitable time for e-commerce, where sales drop around 30% in comparison with December figures. Around the end of August and beginning of September, it truly begins to pick up again. But in the brighter outlook for the month ahead, this is the perfect spot to optimise your e-commerce site via the use of new strategies and tactics in preparation for the following busy quarter.
Get Seasoned
Visual appearance is one of the most important parts of making a customer decide to go through with a purchase and they are more likely to remain engaged with a brand that likes to keep up with the trends of the season.
Much like a physical store, the look and feel of your website and marketing have to match the mood of the customer – or at least evoke a positive response. As an example, if it was a blisteringly hot summer’s day, you would not walk into a store selling skiing equipment and winter wear, would you? The same goes for your e-commerce and marketing. If it is a summer theme you have to adopt a summer theme in both your products and website design.
All it takes is simply updating images and front page products that encompass bright colours, sunshine and fun – showcasing that your business is in tune with the season we are having. This does the job of boosting buyer engagement and converting those much-needed July sales.
Get Social
With the summer sun comes the importance of social reach – especially as the summer season averages a 20% rise in social media use.
This means it is high time for your social approach to develop some summer communication tools. Look at Instagram as the channel where everyone showcases what their summer is like. Through the feed we see people enjoying the sun, travel, beach and everything else through a smartphone. Your business can also get in on the fun and showcase some products whilst people are scrolling through the feed.
The same goes for Facebook, and some forward-thinking business owners even develop a way to get a message sold over TikTok nowadays. You can even use analytics tools also to ensure you capitalize on peak-hour posting.
Taking a bit of this downtime to realign your e-commerce strategies and tactics to get in line with the summer buzz is the difference between the summer blues and a red hot summer of sales.
Contact the team at Search and More today for responsive website design Stockport and all things SEO Stockport, and put a little sun into your business.
