Spending on Valentine’s day is expected to be $21.8 billion in 2021, according to the National Retail Foundation (NRF). NRF has been conducting its annual Valentine’s Day consumer spending study since 2004 to see how Americans celebrate the day.
According to this report, more than half of US adults were planning to celebrate the occasion in 2020 and more than three-quarters of them felt it was important to do so because of how the pandemic had affected everyone. You can expect more celebrations for the year 2021 because people are slowly starting to open their purse strings and want to make everything look normal.
Here is a rundown of how the $21.8 billion is expected to be distributed:
- Significant other/spouse- $11.7B
- Other family members- $3.6B
- Friends- $1.6B
- Children’s classmates/Teachers- $1.4B
- Pets- $1.3B
- Co-workers- $1.1B
- Others- $1.0B
Customers are planning to spend an average of $164.76 on their loved ones this Valentine’s day. You certainly don’t want your store to be left behind, do you?
Let us tell you how you can make Valentine’s day of 2021 your bet yet:
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Create daily deals:
Here’s an interesting way to ensure that your prospective customers are always looking out for your products this Valentine’s day. Inform your customers that you will have daily deals that they can leverage, and it is especially available only during the Valentine’s day season.
Come up with time-sensitive offers, it will create a sense of urgency for your customers that they will keep coming back to your website and check out your offerings, and might even make the purchase if the offer is alluring. Introducing such time-sensitive offers reduces the friction for the customers with respect to taking time to make decisions.
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Offer anonymous gift-delivery options:
Your customers want to surprise their loved ones? Sure, here’s what you can do. Offer your customers the facility to do anonymous delivery. For those who don’t have the courage to confess their love for someone, this is one of the best options that is available to them. Offer freebies like gift wrapping and a personalized message to the recipient to make it even more special for your customer.
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Re-engage with all your past customers:
For those who were already your customers, let them know that you are still there by sending them promotional deals. Ensure that these offers are exclusive to them.They need to be subscribers to your newsletter to become eligible to get these rewards.
One of the most cost-effective ways to reach out to such customers is through emails. Since they are already subscribers, it is best that you use this opportunity to re-engage with them and send the right offers based on their needs, if you have segmented them already.
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Share user generated content (UGC):
If there is one more marketing strategy that you should implement to get more sales is to use content that has been created by your customers themselves. Let’s say they buy a personalized cake from you, ask them to send a pic of the same which you can then share on your social media handles and other channels.
Try to persuade more of your customers to regularly send pictures of products from your store that they have enjoyed using. It will create the right kind of buzz around your store and more potential customers will be exposed to you. Your customers will start trusting your brand more because of this.
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Offer gift cards:
For those who are not sure about what to buy for their loved ones, gift cards are one of the best options available for them. By telling your customers that you also have your own gift cards that they could buy, you will be attracting this set of customers as well. If you want to make Valentine’s day more special, here’s a tip for you- create Valentine’s day themed gift cards. It will add more charm to the gift card.
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Up-sell and Cross-sell:
Every time a customer adds products to their cart, are you sending them more recommendations? If not, you are losing out on increasing the value of each sale that you make. Ensure that you have more products that your customers can choose out from, in the cart. You can either offer more products that will be in alignment with the ones that they have added to the cart or persuade them to buy the next version of the item.
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Valentine’s day giveaway:
Who doesn’t like free products? If you have the marketing budget for it, you can send products for free for your customers. Ensure that the ones who are sending the products too fit the description that you have mentioned in your buyer personas.
It is a great way to engage with your community and it will also elicit interest from different quarters of your target market. Even those who are not looking to buy anything from your online ecommerce store should be eligible to participate in the giveaway. By creating the right kind of giveaway program, you will be able to create a bond with your participants.
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Offer multiple price points and unique offers:
One way to ensure that you are covering customers of different kinds is by offering products at a variety of price points. You can have customers who pay $100 for a customized product to someone who is only looking for a $5 sticker. Remember, sometimes volume matters too.
Come up with different types of promotions which will attract your customers. From offering a percentage of discount to a BOGO (Buy One Get One) deal, with the right kind of offer, you will be able to increase your sales on Valentine’s day. Do not forget to add products of different price points, in that way, you will be able to reach out to customers of all budgets.
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Provide fast shipping:
It is a time-sensitive ‘festival’, a customer getting the product before 14th or on the date might not mind, but if the product arrives after the 14th, it will make your customer look bad in the eyes of their partner/intended recipient. It will make them look bad. So, you need to not only offer fast shipping, but also make sure that it is free. No one likes to pay extra for shipping. It is a behaviour of customers that will not change anytime soon, so it is better to include the shipping costs into the product.
Conclusion:
There are many marketing ideas that you can use to get the most sales for Valentine’s day. Some of the ideas that we have mentioned above are practical, costs you almost nothing and brings you the desired results. Even if your store is out of the purview of the usual sales that happen on Valentine’s day, you can still make it work for you by using the right kind of messaging and offer. Turn Valentine’s day into a money spinner for you by using the above marketing strategies and you can also come up with your own to set the ball rolling.
If you are looking to use gift cards as a way to get more sales for your ecommerce store, 99minds will be more than happy to help you with setting up one.
