If you’re a savvy business then you’ll be making sure to get a hold of all stock well in time for Christmas.
But Picknell says you should be investigating a few other things as well, including sourcing your international stock even earlier than you would usually –allowing you to save on freight costs.
“Get your international stock in early to avoid peak seasonality costs or look at alternatives such as air-sea, where goods move by seafreight to a location and then airfreight from an international hub. Not only do these sorts of services help reduce total transit times, they half the cost of traditional airfreight.”
And speaking of offshore, Jim Stewart says ramping up your search engine optimisation and AdWords campaigns for the northern hemisphere is vital.
After all, it’ll be snowing in North America soon, which means more people are spending time indoors on the internet. There’s a whole other audience you should be marketing to.
“People are obviously spending more time inside, and they’re going to be looking online – so you need to make sure to ‘sell up’.”
“If you do your work on your SEO then you’ll be okay, but otherwise you’re going to spend a fortune on AdWords.”
These experts all say you need to make sure your website reflects the current season, and that means publishing a few decorations here and there to remind people you’re actually aware Christmas season has started.
It doesn’t have to be a huge makeover. Just a few signs advertising a Christmas sale, or a bonus like free shipping before a certain period. Even more importantly, a sign letting people know the date by which they should buy products so they can receive them for Christmas Day.
“If you look back over the years, plenty of websites have done some really nice campaigns,” says Brian Walker.
“The 12 days of Christmas, and all that. Pick up the brand cues and see how you can relate to them.”
But this also means an integration of the sales channels. Click to collect and online ordering are only just the beginning. Retailers and other businesses need to make sure their websites are as eCommerce-friendly as possible before Christmas, and that they have the resources to back them up.
More than ever, shoppers are basing their purchasing decisions on location. And they’re doing it with mobile phones – and that means businesses have to start marketing through mobiles.
Jim Stewart says it’s no longer an option anymore. For businesses that want to succeed, it’s essential.
“This time last year when we were talking about mobile, it was up 200-300%. Given the development in phones over the past year, it’s going to be even bigger.”
Stewart says the mobile platform is a perfect one for businesses, as people are out and about when they’re shopping, and are often searching Google on the move.
“They’re talking about stuff they’ve seen online and they’re using Google to find it. It’s a good time of year to be starting up a mobile campaign and working with mobile AdWords as well.”
That means businesses should take into account suburb and location-based AdWords too.
Christmas doesn’t start on December 25, and it doesn’t end then either. As these experts rightly point out, the Christmas period moves well into January.
For business to business companies, that means making sure deals are locked in before the start of the new year, and then using that time to prepare for new pitches.
For retailers, that means marketing campaigns to make sure shoppers who are coming into the store have a reason to come back. For instance,with a discount voucher for a purchase in January.
“The Christmas period is starting to go well into the third week of January, so businesses are going to think about how that affects their strategies,” says Brian Walker.
“And that means a strategy in the post-Christmas period for getting people to spend.”
Patrick Stafford is a freelance journalist and a former deputy editor of SmartCompany.
