Think back to Halloween when you were a child. Did you decorate your house with fake spider webs? Whether you celebrated Halloween or not, you’ll probably understand the excitement that surrounds this particular holiday period. We’re here to talk about Halloween ecommerce tips that’ll turn that excitement into sales.
It filters through your entire adult life, with many adults attending Halloween-style parties. But what’s more, they also look for Halloween deals when they shop online. Let’s look at how you can get ready for the special day and provide your customers with more treats than tricks with these Halloween ecommerce tips!
Halloween ecommerce tips
Create Halloween-specific content
Whether or not you sell Halloween-specific items, think about how you can create Halloween-specific content. If you sell Halloween-related items, you might create an infographic on how to choose the best Halloween costume.
Let’s now look at the different tactics one store implements to ensure their Halloween plan gets off to the right start.
Leverage your existing email list
The Harry Potter Store sent out an email to all of its subscribers.
They leverage their existing email list and send out an email reminder to let them know that there’s a new, exciting product they can get their hands on. One thing they do well is to use a sense of urgency. When you receive the email, you understand you only have until the 31st of October to actually make a purchase.
Be extra active on social
The Harry Potter Store isn’t active on social media. However, they do have an option for customers to share the content on their own social channels. If this company wanted to improve the way it used social during its Halloween campaigns, it could prepare a number of scheduled posts to go live explaining its Halloween deals. Yet, resharing user-generated content is also a strategy to enhance social presence and create a brand value through loyal customers or, in this case, fans.
Harry Potter (the brand) is very relevant to Halloween, given the spooky nature of the books and films. They, therefore, have a really good opportunity to prepare spooky content to get people excited not just about their products and deals but Halloween itself.
The idea here is to use your social channels to create content around the theme of Halloween that helps customers remember you. If people are sharing your Halloween content, it means you’re able to reach a much wider network of people. As a result, your sales are likely to increase.
Think about deals
The Harry Potter Store probably isn’t one that people browse on a daily basis. Think about it, if you need to get a gift for a friend, or you need to buy something for yourself, you’ll probably frequent the site. Therefore, it’s super important that they offer deals during this Halloween period to increase the number of people who visit the store.
We’ve already established that they leverage their existing user base through email as well as social media to let them know about the current deals.
What’s more, just because a customer comes to look at Halloween deals, it doesn’t mean they won’t make use of the other deals on the website. In fact, they’re much more likely to sell other product lines simply by having a specific page for deals.
When it comes to your store this Halloween, if you sell Halloween-related items, think about the deals you can offer. Maybe you offer free face paint with every order over a certain amount? Or perhaps you bundle products together to give customers a better deal.
Even if your store isn’t Halloween-focused, you can still offer deals. Every holiday period, people naturally spend more money. Because they’re spending more money, they’re naturally seeking out good deals. Give your customers what they want.
Get crafty with your copy
The copy you use can have a great effect on whether or not people decide to buy from you. When it comes to product descriptions and email copy, think carefully about the types of words you use. You want to encourage people to make a purchase by using words like “hurry, offer ends soon.”
You also want to use this opportunity to inject some personality into your brand. It’s a time where you can get a little daring and a little bit silly, so why not try it? Obviously, it’s good to understand your target audience so you make sure you’re still on-brand.
Harry Potter Store also makes sure to let customers know when they can expect their parcel. This way, they manage to reduce the number of unhappy customers who don’t get their gifts before Halloween.
Think carefully about your prices
Just like any holiday period, you need to think carefully about your prices. How you price your products can have a direct effect on how many sales you make. For example, you might choose to increase your prices as Halloween approaches. If you manage to attract people to your store just before Halloween, they’re likely to pay more for your products as they know time is of the essence.
Use an ecommerce comparison price tracking tool to look at how you priced your products in previous years. Compare your prices to your profit margins and you’ll have a clear idea of the sweet spot, where you can price your products high enough to make a profit but low enough so that people aren’t turned away.
Another lucrative tool is to look at your competitor’s prices, too. This way, you’ll be able to compare your own prices to the rest in the market to find the best pricing this Halloween period.
Let’s dive deep into the Halloween ecommerce tips on pricing to help you increase your ecommerce sales and boost your revenue.
Hold your profitability in good shape while staying competitive
It is a fact that online shoppers are searching for the best prices, and they are evolving into wild deal hunters during the holiday season. But this fact should not force you to be the minimum in the market. If so, you may lose your profitability and can not reach the expected revenues. So, as your ultimate goal is improving your net profit during Halloween, always keep an eye on your costs.
Instead of being the lowest in the market, no matter the cost, ecommerce companies should analyze their costs to achieve unbeatable competitiveness.
If you can not reach the adequate competitiveness in the market because of your costs, try to cut them further up the chain. Only once you figure out a way to lower your own costs, you will be able to offer great discounts or lower prices for customers.
Also, with Prisync’s Dynamic Pricing Module, you’re able to set smart prices by adding your product costs to your products that you track in your Prisync account. After adding your costs to your products, you’ll figure out your smart prices based on your costs, your competitors’ prices, and your target profit margins.
Don’t undervalue your products harshly; search for price increase opportunities!
Even if you target to convert as many online shoppers as possible during Halloween by setting competitive prices, be careful not to be too competitive.
It is obvious that you attract the attention of shoppers by setting low prices, and you may be successful at converting them into your paid customers. But, if your customers are deal hunters and always search for the best deals, price your product at the maximum of the minimums. I mean, search for opportunities where you can price your product until it is almost priced at the second-cheapest competitor, yet remains well below that.
I would like to go through a real example.
Batman costume is expected (again) to be one of the most popular products for Halloween. Below, you can see two different ecommerce retailers selling the same Batman costume. The first one is the most competitive one in terms of price, selling it at $39.81. The second retailer sells the same one at $49.95. So, in that scenario, the first ecommerce retailer can raise the price just below its competitor by setting it $48. This move will bring increased profit margins that lift up the balance sheet and still make the product the most competitive one in the market.
Analyze your competitors’ past Halloween price trends
Most of the ecommerce retailers have different pricing decisions during a certain time, and it is also valid for Halloween! Some of them start setting special prices just before the Halloween week, another portion of retailers use dynamic pricing and set instant prices during Halloween, and some of them target last-minute shoppers or post-holiday shoppers and offer promotions for them.
In order to win this price battle and respond to every single move of your competitor to stay competitive, you should be aware of market and price trends at the product level. Therefore, ecommerce companies should also monitor and analyze the historical pricing trends of their competitors for Halloween while closely tracking actual prices.
Try to identify the stock-out products of your competitors.
It’s vital to provide the product that your customers want, especially during special times like Halloween. Believe me, online shoppers don’t hesitate for one moment to make the purchase elsewhere if they are not able to find it from you. In other words, from the opportunity perspective, if they can’t find a Batman costume from one of your competitors, you’ll be the next door for them!
Moreover, from another opportunity perspective, if shoppers do not have many choices, they perceive the product as more valuable, so their willingness to pay more will be higher. That’s the psychology of shoppers!
If you detect that one of your competitors’ products is out of stock, the chance of selling it will increase. Moreover, you can set higher prices, which will help you to increase the profit margins. Therefore, the ecommerce company with a competitive advantage and stock availability gets the potential advantage in pricing. With the right technology, companies can gain insights on their competitors’ stock availabilities and prices, then implement this strategy on the spot.
Final thoughts
Halloween is not just for children. It can be for anyone who wants to get into the spirit of the spooky holiday. If you run an ecommerce store, you have a good opportunity to generate extra sales during this holiday season, as long as you put in preparations early and consider what deals and offers your customers might like.
Online shoppers are really attentive while they are spending their money in the online market, as they can do product searches and comparisons easily. That’s why you need to be ready for the big day and load your arsenal with these Halloween ecommerce tips.
Halloween gives your business a chance to show some personality and get a bit “spooky”. But, besides your marketing campaigns, use these Halloween ecommerce tips to make better pricing decisions. You’ll see how you can convert your potential leads to real customers.
