How Brands Can Show Their Website A Little TLC This Mother’s Day

In this post, SLI Systems head of marketing APAC, Aparna Gray, encourages brands to show their e-commerce website a little TLC this Mother’s Day if they want to share in the spending love.

Mums like me, across Australia will be waking up this Sunday to the smell of fresh flowers, a hand-scribbled card and maybe even a gift or two.

Mother’s Day gives kids a timely chance to show the woman that loves them no matter what, some well-deserved appreciation. And it also gives brands an opportunity to build a bond of their own with shoppers – and see sales soar.

According to US online and mobile shopping resource FatWallet, Mother’s Day is the third largest retail holiday – with spending set to exceed $22 billion this year. It’s a similar story closer to home. Australians were set to spend over $1.4 billion indulging their mums in 2014, according to IBIS Worldwide.

So how can brands offer a helping hand to those searching for the perfect gift? Here are four top tips for your e-commerce website to help you make the most of this Mother’s Day.

1) Mum’s the word

“Mother”, “Mum” or “Mom”. Whatever endearing term your shopper chooses to type in your website search box, make sure your website returns relevant results right away.

Sometimes the language customers use does not match your product descriptions; slang, international differences and using brands as product names (e.g. Kleenex instead of tissue) can cause no results to be returned for a query. Identifying these terms and creating synonyms can help take users to the products they are looking for.

2) Don’t exclude anyone

Remember that while the day itself is dedicated to ‘mothers’, there may be lots of people buying gifts for other significant women in their lives. Be sure to keep language loose on your site (eg talk about finding the perfect gift for the special ‘mum’ in your life, not for ‘your mum’) and even consider having collections of products devoted to aunts, grandmothers and wives.

Additionally, many mums take this opportunity to spoil themselves a little when they usually wouldn’t. Consider having a collection of gifts mums can buy themselves!

3) Think mobile

The world is mobile and Australians particularly have embraced this technology. Of the 14 million people using Facebook on mobile, 10 million do so on mobile every day. Further, Roy Morgan research shows 45 percent of Australians research products or services online before buying in-store.

It’s critical your site is optimised for mobile to allow customers to easily search and find what they’re looking for on a small screen. Simple things like centring the search box, using an autocomplete feature and ensuring search results are really relevant will help connect shoppers with the products they’re more likely to buy.

4) Be prepared for a last minute rush on Friday, Saturday and even Sunday

Some people plan ahead and organise gifts well in advance, but many people will still be making a decision late in the week and even over the weekend.

You can capture those last minute customers by offering same day deliver on Friday and Saturday or even motivate them to buy earlier by offering discounted delivery earlier in the week.

Whatever you do, don’t forget to pick up a gift for the special mum in your life this Mother’s Day!

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1) Mum’s the word

2) Don’t exclude anyone

3) Think mobile

4) Be prepared for a last minute rush on Friday, Saturday and even Sunday

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