As the second-highest grossing holiday on the South African retail calendar, Easter is known to increase sales. This presents a major opportunity for business owners to boost their bottom line.
While food, gifts, and hobby related products are the obvious categories to benefit from Easter, others might also want to consider preparing for this period, as the average South African consumer will have between 3-5 days off this month – giving them some downtime to unwind, but also to browse the web and be active on social media.
Here are our top tips for preparing your business for the Easter rush.
1. Offer a special discount
Whether it’s building supplies for home improvement projects or equipment for exploring the outdoors, consumers will be searching for solutions – and you should think of the products they might consider in this period and promote them in a special discount scheme.
2. Create a sense of urgency
Take advantage of the boost in shopping during Easter to clear out last season’s products. To create a sense of urgency, you could also experiment with different sales, promotions and deals per day during the holidays.
3. Enhance your presence online
Foot traffic no longer determines sales volumes. People are still buying, but they’ve moved online. In-store shopping is on the decline as it makes way for the convenience of shopping online. Consumers are opting for this method to avoid long queues, road traffic and the general busyness of malls.
4. Offer multiple payment methods
Your differentiator this Easter can be a quick and superior payment service like Ozow, offering customers an easy, automated EFT option that can be completed in seconds while staying secure. By selecting Ozow at checkout, customers don’t need to wait in long queues or waste time by filling in card details to pay for their purchases. This could lead to a decrease in abandoned carts and improve the likelihood of customers returning, even after the holiday rush.
5. Take advantage of the post-holiday mood
While going all-in during the run up to the Easter rush is key, your business can see a continuation of sales up to two weeks after a public holiday. Don’t be caught off guard while resting and recovering from the upsurge in sales over the holiday period. Put the same amount of effort into preparing for the post-holiday period so your business can cash in on holiday shopping.
