There are gifting events dotted through the calendar, with the latter third of the year being busy for all ecommerce retailers. For many in the gift market, event-based sales dry up after Father’s Day. How do you ensure that your business fares well over the quieter months? Here, we delve into ideas on how best to use your time and to keep things ticking over.
Don’t expect growth to be linear
The first step is to be realistic with yourself and your business. Not every month can be a knock-out for sales, and that’s more than okay. It’s natural, particularly within this market, to have peaks and troughs in your turnover aligning with the calendar. There’s no big events such as Christmas, Lunar New Year, Father’s Day, Valentine’s Day or even Easter to power a surge in searches for personalised products. Many across the Americas and Europe also have summer holidays to contend with. Throughout this time, more emphasis is placed on your marketing efforts to attract new custom and to give reason for existing customers to purchase again. Understand that even in times of growth, you can’t expect each month to score higher than the last in revenue. You’re not failing, it’s just the way the cookie crumbles.
Take time to evaluate your business
Quieter times within the calendar provide the perfect opportunity for an evaluation of how things are moving. With things a little less busy, carve some time out for your business to see what is performing well, and which areas may need a little more attention. Review every aspect of your business with an analytical (but not hyper-critical) eye. Assess your site, your shipping, your marketing, your CRM, your production, customer care, security…every aspect of your business deserves a ‘once-over’ while you have the time. We have some resources relating to testing, so check these out if you haven’t seen them or need a refresher. If you spot any hurdles along the way, at least you have the time to fix them before they become a real issue.
Plan for busier months
You likely have a business plan already for 2023, stretching from the first day of the year through to the end of peak season. Review your plans, think about what has changed in your market (and your business) since these were drawn up and plan accordingly. If you’re not checking in regularly with your market, business and audience, you could be missing opportunities which weren’t present a few months ago. Take your sales data from the start of the year and compare to previous years to gauge where you may need to adapt to ever-changing consumer behaviours. Now could be the time to implement the plan you curbed as your audience wasn’t previously ready.
As with all businesses, staffing levels have a huge impact on fulfilment. Think you may need a couple more in production before the gifting rush? Consider making those hires soon, so that there is sufficient time for adequate training and confidence when heading for the winter wall of orders. Of course, this all depends on financial capacity, but it’s better to look at these needs now than find yourself drowning in photobooks without enough hands to cope.
Don’t get left behind
If you have a little more free time on your hands than at the start and end of the year, take this and run with it. Complete those tasks that you’ve been pushing back until you had a minute to breathe and do them now while you have the time. June, July and the start of August are the perfect time for updating your software – with less site traffic, the impact of any downtime is sure to be minimised. If you’re needing to update to the latest version of Taopix, reach out to your representative to get the ball rolling. With features such as QR Upload, webhook automation capacity and fixes of outdated bugs, running the latest version of Taopix will make your life easier. Make the life of your business and your customers easier with the opportunity to increase conversions and to smooth the work behind-the-scenes.
Be proactive in your messaging
While this may be a quieter time of year for many, there are still opportunities for sale. You may have to look a little harder, but opportunity still resides. While customers are away from purchasing, they’re out and about making memories. Weddings, family holidays, graduations, sports activities and school breaks are all happening, and they’re the perfect content for a personalised photo gift. Tweak your messaging to be inclusive of these events, and show your audience that the memories they are making fit directly into personalised gifts. Luxury photobook filled with beautiful wedding photographs? You can do that. Personalised bags and bottles for summer camp? You’re there. Flip Flops designed specifically for the heavily-themed-and-totally-over-the-top hen-do? Perfect. You are a one stop shop for so many summer moments, and you need to remind your audience of this.
While you may feel the weight of the quieter months, no hope is lost. Talk to your Taopix representative if you’re not running the latest version, or if you fancy pitching them some ideas for your business.