It’s October (already?), and as we enter the final quarter of 2020, many are wondering what the holiday season will look like. One of the year-end season forecasts is a continued eCommerce boom, extending a significant shift that commenced with the outbreak of Covid-19.
Unlike the rest of the years, eCommerce is more critical than ever this holiday season. This guide highlights the tips, tricks, and trends around shopping behavior during the year-end season and help you adapt, plan, and execute for the season ahead.
How to conquer the retail’s busiest time of the year?
The indicators from various surveys suggest that there is an increased time being spent on mobile and shopping online with people staying at home. With the active engagement rates on social networking sites, i.e., Facebook and Instagram, respectively, it is the perfect time for you to grow your brands’ visibility through their commerce arms, including- Facebook Marketplace, check out on Instagram, and Shops.
As the year brings numerous changes in buyers’ shopping habits, it is time to keep a good hold of your connections across the social network and attract the new ones at the same time. To help you most of the holiday season, we are compiling the effective channels that will help your business increase sales and drive enough traffic.
Connect, create, and get discovered as you sell ahead this holiday season.
Connect to buyers with Shops
Facebook has always been about connecting family and friends. However, with the sudden shift in shopping preferences, Facebook has brought several updates to ensure a seamless selling and buying experience to both the buyers and sellers. One of its additions being the Shops.
To make buying effortless and empower even the small business owners, Facebook Shops makes it easy for merchants to create and set up a single online store with equal access on both Facebook and Instagram.
That said, businesses can create Shop for free with zero technicalities involved. You can choose your choice products and customize the look and feel of the Shop with any cover image. Given the holiday seasons around the corner, you can change your cover images w.r.t. the upcoming festivals. Merchants can find Facebook Shops on a business’ Facebook Page or Instagram profile.
Why should you set up Shop this holiday season?
With the rise in the number of people spending more hours online, setting up a shop on Instagram is the perfect idea to help your business grow online.
Get discovered
A shop on Instagram helps you connect with your existing shoppers and find new ones, especially during the holiday season.
Sell on Instagram
With the sudden shift in online shopping, selling online is more important than ever. Your Shop will give you a vibrant online presence during a digital-first shopping season.
Build your brand story
Shop helps you bring your brand story to life on Instagram with its immersive, digital shop front that includes shopable content and curated collections.
Pro Tip: Given the current economic crisis, Facebook has waived the selling fee until December 31, 2020.
Getting started with Instagram Shops
Before you get started, run a quick check if you are eligible for Instagram Shopping. Our experts at CedCommerce can help you with the same.
- Your business must have a business or creator account.
- Your Instagram account must be connected to a Facebook Page.
- Sign up for Business Manager.
Next, go to the Commerce Manager, log in to your business account. Choose an integration partner.
PRO Tip: With CedCommerce being a preferred partner of Facebook, we can help you list, automate, and sell quickly.
Get discovered with Facebook Marketplace
Holding a large community of people, the Facebook Marketplace focuses on expanding your brands’ online presence. More than 1 in 3 people on Facebook in the US use the Marketplace each month to buy and sell things. Given the holiday season, shoppers are actively shopping from the Marketplace. Turns out the perfect time for you to connect your store with the Facebook marketplace this year-end holiday season.
Facebook Marketplace is the perfect place for people to discover, sell, and buy items. Shoppers can find what they’re looking for by filtering their results by location, category, and price. Ensuring a seamless buying experience, Facebook Marketplace enables shoppers to checkout directly within Facebook without leaving the platform.
Evolved from buy-and-sell groups, the Facebook marketplace enables brands to capitalize on visitors already on Facebook. Let’s get through the benefits of Facebook Marketplace to ensure you witness an increased ROI this holiday season:
Extended reach: Merchants selling on the Marketplace can bring their brand and products among more shoppers.
Personalized customer experience: Facebook Marketplace helps your business find the right customers by surfacing products relevant to consumers.
PRO TIP: Facebook Marketplace asks for zero listing fee (you are only charged a minimal selling fee of 5% or a flat fee of $0.40 transactions of $8.00 or less).
On meeting the following criteria, you can quickly get started with the Facebook marketplace:
- US Facebook Business Account/Page.
- Business Name and Physical Address.
- US Bank Account.
- US Tax ID.
- Shipping competency to deliver within 3 Days in the US.
Connect, automate, and sell
To provide a great customer experience strategy, you’ll need a clear plan to list, fulfil, and manage the orders. With CedCommerce being the preferred partner of Facebook, it gets even more comfortable to onboard, set up your Shop, and connect your storefront with the Marketplace.
The Facebook and Instagram app helps you surface your products across Facebook and Instagram channels. Providing the best customer experience features, both Facebook and Instagram enable an onsite checkout option. Thus, your shoppers pay without having to leave the app.
The integration app by CedCommerce comes for free. Leverage a hassle-free onboarding experience benefitting you with several automated features including:
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- Quick Account Setup
Once you comply with Facebook’s commerce policiesour experts assist you with the account setup, shop configurations, bulk product uploads, and ensure on-time approval.
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- Real-Time Inventory Synchronization
Avoid over-selling with real-time synchronization of inventory, price, and order updates in real-time, along with syncing your catalog as per Facebook Commerce norms.
- Centralized Order Management
On successful installation, the orders received on Facebook Marketplace and Instagram are automatically synced with your store, helping you track, cancel, or fulfil orders from or within your store.
The 24*7 free support services from CedCommerce makes sure to give you the best of our services and resolve your queries right on time.
Your checklist for the holiday season
2020 has been different in almost various aspects. The shift in shopping trends is expected to be followed throughout 2020 and beyond. Both retailers and shoppers are looking forward to the holiday season. Shoppers will be actively buying gifts for their friends and families. It is time for you to tap into the world of social commerce and let us help you manage your orders during the holiday season.
The post Convert your connections to buyers this holiday season appeared first on CedCommerce Blog.
