Articles tagged ‘Selling online’

If you’re an online trader, Summer can be a difficult time. Firstly, ecommerce (like retail in general) tails off as people go on their hols. The drop in sales is even more acute if the sun is out here at home and people go out to play. Sadly, small businesses making a living from ecommerce should be praying for rain because when the sun is out, people aren’t indoors at their computers filling your coffers. Secondly, if you’ve got children, the school holidays can be a tricky as you try to fit everything in. And it’s even more difficult if you’re operating your business from home. You’ve got to keep the kids amused and safe and ensure that you’re business is working hard to fund all the outings and extra expense.

Fitting it all in and keeping your sales up is the ecommerce Summer challenge. But we’re confident that all is not lost and you can still overcome the sunshine blues! So here are some ideas to help you cope and keep your sanity.

Don’t forget that search is heavily seasonal and the things people are searching for changes throughout the year. A Summer SEO push might be a good use of your time. This graph from Hitwise shows how certain summery keywords have performed over the past few years. Take a look at your analytics programme and see if you can add content to boost your search engine performance in the harder holiday months.

To boost sales, it’s worth thinking about a summer promotion of some kind. It’s a good opportunity to have a clear out, make some room and liquidate slow moving or end-of-line stock. Everyone loves a summer sale. In fact, we love them so much here on BT Tradespace that we’re tweeting out your special offers so send them in. Consider offering Free P&P as part of a special promotion to attract summer buyers or offer August buyers a discount if they come back and make a purchase in September.

A promotion or sale is a reason to open up the marketing throttle. Use it as an excuse to contact your email marketing list and promote discounts and offers hard wherever you can. There’s no prize for shyness.
While you’re turning your hand to the marketing, what about the kids? You’re going to have to be very organised and efficient to be both a parent and professional. Enterprise Nation has some great tips for keeping the children occupied and even involved with your business during the summer hols. But you might be more interested in this post that explains how getting your older kids to pitch in on your business can be an effective way of actually cutting your tax bill. Obviously, infants and babies don’t have much to offer to your business, but youngsters over 13 can probably make a valuable contribution.

But, maybe, it’s best to take the hint. Sales are down, the sun is out, the kids are getting under your feet and you can’t remember the last time you had a proper break. Why not have a holiday? With the bank holiday at the end of August representing the nadir of the ecommerce year, it’s a good time to plan to take some time off. After all, Christmas is only months away and soon you’ll be working all the hours of the day to cope with the flurry!