It’s the most important season on the independent retailer’s calendar, and it goes by in a flash. A lackluster website costs you money every day, and that’s especially true right now. Here are five ideas to help win Black Friday — give customers what they need on your website, they’ll reward you with sales.
Promotional Homepage
Consumers have the perception that independent retailers cost more to do business with than national big box retailers, so it’s important to overcome that perception with the first impression consumers have of your business. Make sure your homepage has promotional messaging calling out your Black Friday Sale, Save up to X%, Price Match Guarantee or other messaging which communicates to consumers that you have competitive pricing and that you have a sales going on. Please reach out to your Marketing Representative or e-mail memberrequests@avb.net to request updates to make your homepage promotional.
Competitive Pricing
In today’s digital world, it’s imperative to have competitive pricing on your website. In fact, over 80% of consumers say they buy from the retailer with the lowest price. This number will only increase with the economic headwinds consumers are experiencing with macroeconomic issues like inflation, decreases in savings, etc. Make sure your website Special Pricing is setup to either be Standard Promotional Compliant Pricing (as seen below) or to match major competitor(s) in your marketplace. If you need any help setting up competitive pricing on your website, please reach out to your LINQ4U Specialist if you qualify for LINQ4U support, or click here to view our LINQ Tutorial Videos.
Special Catalogs and Flags
A key component of an effective e-commerce merchandising strategy is to make it as easy and efficient as possible for consumers to find the products that best fit their needs. Make sure you have special catalogs and flags set up to identify products that are in stock at your warehouse, in stock at vendors, on sale, on clearance or of any other classification you use in your business. If you need any help setting up special catalogs and flags on your website, please reach out to your LINQ4U specialist if you qualify for LINQ4U support, or click here to view our LINQ tutorial videos. If you haven’t already set up special catalogs and flags to identify what’s in stock at vendors, please click here and we’ll set them up for free.
Live Chat
Again, it’s important to make consumers’ experience as easy and efficient as possible. Online shoppers expect to be able to chat with a live salesperson or agent to ask questions, and many consumers won’t buy online or go into your store if you don’t give them the ability to chat with you on your website. Not only is it important to have a live chat solution on your website, but it’s also important that you have your team actively responding to consumers within a minute or two during normal operating hours. For more information on integrated chat solutions, please click here.
Payment Gateways
Consumers today want to buy based on how and when they want to pay. Thus, it’s important to not only give them the ability to check out and pay on your website, but to give them multiple options (i.e. standard credit card, consumer financing, etc.). If you don’t have any payment gateways or only have one payment gateway, please click here to learn more about our options and to implement payment gateway(s) as soon as possible.
