Christmas time is by far the biggest sales period of the year. When it comes to online shopping, marketers need to look for ways to keep their customers engaged. Compared to "offline shopping", there are no inviting, creative window displays or in-store experiences to attract potential buyers. So, how can eCommerce brands make sure to attract plenty of visitors and boost customer engagement?
With money often running short and little time to go on an actual shopping hunt, people are anxiously looking for the best online sales and deals. Be creative and provide customers with an equally (or even more) rewarding and valuable Christmas experience online.
Customers are savvier than ever. Online Christmas shopping should be stress free and organized. In an online shopping environment, products are easily accessible which ultimately saves a lot of time. That's why it's crucial to focus even more on offering something that online stores can't. Take full advantage of the benefits: competitive prices and a wider product range aren't going to cut it.
How exactly are brands recreating the offline Christmas experience online? How are they setting themselves apart?
1. Amazon: Exclusive Christmas Playlist
Amazon really knows how to translate the offline Christmas experience to the online world. With an exclusive Christmas playlist, people can play music with a pop-out player so customers are able to enjoy the shopping experience in a more pleasant way while browsing Amazon's online collection of products and gifts.
User experience is crucial. A separate section of special Christmas deals and gifts with a special range of toys, electronics, etc. makes it easy to filter on the right products. Amazon also leverages social media to boost traffic to its website and created a dedicated gift guide on Pinterest where people can search for gifts on dedicated Pinterest boards.
2. Zappos: Unique Holiday Gift Guides
In addition to Amazon, online retailer, Zappos, also created a dedicated holiday gift guide where people can browse through a special range of products. Zappos also understands how minor tweaks, like adding a santa hat to their logo, is important to be consistent in the customer experience. In this case, it's really the small things that can make any shopping experience feel complete.
3. Asos: Special Christmas Delivery Policy
Asos, one of the largest independent online fashion and beauty retailers in the world, provides their customers with true added value by offering a special Christmas delivery policy with an extended return policy. The clear and straightforward overview of policies and return dates for each country makes the shopping experience effortless.
The UK-based eCommerce brand extended the shopping experience and released a collection of products in their online Christmas Shopping Guide called 'Stocking Filler'. The Fashion Finder, a place where people can easily search through original gifts from just one place, truly embodies what the eCommerce brand is all about: convenient shopping tailored to your own, specific taste.
What Can We Conclude?
Websites should be considered the central hub, especially for eCommerce brands, to create relevant content and keep the conversation with your customers going. Similar to Amazon's Pinterest gift guide, customers can easily find their way to the website by creating added value that will easily boost website traffic. Don't forget to use social media to direct customers to your website as well and gain actual sales from it.
This article originally appeared on the Engagor blog.
top photo on Flickr by Giuseppe Leto Barone