It’s the best of times and worst of times this Diwali and Festival seasons are eagerly looked forward to by the Indian E-commerce segment and other businesses, Here is a list of best strategies to Increase Online Sales During the Diwali 2020 festive season.

Businesses need to keep on adapting to the new normal keep on evolving on the online market, and how they can still keep in touch with their customers and communities by looking at their purpose and value and the way they can communicate with them. It’s the time to prioritize communities and people – Be supportive to communities, consumers, and employees.

Let’s start this blog with an anecdote, Here in this blog, we are going to discuss more about Brands, Communities, People, and what’s happening with the business and its services.

There are lots of things happening in digital and social media all around us. There are lots of brands and business services which are surprising us with their valuable services and communication even during this pandemic crisis.

And as we all know that, It’s the best of times and the worst of times this Diwali. While the festival of lights has sparked surging demand for consumer durable and electronics industry that is working to meet demand for everything from smartphones to refrigerators, fashion and lifestyle retailers are paring orders amid a demand slump. But before diving deep into it.

Here’s one example through which brands and business which are trying to enter into the online- digital business platform can get some great insights and learn from this example.

My mom wears Dr. Scholl’s footwear from Bata and she ran out of the slippers which she wears at home. (3 pairs down in 3-months time) and she basically wanted to order new ones. As she has got her own taste and preferences while ordering a pair of slippers ( and she was kind of a little bit scared that Bata is not into delivering their products online).

The size she wanted was not available on Amazon, Myntra, and even Flipkart or any of the E-commerce site. And Bata has started out with connecting with consumers through Whatsapp. They share a link in which people can open the link select the nearest store to their home and that guy actually called up and followed us with regarding the order. Shared the design available, size of the footwear available in stock, colour variants etc.

He arranged the order for my mom. Then later she received the payment gateway link on SMS. And she was able to make the payments and received the notification that within 4days of time the product will be delivered at home (Contactless delivery) And as said, she received her new branded comfy pair of Dr. Scholl’s footwear from Bata.

This really blew my mind, like this how a consumer buying experience should be.

There are 2 things we can learn from this real example:

• Like how E-commerce giants like Amazon, Flipkart and all these e-commerce players as their main role is to keep the products in stock and store and deliver as per customer’s convenience. And normally people have lesser expectations from brands like Bata. But if you look into this case, they pleasantly surprised. Despite the process being not as easy as Amazon and Flipkart, but she got received the pair of slippers delivered as promised. And I am very delighted to share this story over here. Like just imagine they thought about the whole process and must have decided that we need to grab this opportunity and be able to reach the consumers’ demand make arrangements and deliver the products as per their convenience in the promised period of time.
• That’s what happening right now: There is a lot of forgiveness, patience, and a lot of consciousness that people have developed towards brands and towards each other, and toward what’s happening in the economy. That is the aspect that brands, communication professionals, and marketers need to be very focused on.

Now, the festival seasons are eagerly looked forward to by the Indian eCommerce segment. The reason is surely a no-brainer. Simply put, it is when consumers tend to loosen their purse strings and go on a shopping spree.

The months of October-November, especially, see a big push, as Diwali is celebrated at this time. For Diwali, which is one of the biggest festivals in India, people buy new clothes, jewelry, household appliances, vehicles, etc. 

If you are aware that, during this time the Apparel vendors nationwide that service the vast number of mom-and-pop shops and small retailers that control almost 70% of the Diwali apparel markets said orders for Diwali has shrunk to about 30% this time from last year. Larger players like Biba and Manyavar – that also rely heavily for business in India’s biggest festive season – are cutting productions and orders by almost 40% for the current fiscal year ending March 2021.

Hence there is a big flurry of activity in the market place as different companies and brands compete to offer a wide range of products and services at attractive prices, with heavy discounts. 

“We have already reduced our orders by 40%,” said Siddharath Bindra, MD of Biba Apparels that operates more than 200 enthnic wear stores. He said like Biba, a lot of retailers are slashing orders for August to January months. “Obviously there is no business. The lockdowns and shutdowns have left us with a lot of unsold inventory. So we have enough merchandise for Diwali.”

The players who are most proactive and know the potential of digital platforms, social media reach, and how to communicate about their products and services during the festive season are the ones who get to rake in the profits.

To stay on top of the competition, effective marketing strategies have to be adopted. New brand strategies can go a long way to grab eyeballs and attract customers to a site.

In these Covid-19 times, as many people are hesitating to walk into brick and mortar stores, the online retail segment is poised to reap a rich harvest. In fact, even offline players have climbed on the online bandwagon, while those who were already present are trying to reinforce their online presence with innovative strategies so that they don’t lose out to the established competitors in the online space. 

7 Strategies to Increase Online Sales During Diwali 2020

Now is the time for the brand to be authentic and go back and truly understand their brand value and purpose, support their customers, communities, and employees. And it’s time for big brands and small businesses to dive into the digital business model.

Expand Home delivery option, Takeaway, Contactless operations, and enhanced value. The business really needs to leverage social media content and context which not only builds relationships with consumers and audiences, but it also helps in handy in market research. And how you can better your service. Businesses can understand failures better and then later pilot and scale, and focus on technology.

1. WhatsApp Marketing for Business
2. Create a brand persona to chat with users and build buzz.
3. Create a High-Converting Landing Page ( Must Check for your 1000$ Deal)
4. Create Co-Branding Networks
5. Online Video to Drive Business Results
6. Social Media Marketing Push
7. Make them an offer they can’t refuse

Here is a list of 7 strategies to increase online sales during Diwali 2020:

1) WhatsApp Marketing for Business

When you think of social media, sites like Facebook and Twitter probably come to mind immediately. Messenger apps have actually caught up to social networks in terms of users. But do you know that most of the experts are now creating the messenger based campaign!!

The leader in most of the world is WhatsApp (a pun on the phrase “what’s up”), with 1.5 billion monthly active users around the world. A huge part of WhatsApp’s user base comes from India alone.

So you can’t ignore that kind of market penetration. But how can you effectively use WhatsApp for marketing? Like all relatively unexplored frontiers, there are equal measures of risk and reward for early adopters.

Here’s our marketer’s guide to WhatsApp.

Why WhatsApp?

WhatsApp is a free mobile app that uses your phone’s internet connection to let you chat with other WhatsApp users, without SMS text message charges. The app also lets you share files and images, and supports free voice and video calls.

In India WhatsApp now has over 400 million active users. Amitabh Kant – the CEO of Niti Aayog, revealed this number at a press conference held by WhatsApp. India remains one of the biggest markets for the Facebook-owned instant messaging app.

Why should you use WhatsApp for business?

The best reason to use WhatsApp for business is that many of your customers are probably already using it. More than 60 billion messages are sent through WhatsApp every single day.

Surprisingly, users of WhatsApp and similar services are willing to engage with businesses. They’re more likely to shop with a business they can message directly. Plus, messaging apps like WhatsApp have incredible engagement rates:98 percent of mobile messages are opened and read, with 80 percent of them getting opened within three seconds of being received.

WhatsApp marketing strategies and tips

As we all know WhatsApp doesn’t sell ad space or have any business-specific features (yet) you have to be innovative in your marketing approach. While WhatsApp is different in its reach and features than other messenger apps, it’s important to develop your WhatsApp strategy alongside your general messaging app marketing strategy.

This can also be easily executed by small business like retail stores, grocery stores, online retailers, E-Commerce business, and many other business services which can get in contact with customers directly as it will definitely ease out the communication process, business owners can get to know more about consumers purchasing behaviors, buying patterns, consumers tastes, and preferences, and can deliver the products based upon their ease and convenience.

2) Create a brand persona to chat with users and build buzz.

On 31 August 2018, Vodafone India merged with Idea Cellular, to form a new entity named Vodafone Idea Limited. On 7 September 2020, Vodafone Idea unveiled its new brand identity, ‘Vi‘ which involves the integration of the company’s erstwhile separate brands ‘Vodafone’ and ‘Idea‘ into one unified brand.

Now people can register for updates on WhatsApp – VI users can get updates on their Vi™ account, best offers & more. They just need to Enter the mobile number to register for chat service on Whatsapp.

Jio Mart

Jio Mart – India’s most convenient online grocery channel.

Jio Mart offers the convenience of shopping everything that consumers need for their home with safety – be it fresh fruits & vegetables, rice, dals, oil, packaged food, dairy item, frozen, pet food, household cleaning items & personal care products from a single virtual store.

JioMart is an online selling channel (format) of Reliance Retail Limited. Visit www.relianceretail.com for details.

WhatsApp Business a version of the messaging app that lets small businesses connect with the customers they say was “built with the small business owner in mind.” The app is free to download and is available to Android and iOS users. It allows businesses to easily interact with customers by using tools to automate, sort, and quickly respond to messages.

How to get started with the WhatsApp Business app

Download and set up the WhatsApp Business app– Follow the simple instructions and you are good to go and start connecting with your customers.

For example, you can save and reuse messages you frequently send, and use these “quick replies” to answer common questions more effectively. You can also set an away message when you’re unable to immediately answer so your customers know when to expect a response. A greeting message can also be set up that welcomes customers to your business.

To start engaging with people, you need to have them add your number to their phone’s contact list. WhatsApp does provide a way to add a click-to-chat link to your website, email signature, or social media pages that makes it easy for people to start a conversation with your brand.

There are third-party WhatsApp marketing tools and services offering to set up multiple WhatsApp accounts and groups for marketers, but using them can lead to you being blocked temporarily or banned entirely from the service. Plus, mass messaging in this type of environment can do a lot of damage to your brand.

Facebook Shops- A new online shopping experience

As many businesses are creating and strengthening their digital presence, Facebook is building new tools to help make online shopping seamless. That’s why Facebook has launched with its Facebook Shops feature through which makes selling online easy and especially small businesses can sell from anywhere in their own customizable way through Facebook Online Shop and keeps the online sales going and growing. Facebook is investing in features across their apps that inspire people to shop and make buying and selling online easier.

Facebook Shops is a mobile-first shopping experience where businesses can easily create an online store on Facebook and Instagram for free. It is pretty much easy to customize it looks and feel of the online shop.

Businesses can choose which of the items you want to feature, merchandise with product collections, and tell your brand story with customizable fonts and colors. In Facebook Shops, you’ll be able to connect with customers through WhatsApp, Messenger, or Instagram Direct to answer questions, offer support, and more. Which is pretty cool and easy to execute and keep the sales going on.

Another announcement concerned live videos, which have been popping off in the coronavirus era. When businesses initiate a livestream, they’ll be able to select a shop or product that they can link to within the live video. An icon with a link to the product or shop will stay on the screen throughout the stream.

Through Facebook Shops and Instagram Shop, businesses will be able to display a catalog of their products, allowing potential customers to purchase them directly on both platforms.

“People can find Facebook Shops on a business” Facebook page or Instagram profile, or discover them through stories or ads. From there, you can browse the full collection, save products you’re interested in, and place an order — either on the business’ website or without leaving the app if the business has enabled checkout.

In short, both features act as digital storefronts for these businesses.

On Instagram, there’ll be a permanent button on the navigation bars on the app’s home screen which will be rolled out in late 2020, possibly in time for the Christmas holidays.

To ensure it gives tough fight to its competitors, Facebook is also experimenting with ways to make it easier for its users to earn rewards from businesses they follow through brand loyalty programs.

“You’ll be able to easily see and keep track of your points and rewards. And we’re exploring ways to help small businesses create, manage, and surface a loyalty program on Facebook Shops.”

Businesses should definitely look out at this and implement it into their business strategy.

3) Create a High-Converting Landing Page

The first thing is to create a well-executed perfect landing page that converts – your website/online store to highlight the festive mood.

This can definitely establish a good connection between your online store and your customers. Create a dedicated banner, short and concise content, and perfect communication and call to action for your website’s home page, which communicates the best site-wide offers – An offer they can’t refuse.

Don’t elaborate much on content keep it as short as possible – Keep the scrolling length minimal. Add high-quality images and use testimonials – It should be visually appealing and use directional cues and guide them to the CTA button.

You can also design a detailed landing page highlighting the exclusive Diwali offers and deals. In order to boost rankings, you can use targeted keywords like “Best Diwali Deals and Diwali Offers”.

Such keywords can be identified, along with their average monthly search volume. All you need to do is use Free Google Keyword Planner tool or to know more about what your competitors are up to tools such as SEMrush can help you out.

4) Create Co-Branding Networks

When using affiliate marketing for your online business, the risks are very low while the conversion is high.

The best payment gateway solutions should be adopted only when a customer converts, meaning when a sale occurs. So it’s a clever idea to team up with various Coupon sites and start co-branding initiatives.

These websites can effect more conversions by channeling traffic to your website. Enter into affiliate marketing deals with popular websites for running banner ads of your special offers. Use a creative approach to reach the right audience. 

5) Online Video to Drive Business Results

As more brands realize the growing appeal of online video among Indian consumers, many are experimenting with new ways of amplifying their creative insights and inspiring viewers in key moments at scale.

Businesses from different industries need to adapt and engage with their consumers and target audience through online videos.

Online video accounts for more than 70% of India’s total data usage.

India’s skyrocketing population in terms of smartphone users and increasingly affordable data, online video accounts for more than 70% of the country’s total data usage.

Indian consumers are spending more time watching content on their own terms, on platforms where they can conveniently learn new skills, discover the latest products, and keep up with their beloved artists and content creators.

When 265M Indians turn to YouTube every month, we know they’re attentive and engaged because they start watching for a reason — everyone has got different interests and preferences whether they want to be inspired, empowered, informed, or entertained.

In those moments where online video enters the picture, viewers are driven by a clear intent. Brands with video-first strategies to tap into that intent have the power to drive real, measurable results with their creativity.

Let’s look at an example see of how an Indian Jewellery brand has used online video to quickly raise awareness, stay top of mind with new customers, and drive conversions from high-intent viewers.

CaratLane puts high-intent shoppers one click away from top designs

In 2018, Indian consumers spent 2.9X more on jewelry during the week of Diwali. So it’s no surprise that CaratLane, one of India’s leading jewelry retailers, traditionally sees its peak sales during the festival season.

The brand typically combines search and Shopping ads to stay atop shoppers’ minds during Diwali, but its marketing team was eager to drum up interest and keep driving people to its website outside the festive period. But they choose to strategize on a different route.

In early 2019, CaratLane used TrueView for Shopping on focus on serving creative to 24 to 44-year-old female shoppers and those in the market for fine jewelry. The ads showcased a handful of CaratLane’s top-selling designs and allowed viewers to click through to its website right from the ad.

By tapping into the online video during the festival off-season, CaratLane ended up seeing even better results than during its peak Diwali period.

The brand’s TrueView for Shopping creative drove 12% more visits to its website, while its overall cost per acquisition dropped 15% compared with its Diwali campaigns.

Even your business should definitely take inspiration from this example and tap into users’ intent and try to know more about their search query, buying patterns, and consumer buying journey, target the right set of audience- demographics and psychographic.

This is the secret recipe which most of the marketers miss out or doesn’t implement well and because of which the results are not according to what we except.

6) Social Media Marketing Push

Most of the E-Commerce retail business owners and other businesses should ask this one question to themselves:

How does Amazon Great Indian Festival & Flipkart Big Billion Day fight for attention on every platform possible and how does each of the brands rely heavily on one hero element to reach out to the masses and drive amazing online sales during the festive season in a short period of time.

Well, a lot of things goes behind the story: Social Media Marketing is what comes into play to drive such campaign on a large scale and get measurable results.

This is what we can learn from Amazon Great Indian Festival

The target audience should know about the offers and exclusive deals that you are planning for the festive season. As Social Media comes with a huge customer base and easy-to-navigate interface plus reasonable cost, Social Media Marketing is an excellent tool to boost customer engagement directly.

Replicating what has worked for them in the past, Amazon leverage its content and context to cover every touch-point through influencers & content. Across their social media handles, Amazon India works to keep the conversation alive and consumers engaged; the talk points consists of products, offers/deals, contests, and influencer shout outs.

While most of their content is platform agnostic, each platform leads one strategy clearly.

For instance, Twitter acts as the contest hub throughout the span of the sale, while Instagram is all pictorial compilation #Influencermarketing Platforms of the Festive Yatra and the influencer outreach.

As a pre-buzz to the main festival, Amazon India released a launch campaign. After Apni Dukaan, while previous year’s campaign focused on the core proposition of the sale – buying a lot at lesser prices. Though most of their video assets focus on the family buying proposition in India.  

On Facebook & Instagram, efforts were made to keep the consumers aware of the products and exclusive deals and offers. The e-commerce giant also attempted to stay topical, with every important occasion (such as karwachauth) marked through a creative.

One can even run a contest, takeaways in social media platforms or create a micro-site like official Diwali, integrate it in your apps (if your business has got one). These can establish social media connect with your festive marketing. If you are fortunate to have a loyal customer base, they are likely to engage with your brand by posting their pictures which show them using your products or services. Dedicated hashtags should be created for your festival offerings. Ensure that all your social profiles are interlinked and have updates on the offers. On each platform, the call for action should be to go to your website.

7) Make them an offer they can’t refuse

 I saved the best for last. All of these examples so far can help drive conversions.

They all can surely contribute to getting people to do exactly what you want. However, there’s one element above all that dictates conversions. This is about the time that people bring up individual elements, like the CTA or catchy headline.

So you can get everything else on this list 100% correct. But if your offer doesn’t appeal to your audience, your results will suffer.

There are a few ways to craft an excellent offer.

Price is always at the top of that list.

For example, Amazon leads with an excellent deal on buying their new Echo.

Here’s why this offer is so good, though. You can buy multiple products and have them work together. You can use them in several rooms of the same home.

So in this case, Amazon is incentivizing you to purchase more with the $100 discount. Buy only one and you miss out on a great deal.

Conclusion:

Creating high-performing strategies and executing is both an art and a science.

Some techniques might work well in one scenario. And then they might backfire in another.

There’s no single formula that will always work 100% of the time. But all the above-mentioned strategies are been implemented and executed by different businesses ranging from various industries.

You gotta figure out which works the best for you according to your budget and audience. Through these strategies your business can drive better online sales, a better and reach, and will definitely bring out a great positive impact on your brand image.

What’s the one best strategies or tactics you’ve seen or come across which helps in increasing online or offline sales during the festive season?

Stay Tuned,

We will be covering more such case studies and sharing more successful strategies and tips which any kind of business can take inspiration from any execute it and which will lead to increase in business sales during this festive season.

Thanky You