A Roadmap for Sales: Planning the Year Ahead
By: Kemal Sidar
Tags: Amazon, Retail, Sales, Ecommerce, Marketing

A Roadmap for Sales: Planning the Year Ahead

Photo by Pierre Bamin on Unsplash

It is more important than ever to plan ahead in the world of sales; there are certain times of the year where sales spike and if you are not prepared for that increase then there is a chance that you will miss out on a very lucrative period.

These calendar events have the potential to increase brand awareness, customer traffic and sales.

Some of these days are obvious such as Christmas and Valentine’s Day but others are equally as significant for sales but are not as known.

You can use Google’s seasonal calendar to point you in the right direction so that you do not lose out on the important sales dates and are able to develop appropriate marketing plans to capitalise on these events.

Summer and Summer Sales

In the summer months we really enjoy our gardens and the outdoors, now more than ever; in 2020 there was an incredible (thanks to Covid 19!) increase in searchers for garden plants for sales.

The types of retailers who can really take advantage of these months are those in home and garden, fashion and clothing, and sporting goods.

Trending categories in summer include home and garden, outdoor items, sport and fitness, and outdoor recreational equipment.

In general searches for ‘sale’ increase during the warmer months so it is also possible for all sellers to get in on the summer action.

Back to School

Going back to school is generally a busy time for parents and children with the buying of new books, clothes, stationery, and technology!

Last year in the United Kingdom the number of searchers for back to school items increased by 90%, with the searched starting around the second week in August.

There has also been a significant increase in searches for home-schooling material this year — an increase of 100% before May.

The types of retailers who could take advantage of this calendar event include electronics, fashion and clothing, stationary, and educational services.

Singles Day

Single’s Day was a relatively unknown event, but it is now an increasingly significant moment around the world.

The celebration of the day started in China and is a 24-hour shopping extravaganza.

The aim is to provide single people with an opportunity to spoil themselves and purchase gifts.

In 2019, Alibaba’s Singles’ Day sales exceeded $38 billion in just 24 hours. It is the type of calendar event that nearly all retails can cash in on but particularly fashion and clothing, beauty, and home and garden retailers.

In order to promote singles day, it is important to be aware that more than 90% of Singles’ Day purchases were made on mobile devices and to make sure that your shop is optimised for mobile viewing.

Some keywords that can assist in attracting customers to this growing calendar event are along the lines of ‘self-care’ and ‘treating yourself,’ The typical discount offered for Singles Day ranges from 20% to 40%.

These and the more traditional seasonal calendar events are a great way for e-commerce businesses to boost sales but in order to do so requires time and effort.

The number of sales will probably be far in excess of what you are used to fulfilling so it is necessary to prepare in advance (the biggest one to prepare for is the Christmas Holiday Season which deserves its own topic).

As the particular calendar event approaches the number of orders will steadily increase and with customers expecting faster, even next day delivery, the pressure will be on to meet these demands so planning and preparation is essential.