Merry Selling Season – 5 payment strategies to boost sales over Christmas

Merry Selling Season – 5 payment strategies to boost sales over Christmas

Merry Selling Season – 5 payment strategies to boost sales over Christmas

In 2018 consumers hit the high street and their smartphones with force, spending £446,000 every minute of every day on presents alone.

Each and every year, before Halloween hits, your annual Christmas preparations are well under way. This is, after all, the busiest time of the year for retailers, and a good festive period can support a slower year to come.

Part and parcel of this must be a painless payment experience, otherwise your customers could hotfoot it over to any one of your many competitors.

Here’s how to provide a gift-wrapped payment experience for your customers (and how to make Christmas 2019 your biggest yet).

1. Make your mobile experience amazing

In 2017, 49.7% of all online retail spending was on mobile (compared to 42.3% in 2016). With two years having passed since, this move towards mobile shows no sign of slowing down – so make sure your shopping experience isn’t just mobile-friendly, but built to be mobile first and foremost…

• Your website needs to load in 3 seconds flat (use the Google ‘Test My Site’ tool to check).
• Keep it clear and simple – providing details only on product pages; opting for bold, large fonts; simplifying any signup and purchase forms; and going with clean, minimal styling.
• Keep the thumb in mind – explore your site – go through the shopping and checkout experience. How does your thumb feel? Is it stretching out of its comfort zone? Are you having to use two hands? If so, you should think about making some design changes.

2. Make sure your website is on-point

“Website visitors make a decision about whether to stay on your website or leave it in just 10 seconds”

• Nielsen Norman Group
• Include social proof throughout your website – reviews, testimonials and case studies can all help to build trust in your business.
• Be concise with the language you use to drive home your USP and value proposition.
• Be clear on what your visitors can expect in terms of delivery – if you offer free and/or next day delivery make sure you include a site-wide promotion banner (90% of online shoppers prefer free shipping, even if their package takes longer to arrive).

3. Make gifting easy

Everyone has at least one person in their lives who are just impossible to buy for. For these people, there’s only one thing for it – gift cards. As for the business that sells them, there are many compelling benefits to be enjoyed, such as…

• customers who pre-spend money (great news for your cashflow);
• when the gift recipient redeems their card, 59%of consumers usually spend more than the card’s value;
• gift cards will likely be given to recipients who may never have visited your store before; and
• you can reward loyalty with gift cards, such as offering a £5 boost on gift card purchases of £25.

4. Lighten the loan, with Christmas credit and other helpful payment terms

Families with children will typically spend between £1,000 to more than £2,700 this Christmas, with gifts accounting for a large part of this amount.

Safe to say that consumers crave flexible payment terms at this time of year, with businesses that provide these terms chosen over their competitors despite the purchases’ costing more in the long run.

All in all, it’s worth considering payment terms such as: buy now, pay later; payment plans; and recurring billing.

5. Break out of the bricks and mortar with mobile Point of Sale

Pop-up shops, in your customers’ homes, networking meetings, exhibitions and markets – there are endless opportunities for selling beyond the four walls of your physical store. And with a mobile POS terminal, taking payment on the go is reliable and affordable.

Mobile POS can also cut the queues, with your shop team able to take payment from wherever your customer is stood in the store (and fast service will likely be remembered during the season where lengthy queues are everywhere).