The 2020 holiday season was extraordinary. Ecommerce specialists had been trying to predict record eCommerce sales for months. And anyway, the COVID-19 pandemic prevented many people from seeing their loved ones or buying stuff in physical stores. Many of those forecasts came true. Through 2020, U.S. consumers set new records for holiday shopping, with digital shopping increasing 20.6 percent year over year. As the holiday season of 2021 approaches, many retailers are curious to know what this year has in store.
Ecommerce experts worldwide are trying to determine which trends they believe will be most influential in the 2021 Holiday Season. So before you begin your holiday pricing strategy, here are the hottest holiday trends of 2021 to give you some perspective.
2021 Holiday Trends
As we approach the holiday season of 2021, even as in-store purchasing begins to reopen its doors in some regions, online shopping is only here to stay and will continue to expand. More customers are shopping on portable devices, and the digital realm is infiltrating traditional store walls. Retail's potential is both online and offline. But post-COVID is eventually turning into the digital era. As the pandemic rages on, eCommerce stores are being converted into fulfillment centers, although temporarily. This reflects how retailers are falling prey to e-dominance.
Following an unexpected year of pandemic and economic instability, consumers eagerly await and want a semblance of normalcy this holiday season. According to the survey, 60+ percent of respondents intend to spend the same amount of funds on holiday shopping this year as last, despite a minor percentage reporting that their spending habits have decreased since the start of COVID-19. In addition, over half of the customers said they would take the same amount of time looking for better offers, the same amount of funds on their meal options, and more money holiday shopping online versus in person as they did last year.
Price is an essential factor. It is more important than any other factor to at least 60% of the potential customer base. Having said that, the proper eCommerce pricing for your merchandise may be the only thing that stands between you and rising exponential success. Thus, retailers for the 2021 Holiday Season need to step up their holiday pricing strategies to make the most of this holiday season.
Pricing strategies to boost your eCommerce sales in the 2021 Holiday season
Here are the top eCommerce pricing strategies that can be followed consistently to boost eCommerce sales in the coming Holiday Season:
1. Deeper offers and Broader Discounts
According to a Revionics LLC survey, 45 percent of holiday shoppers said holiday discount offers would become one of the most crucial factors in determining where to shop. This means that retailers will have to offer deeper and broader offers this year in order to drive sales. Retailers around the world are offering deeper discounts than in past years to compensate for the pandemic's high inventory levels as well as slow sales.
This year, they will continue to discount a wide range of goods, boldly using storewide discounts. Calculate how cheap you can price your product categories without impacting your bottom line before going all out on promotional offers and deals. You must consider all of the variables in this case. To provide the best deals even during the holiday shopping season, it is prudent to invest in advanced web scrapers and intelligent price and promotion optimizations.
2. Promote Your Pricing
Spending money can be painful. Make the process less painful by creating excitement around your retail prices and product bundles. Potential Customers cannot buy items they are unaware of, and they certainly cannot participate in not widely publicized sales. Promote your Competitive pricing strategies on Social media and news pages, as well as through direct marketing campaigns to past customers. You can entice customers to buy now by displaying your prices as a source of economic growth and excitement. Thus, you need to ensure that your holiday season offers are being promoted at the correct scale and at the right places to attract more and more people to you!
So, what are the most effective sales strategies? Buy-one, get-one deals are always a big hit, motivating customers to spend more than they might otherwise because they genuinely think they are obtaining things for free. Sales that can provide a gift card or coupons to encourage buyers to create a future purchase can also be big winners.
3. Ensure detailed market research and competitor analysis:
The two most crucial factors to be considered to survive in the market are the competitors and the consumers. You at no cost can avoid detailed market research to analyze what consumers want, what trends are reigning the market this season, what is the expected budget and what they will be ready to pay happily!
The same goes for the competitor analysis! You have to analyze what offers they are providing, what promotional techniques they are using, what is their target audience, what product lines they are working on, and the list never ends! Using these statistics, you can adaptively price your products and outperform your competitive market every step along the way.
Retailers must conduct their market research and anticipate demand. Using Google Trends to keep a record of holiday wish lists has been one of the best ways to go forward. Another approach is to review previous years' holiday season data and consider key metrics such as the most common products, the average order value, the periods that saw a tremendous increase in business, and so on. For this, an experienced web scraper is the person to go to because they know how to do it efficiently and effectively!
4. Provide Great Experience
Customer Satisfaction is SUPREME! Make sure you give your best to offer the most suitable customer experience. Custom packing, express delivery, and free shipping can help you build customer loyalty. Offer the best and also try doing your best to retain the same customers for future well! Put yourself in customers' shoes and then analyze if you are satisfied with the company's service or not. Because of coronavirus-related safety concerns, an increasing number of customers are requesting curbside pickup and buying online/picking up in-store (BOPIS). As a result of the sudden surge in popularity, many retailers are broadening their BOPIS offerings. Indeed, this is something to consider in order to improve customer satisfaction.
5. Try Bundle Pricing
Bundling is one method of getting customers to pay more for something. Bundling groups related items together to create the illusion of a bargain. Bundling can persuade customers to spend a little more on an item they wouldn't even have purchased otherwise. Sell related items together at a slightly higher price, and watch customers buy the bundle along with a slew of other related products. Consider labeling your bundles as limited runs or using special packaging to market bundles as holiday gifts to increase interest. Big Bazaar, for example, places a high value on bundling. For example, three Good Day family packs for Rs 60 (the price of one pack is Rs 22).
6. Focus on Multi-channel pricing
Customers are increasingly shopping on mobile devices and shifting to online stores. Simultaneously, in-store holiday shopping is not extinct. Retailers should have a firm Holiday pricing policy both online and in-store to provide the multi-channel shopping experiences that people expect. They should also understand which offers a lineup best across various channels. Showing stale prices is a prevalent holiday pricing mistake that you should avoid at all costs. It irritates your customers when they see a different price on your web page after seeing a great deal somewhere else. Retailers can use data analytics to consider the emerging trends to successfully execute this multi-channel strategy by digging into data from previous promotions.
7. Tell a Value-Based Story
Even though the price is an essential factor in every purchase behavior, consumers do not always buy the cheapest item. They are looking for a decent balance of price and quality. Highlight the long-lasting quality of your item, but don't rely solely on sales copy. Consider what consumers purchase items based on how they believe they will satisfy their lives. By introducing an item as an asset throughout the long-term value, you give customers a desire to spend more. Using decoy pricing, which uses a more expensive option, is one way to want them to spend the money without discounting your rates. When consumers see the mid-priced product, they believe they are getting a good balance of quality and price, encouraging them to purchase!
Some examples of good eCommerce pricing strategies used by brands during the holiday season
Promotional Pricing: To draw customers and increase conversions, the fundamental idea of psychological discounting (Rs. 99, Rs. 49, etc.) is mainly compelling. Big brands like Reliance, Flipkart, Samsung use this tactic to create an illusion of lower rates.
Low-interest Financing options: Try offering low-interest financing. And also provide Special Event Pricing Close to different festive seasons in different bundle sets to appeal to customers according to their festive needs. Brands like Kurkure and Cadbury offer different holiday gifts, hampers, and vouchers according to the festivals.
Differentiated and Competitive pricing: Differentiated pricing, which is a distinction to be made in rate based on the peak and non-peak hours or days of shopping, is another pricing technique used throughout Indian retail. Brands like Monte Karlo, Swiggy, and Zomato offer huge discounts, special offers, and differentiated pricing during festivities. They aim to maximize holiday sales rather than maximizing profit.
Final Thoughts
Because online shopping requires little effort, consumers have more opportunities to prepare their purchases and more options to spend more money. With suitable eCommerce pricing models, you can boost your sales and make this holiday season your most refined yet. The key to gaining a following of loyal customers during the year is to have a solid, long-term Competitive pricing strategy and a consistent marketing strategy. Some retail outlets may be short on time as the holiday season approaches, or you may be unsure of how to cope with your competitors.
To provide the best deals even during the holiday shopping season, it is prudent to invest in advanced web scrapers and intelligent price and promotion optimizations. Don't be concerned! Contact Datahut to speak with one of our big data experts. Go for a web scraper like Datahut to automate your data scraping needs.
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