The holiday season is around the corner, which always indicates a boost in ecommerce sales. Shopaholics are flocking to their favorite online retail stores, including Amazon, to take advantage of amazing discounts and purchase products before they run out of stock.
More people on a website is good news for retailers, but at the same time, ecommerce business owners will face a set of issues and challenges.
Aside from earning the revenue upfront, a lot of other factors count.
For instance, the Voice of Connected User Landscape: The Connected Customer, the Holiday Experience 2021 identifies three high-impact areas that merchants need to get right before holiday shopping officially begins.
We’ll uncover what merchants need to get the hang of to boost their sales, aside from offering attractive discounts.
Payment Trends Merchants Need to Get Right for the Holiday Season
Perhaps you revamped your online store to get the most out of the shopping season.
For that purpose, you might have introduced a chatbot, decluttered your website, made your site navigable, and added appealing graphics to entice customers.
But, if you do not master three fundamental payment trends, you’ll struggle to benefit from the holiday shopping season.
Buy Now, Pay Later (BNPL) Model
Did you know more than 10% of holiday shoppers are willing to purchase using BNPL, a figure that rises to 17% for Millennials and Generation Z?
In fact, a few customers agree that having no BNPL option is a reason they might abandon a website. With a dramatic shift in consumer trends, the BNPL model can be a way to increase conversions, and not offering could have an obvious adverse effect.
Perhaps this explains why ecommerce giants like Amazon and Flipkart Pay are keeping up with the trends.
Nothing grew the expectations of online consumers like the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic. Now more than ever, customers seek greater levels of convenience when it comes to online shopping.
For this reason alone, they are ready to switch from their favorite online stores to the more convenient ones – if their preferred ones are no longer user-oriented.
Here’s how the BNPL model adds to your customer’s experience, increasing conversions.
- The BNPL model encourages customers to manage their budget and pay for high-priced items later.
- The business model gives customers the freedom to split large purchases up over several months.
- It gives buyers financial flexibility without paying for interest or applying for a credit card.
Naturally, retailers get a chance to earn loyal customers as 44% of consumers say the use of Buy Now, Pay Later helps them determine how much they’ll spend during holidays.
This implies it’s in your hands to encourage them to spend more, and the BNPL model can be a win-win for your online store or business.
Across the Border Customers
Does your online store offer products and services internationally? If so, now is the time to reconsider your delivery options.
Do you know nearly two-thirds of Gen Z (64%) and Millenials (63%) are willing to purchase gifts across the border?
Further, a survey shows that two in five respondents plan to buy from international merchants.
Therefore, it is important for merchants to offer products internationally to make a positive impression on cross-border consumers. Not only this, it gives them a chance to build long-term relationships with international consumers.
For that purpose, merchants should offer local payment modes, local acquisitions, and currency conversion.
It will encourage cross-border consumers to make more purchases. Consequently, ecommerce businesses get a chance to grow significantly. Here’s how across-border ecommerce business can be a game-changer for you.
- You’ll get a chance to expand your business into demographics, growing economy.
- Sellers have a golden opportunity on the international market – high demands for products leading to greater revenue. So, you get a chance to boost your sales and establish integrity with your target audience.
- Consumers are willing to purchase more from a popular ecommerce store like Amazon than XYZ retail store. Why? Because Amazon holds a reputation in the ecommerce industry. Cross-border selling gives you a chance to create brand awareness.
- Got low demand ecommerce products? Fret not! Cross-border ecommerce allows you to maximize the selling of low-demand products. If your product has low to no recognition in the domestic market, you might sell it in the international market.
- Cross-border ecommerce is leaving its footprint in the ecommerce world. Since your brand gains popularity, you have a chance to increase your business’ stability.
False Positives
Also known as false declines, false positives refer to when a customer purchases online using a valid credit card, but the purchase gets declined – out of nowhere.
This typically happens due to suspected fraudulent activity during merchant processing. But it can be a nuisance for your customer and a loss in revenue for you.
This more likely feels like an effort to prevent fraudulent activities backfiring. Since more people dash to online stores, merchants try their best to offer a smooth customer experience, and fraud prevention is one.
Nonetheless, false declines turn the customers away. For example, around one-third of respondents say that false declines cause them to abandon a transaction while holiday shopping.
On top of that, 59% said they are less likely to shop with a merchant after a false decline. Here’s how you can prevent one and get the most out of the shopping season.
- Opt for a fraud protection provider who refuses to auto-decline orders. Instead, conduct an expert manual review of flagged transactions.
- By finding correlations and similarities between valid transactions that are flagged fraudulent, you can create accurate fraud filters, leading to the approval of legitimate transactions.
- Since merchants can partially view the transactions, there should be better communication between merchants and banks to boost authorization rates. This allows online sellers to directly contact banks and gain insight into fraud data, reducing false declines.
Wrapping Things Up
The outbreak of COVID-19 led more people to purchase online, and this trend has continued post-pandemic.
With the upcoming shopping season, e-commerce giants like Amazon and Shopify are of course expected to grow in revenue.
Whether you sell on Amazon or run your website, make sure you introduce the BNPL model, reduce false declines, and get in touch with international customers to stay competitive against fellow online sellers.
