5 tips and tricks that small sellers can use to ace ecommerce this festive season

The festive season is just around the corner, and shopping sprees have started across the country. 

From North to South and East to West, India’s diverse culture and traditions make this time of the year the busiest for every entrepreneur. The season presents many opportunities for businesspersons to meet the vast customer demand, increase their sales, and scale up their enterprise.

In the wake of the COVID-19 pandemic, almost every business has shifted to selling online, and shoppers are turning to apps, websites, and social media. The online space is now crowded, which is why small sellers, resellers, and retailers are fighting to win their piece of the ecommerce pie in this festive season. 

Ahead of the festive season, SMBStory spoke to industry experts to list out some important tips and tricks for small sellers to ace this festive season and boost their sales. 

Customise the product

Providing a customised deal is the best way to catch eyeballs. In this way, the customer is spared from navigating through the website to search for a related product. 

“Customisation goes a long way and as a seller, you need to put in that extra effort to make your product stand out during the festive season,'' says Hirdyesh Mordani, Co-founder of MyEasyStore, an ecommerce platform that helps small business owners set up their online shop. 

To attract more customers, you can also give them the option of adding a product of their own choice, even at the minimum cart value. 

Offer festive deals and discounts

Sellers can also offer and club complementary products in bundles. 

Angad Kikla, Co-founder and CEO, CityMall, a community ecommerce platform explains, 

“Bundles sell very well as the consumer does not have to separately look for items in the same category. In fact, they do not mind even if one or two products in the bundle are extra due to the ease of buying them together.”

As a seller, you can also give a discount on the entire range of festive products, which can make the customers more excited about shopping. 

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Attractive packaging and smooth experience 

Eye-catching packaging is the on-spot tool to sway your customers and thus, Angad says that unique and attractive packaging that includes all the relevant information along with mind-blowing deals overwhelms customers. 

Besides the attractive packaging, it is also essential to deliver a smooth experience. Hirdyesh points that customers who shop online are sceptical of whether the seller can be reached and would be understanding in case there are any issues with their order—

It helps to respond to customers when they reach out via reviews, direct messages, or calls, even if it’s negative feedback, you should address their concerns and offer a solution. 

This establishes brand dependability, help it to get recommended further, and creates customer loyalty. 

Successful deliveries

Timely delivery is what the customer seeks when shopping online. As a seller, you have to make sure that your customer doesn’t have to worry about late deliveries. 

Shiprocket CEO and Co-founder Saahil Goel says there is an influx in orders during the festive season, and it’s key for any seller to own their brand’s customer experience.

To do the same, technology-backed platforms are the solution. Technology that predicts successful deliveries, and helps save cost at the seller's end and logistics partner's end is a must.

Marketing advertisements

To stand out from the crowd, you need to position your product appropriately. With increased digitisation and almost everyone owning a smartphone, it has now essential to run advertisements of your brand or product on social media platforms such as Facebook and Instagram. 

To market the products, you can also use free online software to create graphic designs for promotional videos that describe the features of your products. Besides this, you also have to be consistent with your organic promotions and word-of-mouth marketing.