Look at the retail calendar. It doesn't have many notable dates for sales or gift shopping. Alongside Black Friday and Christmas, Valentine’s Day is one of those dates. But is it really that significant?
Ultimately, no. Valentine’s Day is not a mega occasion and not as seasonal as Black Friday or Christmas. But still, you should not ignore it, especially if you have a suitable business industry.
The truth behind Valentine's Day
If we try to delve deeper into the topic, we will definitely find out about US-wide Valentine's Day sales. The figure exceeds $20 billion year on year, which is significant. Thus, most e-Commerce retailers are doing all they can to get their share of this holiday revenue. Valentine's Day looks like a huge opportunity to build an efficient marketing campaign and to sell more. What is not quite right here?
In reality, there is a small number of industries that can be capitalized significantly on Valentine's Day. And even for most of these industries, February is the lowest point in terms of monthly sales of the year. For example the February demand for perfumes and cosmetics is 9% below the average annual numbers. For jewelry stores - 13% lower. For wine, flowers, coffee, and even gift cards - February sees its lowest level of demand for the year. Only chocolate and lingerie are favored. For example, you can observe a local peak in demand for chocolate 17% above the annual average level.
From this point of view, a Valentine's Day campaign is not an opportunity to ride a trend. It becomes an attempt to maintain the sales level in one of the weakest months of the year to pull up your own annual average level.
Why are bundles good for Valentine's day?
The short answer is that bundles allow you to quickly and with minimal effort create a pool of gifts to fill your Valentine’s collection and increase the conversion rate.
Creating a holiday special product bundle for Valentine’s Day is the fastest way to increase your average order value while moving your highest-margin inventory.
For one, customers may discover products in the bundle for the first time. Additionally, making some products available ONLY within a specific bundle allows them to justify purchasing more products that may have gone ignored otherwise.
When done right, discounts may not even be necessary since customers may have never found the items in the bundle individually.
How to make and promote Valentine’s Day bundles?
First of all, get inspired by the mission the seller takes on. After all, the seller does not make the final gift. But he gives the client an exciting experience of selecting and buying a gift for a loved one. And this moment can be made special. Particularly with bundles.
First of all, you will need a dedicated collection that includes all the gifts. Do not forget to make convenient filters inside the collection, especially if it includes many gifts, for example, more than 30.
Sometimes it is suggested to make a gift selection guide, but with convenient filters in the collection, this is not necessary. The collection with gifts is presented as gift ideas. Be sure to make your Valentine’s collection visible on the main store page. It can be either a highlighted menu item or a promo banner. Better both.
You can use your traffic entirety channels - social media, email newsletters, media ads, etc. Or you can, on the contrary, make a limited offer for loyal customers. However, in any case, consider the campaign urgency. The campaign must start no later than February 1-3, as more than half of the Valentine’s Day orders will arrive on February 4-9.
A common recommendation is to acquire late buyers. Those who make choices at the last moment. This is February 12-14. However, be careful. To conduct this activity, first of all, make sure that you still have the gifts in stock and late orders can be completed in time. After all, delivery times later than February 14 will no longer be relevant. They can turn into refunds and a lot of dissatisfied customers.
Conclusion
- Valentine’s Day is a good opportunity to make additional sales off-season.
- Bundles are great for Valentine’s Day as they allow profitable gift sales even without necessary discounts if holiday specials are done right.
- For campaign success, make bundles visible and hit holiday week timings.
