HOW ARE RETAILERS PREPARING FOR THANKSGIVING
Retailers are preparing themselves for the extended holiday weekend from Thanksgiving to Cyber Monday. According to the National Retail Federation, 190 million people shopped between Thanksgiving and Cyber Monday in 2019.
However, only 51% of customers shopped from the stores; the rest shopped online via e-commerce websites. BigCommerce predicted that this year the average order value (AOV) from Thanksgiving to Cyber Monday would be around 140 million dollars. 39.6 million customers plan to shop on Thanksgiving, 114.6 million on Black Friday, and 68.7 million on Cyber Monday.
The Rise in Shopping
E-commerce websites have seen a tremendous increase in the number of shoppers. This is because most stores remain close on Thanksgiving, and the e-commerce websites give the customer the comfort of shopping from their house. Moreover, this year, COVID-19 also plays a vital role in forcing the customer to shop online. As a result, the retail store’s spending is expected to increase by 3.4% and spending on e-commerce websites by 13.9%.
Retailers preparations for shopping amid social distancing
After suffering from lockdown losses, it won’t be easy to keep the shops closed during the holiday season’s most needed time. That is why here are a few tips that can help you prepare your store during the shopping period amid social distancing.
Accelerating only online offers
Due to the pandemic, most people will avoid going to a physical store for shopping during the Thanksgiving weekend. People will prefer spending online to avoid the risk of being in a crowded place. Therefore, retailers should increase their online sales by offering offers and discounts to customers with e-commerce platforms.
Since delivery is the last and only physical point-of-contact (POC) of online shopping, the retailers should make sure the customers get a hassle-free delivery experience. KartKonnect uses Late Shipment Monitoring Tool, which helps track multiple shipments at a time and helps you save shipping costs.
Have a spread-out in-store traffic
Retailers have already adapted to the new standard guidelines to give the customers a sense of safety while shopping. Some commonly used measures mark the floor area near the billing counter to maintain distance between two shoppers. Moreover, they are making sure that the customers are wearing masks while they are in the store. To add to that, the owners are creating more space between aisles by rearranging some fixtures to ensure social distancing.
To make the buyers feel more comfortable while shopping, you can ask their feedback about what practices or changes would make them feel more secure. Retailers can promote store shopping by using KartKonnect MAP Monitoring Tool. It helps retailers in maintaining the MAP on all products across different channels.
Segment customer service base
Retaining customers is retaining a profit. In retail, the customer is the king, so the retailers should provide customized service to their customers. After the purchase, you can ask the customer to answer questions as a quick survey. Also, the retailer should provide the customer with an easy return and exchange policy.
Moreover, providing good customer service will increase the retailer’s business, as the satisfied customer will spread positive word-of-mouth about the retailer. The retailer can use KartKonnect Feedback Management Tool, in which customers can share their valuable feedback, which can be seen by other shoppers.
Plan social media contest
Increased social media reach makes it easier for retailers to promote their products to a wide range of customers. Today’s youth is very active on social media. Planning a contest on social media will help the retailer build a brand image and be aware of the users about the brand. Retailers can promote their products with the help of a famous influencer on social media.
In addition, retailers can use paid promotion to reach out to all the users of social media. The retailers can start selling their products on social media platforms like Instagram and Facebook to increase their sales. You can use some custom solutions of KartKonnect custom solutions of KartKonnect according to your business requirement to operating on different platforms and managing multi-channel sales,
Fix the app bugs
A lot of customers who shop online use the mobile application to make a purchase. The mobile application is preferred over the website because the websites are slow and take time to load pages. On the other hand, customers prefer mobile applications because they are user friendly and responsive. Both the e-commerce websites and retailers who operate online independently should make their application more approachable to the user. Ensure your mobile application can handle massive traffic as millions of people will be shopping for Thanksgiving via your mobile application.
Providing gift-wrapping service to the customers
During Thanksgiving, most people buy products as a gift for others. A retailer should always try to enhance the shopping experience of its consumers. Offering the service of gift-wrapping to the customer will save their time and effort.
Besides, the customers are willing to pay additional charges for getting the product gift-wrapped. The retailer can use this opportunity to generate more revenue by offering customized gift-wrapping service. It will also help in building the brand image and creating brand recall for future purchasing.
Conclusion
As the extended holiday weekend from Thanksgiving to Cyber Monday is approaching, retailers are preparing themselves to cater to their customers’ needs. The e-commerce websites have seen a remarkable increase in the number of shoppers around the holiday time, favorable because many stores remain closed on Thanksgiving. Another factor contributing to the increased online shopping is the spread of the pandemic. However, the spending will increase for both the retailers and e-commerce websites.
You should take extra precautions and use different methods to make the customers feel safe while shopping in your store. You should effectively follow the use of masks and social distancing norms. With that, offer discounts to customers who are shopping online. Have some fantastic customer service and easy return or exchange policies.
You can use KartKonnect to track multiple shipments, gain feedback from the customers, and handle sales across multiple channels to provide your customers with the best shopping experience.