Another year celebrating from afar…. No one would have expected in March 2021 we would still be looking into how we can celebrate occasions without visiting a restaurant, taking a trip, or mixing in another persons household but here we are. While socially this is disappointing, for eCommerce it spells great things for Mothers day sales. At BFG Digital we are looking forward to a very healthy Mothers Day for online retail and here is why…
6 reasons why this Mother’s Day should be the best Mother’s Day ever for eCommerce.
- People buying products – Without the possibility for occasions or lunches, it seems people need to buy products to show their mothers they care! This was a trend that we expected to see last year however it didn’t come through with the product surge as expected. According to a report by Research & Markets consumers spent a total of 25% less than usual on Mother’s day. We predict this means people will go all out this year.
- More people buying online – in 2019 eCommerce accounted for 14% of all global retail sales. Based on its current rate of growth this is expected to be 22% by 2023. This growth is accounted for on some level by more tech savvy generations becoming earners but also due to the various lock downs and retailers being closed has forced shoppers who would traditionally shop bricks and mortar to try out online.
- Supply and eCommerce infrastructure is better established than last year – With Mother’s Day last year falling in the early stages of the UK’s Covid-19 crisis, many retailers did not have the infrastructure in place to sell online. With a year of retail being closed on and off, many retailers have embraced online & delivery. Supply was also an issue at the beginning of the pandemic, with workplaces not yet set up with PPE, screens and social distancing measures. One year on, people have a much more seamless operation in place.
- Missing Families – some people haven’t seen their mothers in months and will want to show their appreciation from afar. Before Christmas it was found that only 23% of adults were planning on spending christmas with their parents, this is down from 35% in previous years. It is worth noting that this poll was taken before London was plunged into tier 4, meaning the actual number of adults who were able to travel home may have been lower. We expect to see a surge of young professionals spoiling their parents this Mother’s Day as it is expected the usual lunch will still be out of reach for a few months yet.
- Younger Families – With parents having to be teachers for the best part of the year we expect a gift of gratitude which reflects this – We saw this trend with Valentine’s day 2021, with couples being unable to go out to celebrate over ¾ of people in the UK decided to celebrate Valentine’s day in the house with a gift exchange or special meal.
- Covid-19 Baby Boom! – Last year saw everyone spending a lot more time at home with their significant others and seemingly this seemed to have resulted in a slightly higher than usual rate of pregnancy. Some irish hospitals have reported a 10% increase in new arrivals in January 2021 v 2020. This in turn should mean a rise of new mothers who need to celebrate their first mothers day with a product based gift, which spells good things for eCommerce.
So what does this mean for your eCommerce business?
Well, it means that Mother’s Day 2021 is an excellent way to boost sales – and we want to help you! Here are BFG Digital’s top tips to prep your eCommerce website for Mother’s Day:
Step 1: Prepare
Do you have a Mother’s Day landing page created already from a previous year? We recommend that you update and reuse this, rather than creating a new one, this is called evergreen content and will mean good things for the on-page SEO.
Your Mother’s Day page should feature:
- A Gift guide
- A compelling page description full of keywords
- A Meta Title & Description optimised for Search
Step 2: Marketing
How are you going to drive people to your Mother’s Day page?
We recommend creating a marketing plan with multiple touch points for your customers which include as many of the following:
- Google Ads Campaigns
- Facebook/Instagram Ads
- Affiliates
- Organic content (blogs, social posts, user generated content)
- Emails – Check out our recommended timeline
- On site messaging
- Homepage takeover.
- Banners Driving customers to Mother’s Day landing page
Step 3: Promotions
Offer people something extra special! Maybe a gift for themselves? Here are some promotions that will boost conversion:
- Free gift when you spend over X
- Buy one get one ½ on Mother’s Day gifts
- Get x% off Mother’s Day Shop with code
- Buy something for Mother’s Day and get a £x off code to use for yourself.
- Free shipping on last shipping day
Step 4: Review
Every year you should ask yourself what works best for your customers? Ask yourself what have we done before and how can we improve on this after every promotional period
- Did you start promoting too late?
- Could you have made the offer more compelling?
- Did you target the right customers?
Use what you know from previous years to build the plan for the following year.
This ethos also works for customers – remember to REMARKET to users who did engage with last year’s Mother’s Day promotional period. You could target users who bought last year with an extra special offer to keep them coming back!
If you want to find out more about how to improve your Marketing Campaign tailored for Mother’s Day get in touch for a consultation. We’d love to help you share in this success.
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