Christmas is the time of year for gifting, and it starts from November through to December as people start to get ready for this busy time of year.
According to research from the Australian Retailers Association in conjunction with Roy Morgan, Australians are set to spend over $11 billion on Christmas gifts this year. An average of 48% of Christmas presents is likely to be bought online.
12% of the surveyed people said that they will present their family, friends and work colleagues with food or alcohol. According to the research, the category Food & Alcohol appears in fourth place as a favourite gifting option behind Toys/Jigsaws/Board games, Vouchers/Gift cards and Clothing/Shoes/Sleepwear.
As a grocery or liquor store, you will want to promote the gifting ideas you have in-house for your online customers. Christmas is also a fantastic opportunity to give something back to your customers. We have prepared below some ideas for you to promote gifting for Christmas Online this year.
Hampers, Gift Baskets & Gift Packs
Hampers & Gift Baskets go fantastically online for the very reason that for the first time you can custom build a Gift Basket with any type of product you like! For example, in-store it is impossible to put Chilled, Frozen and Grocery items together as you physically can’t store and present them together. Alcohol product location is also normally restricted to the alcohol aisle in-store to reduce the promotion of the consumption of Alcohol. Online doesn’t face these same in-store issues allowing you to put together some really neat ideas.
Ideas:
Classic Father Christmas Pack
Box of beers, Chips, Biscuits, Chocolate, Nuts, Shaving Cream, Razors, Aftershave and Deodorant.
Classic Mother Christmas Pack
Champagne/Wine, Boxed Chocolate/Block, Facial Creams, Candles, Diffusers, Scented Room Spray, Perfume Beauty Products (general)
Flower Arrangements
Orchids Gift Wrapped, Bouquets of multiple sizes, Indoor plants are super popular at the moment.
Generic Giftpacks
Prefilled gift backs worth different amounts e.g $30, $50, 75 $100. Good to include a 6 Pack of Craft Beer, Bottle of Wine, Crackers, Chips, Boxed Chocolate, Christmas Shortbread/tarts are great options. Makeup Alcohol and Non Alcoholic versions at these price points.
Useful Tip: Buy a wrapping machine for your gift baskets. It makes your baskets look highly professional, saves a lot of time and presents them beautifully.
Promotional Offers
At Christmas time, promotional offers go down very well with customers. It is an expensive time of year, and customers often spend significantly more on food this time of year. To help encourage this spend, but giving the customer the feeling they are getting something extra is a nice touch. There are a few ways you can do this through our Coupon system:
Free delivery coupon
Customers absolutely love Free Delivery!
On average, delivery fees are between $10-15. Customers understand the value of this saving. Also, no one likes paying fees for anything.
Offering free delivery may seem like a big expense, but if you calculate the price per delivery, you may be giving away only half of that sum as a discount.
Money off for minimum spend coupon
One great idea is to offer a discount when your customer spends over a set amount.
This usually attracts dormant clients back to your platform while bringing new shoppers as well.
Often, the average basket spend vs discount given is roughly between 5% to 10%.
Surprise & Delight
Nothing makes your customers feel more appreciated than surprise gifts.
Look for something that is low cost but with a reasonable shelf price and add it to the shopper's order, free of charge. Fresh goods from your bakery go perfect for this sort of thing as they typically have fantastic margins. Picking Christmas themed items such as Mince pies, Shortbread and other Baked Goods are always nice and seem like a gift sent by a close friend.
Prize draw coupon code
Another great idea, and something that customers love, is participating in Christmas Prize Draws. You can use Coupon Codes as a method for customers entering into a draw to receive something free, a great example is to pay for a full grocery shop for free or a chance to win many different smaller prizes. This helps to encourage repeat shops for people to encourage more entries to increase their chances of winning.
Promote your online offering in-store
Promoting your online platform in-store is always a great way to attract your loyal customers to shop in your e-commerce.
Either using posters in-store, DL size flyers placed inside customer shopping bags or using your in-store radio through telling customers about it.
