SLI Systems head of marketing APAC Aparna Gray reckons Easter is the perfect time for brands to up their sales and get busy with mobile, even spruiking a few smart tips on how to get ahead.
Easter is known as a time to indulge in chocolate eggs, hot cross buns and mini-egg encrusted cakes, and for brands, it’s their opportunity to increase sales and prioritise mobile.
According to America’s National Retail Federation, Easter historically is the fifth largest spending holiday of the year (after Valentine’s Day however before Father’s Day, Halloween and St. Patrick’s Day). This means it is imperative your brand’s website is optimised to maximise sales of this undervalued holiday.
It’s a similar story locally. According to IBISWorld, Australians spent approximately $2.9 billion over the Easter period in 2014 – up 3.4 per cent on the year before. And what we are seeing is that Easter spending is driven by e-commerce, even more than most holidays. This is largely because shopping for this holiday is food and produce focused where issues of size and fit aren’t applicable.
So this year, what will shoppers put in their baskets? Unsurprisingly, among the top spending categories for Easter are food, gifts, candy and flowers. But don’t make your customers hunt for what they want. Below is how brands can ensure they make maximum profit this Easter.
1) Read their minds:
If shoppers type “Easter” in your website search box, make sure your website returns relevant results right away. Shoppers are probably looking for different products to what they do throughout the year.
2) Curate a collection:
Using a banner to prompt shoppers to “Tantalise your tastebuds with our Easter chocolate collection”. Clicking on the banner takes shoppers to a collection of tasty Easter treats.
3) Don’t put all your eggs in one basket:
It’s a well-known fact that shoppers are embracing mobile, so you should too. It’s no secret that Google’s algorithm makes it mandatory for websites to play nice with smartphones and tablets.
The more you convey valuable information to the mobile shopper, the more valuable you are to them. For Easter, this means that you need to make sure shoppers can easily purchase their sweets and treats across all devices.
So hop to it, and make sure your website is fully functional this Easter.
