It’s the season of booming sales for e-commerce giants like Amazon, Flipkart, Myntra, Meesho, and Snapdeal. According to industry insiders, they’ve seen a 15% increase in online orders during the first few days of their recent festive sales compared to last year. If your small business wants a piece of the pie, now’s your chance to go big or go home.
Inventory management is always a bit of an issue for small businesses. Take a look at last year’s sales to figure out which products your customers loved, and which ones didn’t quite fly off the shelves. Remember, having too much of something can be just as rough as not having enough of what everyone’s clamouring for.
Looking to sell something everyone wants? This year, online favourites included athleisure clothing, pet toys, shot glasses, and even vinyl records have made quite a comeback.
Most small businesses dread hearing this but everyone loves a great deal. And in a time of soaring inflation, most South Africans want to stretch their budgets. So, consider tossing in discounted shipping or a few irresistible promotions and blast the news everywhere to reel customers in. Don’t worry too much about the initial hit – the number of conversions from these offers will most likely outweigh the temporary loss.
We all know that most people leave their holiday shopping to the very last minute, which means that when those final weekends before Christmas roll around, websites hit their peak traffic.
We’re not saying your site will be as slammed as Ticketmaster’s during a Taylor Swift concert sale, but hey, it can still get pretty hectic. The last thing you want is for your pages to freeze, crash, or have transaction troubles, giving your visitors a not-so-jolly experience that could completely ding your brand’s image.
That’s why it’s a good idea to upgrade your infrastructure using cloud technology. Storing data on the cloud is cheaper and easier than splurging on physical servers. This will ensure your website can handle surges in traffic without unnecessary expenses weighing you down during the festive frenzy.
This time of the year, new stock pours in daily, and of course, you want to keep customers, both current and potential, informed. Go ahead and share engaging festive content, exclusive offers, and Christmas-y visuals (you don’t have to be a graphic designer for this), but just don’t overdo it. No one likes it when accounts flood their feeds with too many posts in a day.
To keep your followers merry and bright and to prevent them from hitting that unfollow button, maybe drop one post in the morning and another in the evening. Or, you could just use Instagram’s carousel feature, which lets you display multiple images in a single post.
Why risk customers choosing your store for gifts if you can’t even promise timely deliveries to their loved ones by Christmas?
A report from Flexport reveals that 95% of shoppers highly prioritise expedited delivery at this time of year. Research also shows that one out of every three last-minute shoppers decides where to purchase their gifts based on how quickly they can receive them.
When you partner with Airpool, we’ll guarantee doorstep delivery of your customers’ or their loved ones’ packages within just 7-10 working days.
Remember, it’s not all about seasonal sales. This is also your chance to build a base of customers for the future, so aim to gift your customers lasting value as you navigate this festive ride.
Don’t let delayed deliveries be the Grinch stealing your future business. Get in touch with Airpool to ensure your customers’ holiday wishes arrive in time.
Landed cost is the sum of all expenses associated with importing your goods from China to South Africa. This includes the cost of the goods paid to your supplier, the shipping costs, clearance costs and the import taxes & duties.
It is represented on a per unit cost and helps you with:
Note: This is not what you are paying to Airpool but rather what you are paying to all the suppliers and relevant parties: Airpool, the Manufacturer of the goods and the Import Taxes (VAT & Duties)
