Do you want more sales from your ecommerce business?
Let's talk about the “easy” opportunities which are often missed, dismissed or ignored. I've worked with thousands of product sellers over the last 12 years and over and over again these simple solutions bring some of the biggest results.
Maybe you’re struggling or thinking, if only it was that easy… When you know how, it is.
The trick is to build ecommerce “opportunities" into your annual marketing and selling plan to bring in a huge growth in sales and profits.
And when used carefully these, let's call them, "retail opportunities" can increase AOV (Average Order Value - that's the amount spent in a single order) and LTV (Lifetime Customer Value - the amount a customer spends with you over multiple) too.
Unfortunately these "retail opportunities" are often left to the last minute, usually due to "busyness".
Then these opportunities have disappointing results, leading to “that doesn’t work for my business” theories. When actually with more bespoke planning and preparation these gems would transform a business.
If you're wondering why this no-brainer is missed, dismissed or ignored, in my personal experience, it's simply because small business owners need sales and results now.
And with limited resources, planning and preparing for a future opportunity is delayed in favour of instant gratification and money in the bank, understandably. I want discuss how a business can be have money in the bank today AND benefit from these opportunities too.
But first...
What are these ecommerce opportunities?
The secrets of retail and ecommerce success.
This is making THE MOST of the times when your future customers are already splashing their cash.
There are the specific events and celebrations that happen throughout the year when spending surges.
These are your best seasonal selling opportunities. Below we'll look at the top TWELVE in the UK. This is not an exclusive list and you're own business may have different opportunities.
You may be thinking this is something you already do. But trust me. I KNOW you aren't making the most of them.
Before we dig into exactly how you can make more of these big business opportunities, let's look at the top TWELVE opportunities in the UK right now for all ecommerce and handcrafted business owners.
Remember: It ISN’T about doing them all.
It is about doing the ones that are right for your customers (and yours may not be the ones on the list!) and, crucially, doing them well.
Starting with the biggest and most popular…
1. Christmas:
Over £80+ BILLION is spent each year!
On: gifts, food, cards and decorations.
And that's all for one day!
Gifts at Christmas alone are worth nearly £30 Billion!
The biggest gifts for partners and children.
Over £23 million is spent online just for Christmas.
2. Weddings:
Between £10-14 BILLION is spent each year!
On: Venue, Attire, Jewellery, Catering, Photography, Video, Stationery, Cars, Decor, Honeymoon and gifts. This figure includes spending by couples, families and guests.
The average cost of a wedding is now tipping in at nearly £21,000, with two thirds of UK couples now spending over £15,000 on their weddings.
3. Mother's Day
Over £1.7 BILLION predicted to be spent in 2024
On: gifts, cards, chocolate and flowers.
And that's all to show mum's how much they are loved!
Over £500 million is spent on flowers alone!
While Mother’s Day is big in the UK, it’s even more popular in the US.
4. Valentine's Day
£1.5 BILLION predicted to be spent in 2023
On: flowers, chocolates, cards, jewellery, romantic meals and experiences or weekends away..
Interestingly, a Barclays poll in 2023 revealed that 33% ‘intend to spend more on their pet than their partner,’ this Valentine’s Day.
5. Father's Day
£1 BILLION spent each year!
On: gifts, tech, treats and cards.
Fathers day always comes second to Mother’s Day for spending!
6. Halloween
Exceeded £1 BILLION in 2023 for the first time!
On: costumes, decorations, sweets and treats, parties and pumpkins
Halloween sales are growing year on year; 2023 is the first year sales have been over £1 Billion! It’s more than doubled since 2018.
Last year Halloween would have been in 7th place!
7. Easter
Over £900 Million spent each year!
On: chocolate, decorations, gifts, outdoor and gardening products and food
Increasingly many shoppers are looking for alternative options to chocolate to give as gifts.
8. Black Friday / Cyber Monday
£10 MILLION spent each year!
On: gifts, tech and treats.
And that's over just TWO days
Reports show that interest in Black Friday is falling, in 2022 61% stated they were interested dropping to 44% in 2023! This could be because shoppers are getting smarter at spotting good deals!
9. Small Business Saturday
Annually unknown
On: Small Businesses
Spending data isn’t available, their website says ‘Over the time the campaign has been running in the UK it has engaged millions and seen billions spent with small businesses’
10. Summer Holidays
Over £10 BILLION is spent on Summer!
On: Holidays, travel, accommodation, activities and summer fun!
This is in 11th because the biggest spend is on holidays, travel and accommodation. However it's included because money is also spent on clothes, bags, activities etc.
11. Back To School
Spending is around £1.5 BILLION
On: Uniforms, Supplies, Stationery, Bags
This is in 10th because over £620 Million is on School Uniform, mostly from specialised shops.
12. Bonfire Night / Fireworks
Hundreds of Millions literally goes up in smoke!
On: Fireworks, Fireworks Displays, Food, Supplies, Family Get Togethers
10 million people buy and use fireworks in the UK annually.
The annual turnover on professional firework displays in the UK is approximately £13.4 million.
And last but not least...
These special celebrations are happening each and every day, so they don't fit into seasonal selling, but they can't be ignored.
Birthdays and Anniversaries
Sadly, exact data is a little sketchy but here's an estimate based on facts we do know.
It’s estimated that typically the average spend is around £35-40 per gift. If each person in the UK only purchased ONE gift that would mean 67.85* Million gifts worth around £2.5 BILLION…
We know it's much higher. Personally I don't know anyone who only buys ONE gift... (A poll of 2000 by The Card Factory, found an average of 32 gifts purchased per person.)
How many people do you buy and give each year?
(*the population of the UK in January 2024)
All those add up to over £114 BILLION being spent annually in the UK on celebrations and gifts.
That's £114,000,000,000
This is money ALREADY being spent, in the UK, each year.
To give a little perspective, 0.000088% is around £100,320.00
Focusing your business and marketing on the right ones for your business, could supercharge your bottom line.
How do you make the most of these ecommerce and retail opportunities?
It needs careful planning and preparation, with one eye on today and the other on tomorrow.
Big businesses can dedicate teams to future work, small business need to balance the workload.
The good news is, that by planning in advance, all the work can be spread out over the time you have available.
How to plan to get the most from seasonal selling:
1. Identify your best opportunity.
2. Identify your best products and new products for said opportunity.
3. Identify how you can make these even more appealing for the seasonal opportunity.
4. Identify all the tasks that need to be completed, from stock, supplies, photography, and listings.
5. Identify the dates of your seasonal selling window of opportunity.
6. Complete all the tasks, around your existing commitments, before the start of your seasonal selling window of opportunity. If you've left it too late for this year, rethink points 3 and 4 for this year and make a note to start earlier next year!
The right seasonal selling opportunities for your business are financially worth preparing for!
This includes having the right products/services with the right prices and making your shop enticing for each seasonal opportunity; by updating imagery and copy, as well as your product photography and listings.
Additionally you need to know your marketing strategy, from SEO through to Socials.
Remember, the first seasonal year is the hardest, after that you can tweak and repeat.
The one strategy that never works is leaving everything till the last minute and just hoping you’ll have the right products, offers.
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