E-Tailers: Why You Want to Prime Your Online Store for Labor Day

Labor Day weekend is a very popular online shopping time. According to Adweek, customers plan to spend an average of about $500 at retailers over Labor Day weekend. If you want your online store to be the destination for some of these funds, you’ve got to come out swinging – ready to dominate the ecommerce scene once and for all.

This year, Adobe’s quarterly “Digital Dollar Report” is predicting that ecommerce sales will eclipse $58 billion by the end of Labor Day weekend, setting a new all-time record. What’s more, e-tailers will rake in a record-setting $2 billion in sales over this four-day span, making this the fifth most popular online shopping holiday of the year, in par with other popular shopping days like Amazon Prime Day, Halloween, Black Friday and Cyber Monday.

Whether you focus on sales, special offers, or promotions, now is the time to take action accordingly. These Labor Day ecommerce statistics for 2018 combined with some helpful tips will create your straightforward roadmap:

6 Ways to Prepare for Labor Day Shopping Sprees

Ready to claim some of the Labor Day rush? Here’s your step-by-step guide to getting your store holiday-shopping ready:

1. Start Prepping Early

For best results, start preparing your store as early as possible. One of the foundational truths of ecommerce is that it’s an incredibly competitive industry, and retailers across the board understand that.

With this in mind, consider launching sales early, offering VIP access to valued customers, and teasing your upcoming deals starting now.

2. Consider Clothes

Labor Day is notoriously big for clothing sales, as stores are working to get rid of back-to-school leftovers and keep the shopping peak going. If your store sells clothing of any kind, focus some of your sales on these items. The most recent statistics on Labor Day ecommerce sales find that clothing is a top seller.

Customers are still looking for great clothing deals and will be grateful for any respectable sales you toss their way.

3. Optimize for Mobile

Did you think you could get away from this one? Of course, you have to optimize your online store for mobile traffic. Today, mobile traffic is responsible for about 50% of all ecommerce store visits, and about 35% of shoppers make purchases from their mobile devices.

As if those Labor Day shopping statistics weren’t enough, mobile sales are expected to comprise 27% of total retail ecommerce sales by the end of this year. With all that in mind, now is the time to ensure your website operates well on mobile, that it’s easy to navigate, and that you’re making mobile checkout simple and straightforward.

Here are a few tips to keep in mind:

● Keep it responsive and simple. Less is more when it comes to a mobile site. Get rid of fancy design elements and keep it easy to navigate.
● Make clickable elements easy. Clickable elements should always be easy to click. Keep them large and obvious.
● Optimize forms. Forms should include visible field labels and easy zoom features.
● Optimize the pipeline. The sales pipeline should be especially intuitive on a mobile phone. Test it by going through it yourself and taking note of (and resolving) any roadblocks.

4. Rethink Your Return Policy

How ironclad is your company’s return policy? While it may seem like this has no bearing on the success of your Labor Day ecommerce sales, modern customers pay more attention than ever to return policies, and you can bet they’re looking at yours.

With this in mind, now is a great time to ensure your policy offers free, straightforward returns, ample return windows, and prepaid return labels in each box you ship out. When customers know they can return products that don’t work for them, they’re much more willing to shop in confidence on your online storefront.

Take a note from Amazon on this one: you won’t regret it.

5. Offer Coupons

If you’d like to supercharge your company’s and cash in on Labor Day online sales statistics, take some time to consider offering coupons to your customers. Right now, more than 25 million Americans are using mobile coupon apps each month, and experts predict that about 1.05 billion people will have redeemed mobile coupons by 2019.

In addition to helping your customers get killer deals on the items they want and need, coupons are also an excellent way to drive brand awareness and promote loyalty among your new and returning shoppers. They also dovetail nicely with mobile shopping and are a great way to support your mobile efforts.

5. Make the Sales Pipeline Intuitive

If you want to nab your share of mobile phone sales, you’ve got to ensure a customer can happily and intuitively browse your website, add products to a cart and pay for them with just a few clicks.

With this in mind, spend some time going through the entire ordering workflow (right up to and through the payment options) to be sure the process works seamlessly on all devices – mobile and otherwise.

6. Leverage Social Media

Social media is a must-have tool in the world of ecommerce shopping, and can help you prepare adequately for Labor Day sales and more! If you’ve never dabbled in social commerce, you’ll be comforted to know that it’s popular, practical, and lucrative.

Right now, 87% of customers report that social media has helped them make a purchasing decision in the past. What’s more, 67% of Millennials would rather shop online than in a physical store, and 25% of customers look to social networks for purchasing advice.

In light of these statistics, spend some time enhancing your social sales efforts. Not only will it make shopping easier for your customers, but it’ll provide a new method of interaction with your products and help you grow your reach.

More Effective Labor Day Sales Start Here

Labor Day is just around the corner, and now is the time to start focusing on optimizing your store for the rush that will ensue.

When you take the needed steps to streamline your mobile processes, put your best (and most in-demand products forward), and ensure you’re making everything as easy as possible for your customers, you can dominate this holiday weekend by priming your store to taking advantage of these 2018 Labor ecommerce statistics, and keep your bottom line climbing well into the fall.