2024 Shopify Holiday Strategy
Boost Your Holiday Sales with Proven Ecommerce Marketing Ideas
As the holiday season approaches, ecommerce businesses need a solid plan to stand out and increase sales effectively. This guide will walk you through a Shopify holiday strategy packed with actionable ecommerce marketing ideas for the holidays. From creating irresistible offers to optimizing your store for more conversions, here’s how to increase your holiday orders.
Why a Holiday Strategy Matters for Shopify Stores in 2024
For ecommerce stores, the holiday season (Q4) is a make-or-break period. Seasonal shopping is an opportunity to offset slower summer months, and planning early gives you a competitive edge. In fact, a well-executed holiday marketing strategy can double or even triple your sales compared to other months.
Step 1. Create Unique Promotions to Stand Out
With every store promoting discounts, it’s easy for customers to feel overwhelmed by offers that all look alike. Instead of simply cutting prices, get creative with these promotional ideas that make your store memorable and boost your average order value:
Limited-Edition Gifts or Freebies
Offer a free, holiday-themed gift with each purchase, like a limited-edition product or festive item. Customers feel they’re getting something exclusive, enhancing their shopping experience.
The 12 Days of Christmas
Highlight different products each day from December 1st through the 12th. Pair these daily features with small discounts, bundles, or buy-one-get-one-free deals to create urgency and encourage repeat visits.
Bundling and Upsells
Consider offering gift bundles and upsells that cater to common gift-giving needs. For example, if your store sells children’s items, create bundles that include multiple products, such as a pillow, blanket, and sticker set for a special rate. This approach helps customers feel they’re getting value while covering multiple gifts at once.
Step 2. Optimize Your Store’s Holiday Experience
Your Shopify store’s design and functionality are vital to making a strong impression during the holidays. Small issues like broken links or outdated images can cost you sales, so take time to audit your site.
Check for Broken Links
Review your entire site, including navigation menus and footers, to ensure no broken links disrupt the shopping experience. This is especially important during the high-traffic holiday season.
Don't miss out on any potential opportunities because of easy low-hanging fruit on your store like broken links. This will also give you a helpful view on your store and everything you need to edit on your store overall to get it ready for the holiday season.
Download our free guide that walks you through step-by-step how to audit your Shopify store easily and improve your store's design and performance.
Update Images and Descriptions
Adding festive imagery, holiday colors, and seasonal descriptions can make your products feel more relevant to holiday shoppers. This creates a seamless experience and makes your store feel holiday-ready.
To start, consider adding holiday-specific backdrops, props, or lighting to your product photos to capture the season's warmth and appeal. You don’t need to overhaul every image—just add enough holiday-themed photos to enhance your store’s visual appeal and capture attention.
Next, make sure your updated images are cohesive with your brand style. For example, if you’re featuring winter backdrops, use a consistent theme across product categories. Also, showcase any limited-edition items or holiday bundles with special photos, as these are high-appeal items for holiday shoppers. Updated, festive product photography can be a key driver in turning casual browsers into buyers, setting the stage for a memorable and profitable holiday shopping experience.
Enable Shopify Sales Channels
Shopify’s Sales Channels let you sell directly on platforms like Instagram, Facebook, Pinterest, and even TikTok. Enabling these channels helps customers purchase products directly from social media without needing to navigate to your website.
Step 3. Set Goals and Forecast Demand
Setting goals and forecasting demand for holiday orders are crucial to ensuring your Shopify store is prepared for the holiday shopping surge. By setting clear targets and planning inventory, you’ll be able to maximize profits without running into stock or logistics issues. Here’s how to get started:
Set Clear Sales Goals and Define Metrics
Start by setting a holiday revenue goal, such as aiming for $10,000 in sales. Break this goal down into measurable metrics like the number of orders, average order value, and number of units per sale to guide your strategy.
Use Shopify Analytics to Forecast Demand
Dive into your Shopify analytics to assess previous holiday trends, customer behavior, and conversion rates. Factor in your current promotions or bundles, and use these insights to estimate traffic and sales needs for hitting your goals.
Prepare Inventory and Fulfillment Based on Projections
With your target numbers in mind, ensure you have enough inventory to meet demand. Consider extra stock for bestsellers, arrange backup fulfillment options, and plan for quick restocks to avoid sold-out products and maximize holiday sales.
Step 4. Secure Funding for Increase of Orders
Securing funding for your Shopify store during the holiday season can be the key to a profitable and smooth sales period, allowing you to stock up on inventory, expand marketing efforts, and prepare for any unexpected costs. Here are the essential steps to help you secure and make the most of holiday funding:
Ensure Quick Funding Access
Unexpected demand or ad costs can strain your budget. Look into services like Clearco for accessible, flexible funding options designed specifically for Shopify stores. By securing a funding source, you’ll be better prepared to manage increased inventory needs and adjust your marketing spend as needed.
Identify Funding Needs and Explore Options
Assess your sales goals, inventory, and marketing requirements. Then, explore quick-access funding sources like Shopify Capital, Clearco, or traditional options like Kabbage to find one that aligns with your revenue and growth plan.
Our Recommendation to Shopify Store Owners is Clearco
Clearco offers working capital that’s ready when you are, with zero collateral, no personal guarantees, and best of all—it’s non-dilutive. This means you keep full control of your business.
With Clearco, you only start making payments once the funds are in use, saving you significantly on fees. This is different from other funding options that charge fees upfront and require daily withdrawals from your account.
What we love most about Clearco is that your payment amounts are capped at a predictable weekly amount based on a percentage of your revenue. This approach makes it easier to manage your cash flow, with no surprises—just clear, straightforward working capital to grow your brand.
Clearco’s working capital can help fund vendor invoices, receipts, marketing costs, shipping fees, logistics, fulfillment, and more! With funding available in as little as 24 hours, Clearco’s got your back for a record-breaking holiday season.
Apply Early and Allocate Funds Strategically
Apply for funding early to avoid delays and allocate funds to high-impact areas, such as inventory, advertising, and logistics, which will maximize holiday returns.
Track Performance and Plan for Future Payments
Monitor sales, adjust funding allocation as needed, and set aside revenue for future payments to keep your cash flow steady going into the new year.
Step 5. Drive Traffic to Your Shopify Store
With your store ready for holiday traffic, it’s time to bring customers in. Diversify your approach to include both organic and paid traffic sources.
Make Shopping Easy with Gift Guides
Gift guides are a powerful tool for guiding customers through your product selection. Create curated lists of products for specific people, such as “Gifts for New Moms” or “Holiday Gifts for Kids.”
Download our FREE Holiday Gift Guides that include 12 easy to customize Canva templates. Easily change out your images, text and colors to match your branding and attract holiday shoppers.
Build a gift guide as a blog post on your site, then share it on social media, Pinterest, and through email marketing. Also consider linking the gift guide in holiday ads to help customers quickly find gifts and make purchase decisions faster.
Leverage Social Media
Post engaging content that showcases your products in a festive context. Create videos that highlight your unique promotions, bundle offers, or gift guides.
Use Paid Ads to Target Holiday Shoppers
Use Facebook and Instagram ads to target specific audiences. For example, if your target audience is mom's shopping for kids’ gifts, tailor your ads to showcase products that fit that demographic.
Step 6. Prepare for Future Success with Apps and Automation
To capture the most holiday sales and retain customers beyond the season, consider adding a few key Shopify apps:
Customer Reviews App
Set up a reviews app to request customer feedback automatically after a purchase. This app will help you gather valuable social proof to display on your site and in your marketing content, increasing trust with potential customers.
Affiliate or Referral Programs
Encourage repeat business by offering referral incentives. A referral program turns your holiday customers into brand ambassadors who can bring new customers back to your store year-round.
Automated Email Marketing
Use automated emails to keep customers engaged after the holiday season. Set up a welcome sequence for new subscribers, follow-up emails for people who haven’t purchased in 60 days, and seasonal campaigns to remain top-of-mind.
Step 7. Use Analytics to Adjust Your Strategy
Throughout the holiday season, stay informed about your store’s performance by tracking key metrics in Shopify Analytics. Regularly check:
- Conversion rate: The percentage of visitors making a purchase
- Average order value (AOV): The average amount spent per order
- Return on ad spend (ROAS): The effectiveness of your paid advertising campaigns
If you’re not meeting goals, consider adjusting your promotions, reallocating ad spend, or exploring new customer acquisition strategies.
Conclusion: Start Building Your Shopify Holiday Strategy Today!
The holiday season can be the most profitable time of year for Shopify stores if you’re prepared. By crafting unique promotions, optimizing your store for conversions, setting clear goals, and diversifying traffic sources, you’ll position your ecommerce business for a successful season. After implementing these tips, you’ll not only see increased holiday orders but set the stage for ongoing growth in the new year.
For more strategies and in-depth guidance on setting up your holiday marketing system, check out our full Shopify marketing system, which walks you through each step to create a thriving online store.
