8 Ways to Sell More Over the Holiday Season | FlavorCloud

Optimize your international sales easily with FlavorCloud

The effects of the pandemic are still being felt around the world, with retail particularly impacted but the good news is that ecommerce has continued to grow with cross-border sales doubling. This has led to more ecommerce brands turning to global customers and cross-border selling to drive growth. With the Holiday Season around the corner, make the most of it by optimizing your international sales. Here’s how:

1. Target your top markets with FREE or flat-rate shipping

   We all know delivery charges can lead to abandoned carts. Post-Covid, there’s a trend towards free international shipping similar to that found domestically. Shoppers expect Amazon-like friction-free, fast delivery for international orders. While FlavorCloud automatically calculates the best shipping rates at checkout, you can also optimize sales by setting your own specific flat rates, including FREE shipping on a market-specific basis. Try applying this to your top markets and you could see a big impact on your sales. See how you can do this here.

2. FREE shipping on a minimum threshold (i.e., orders over $150)

   Cross-border transactions have a 20% higher average order value (AOV) than domestic ecommerce orders (according to May 2021 eMarketer research). With FlavorCloud’s conversion optimization settings, you can specify a larger than average order value to qualify for ‘free international shipping’, which could have a big impact on your AOV and revenue.

3. Mix it up with different offers and discounts

   The holidays are a great time to test and see what works. With FlavorCloud, it’s easy to mix things up. Apply free, discounted or flat-rate shipping e.g. a ‘$10 delivery during holiday season’ offer, or ‘20% off shipping on orders to the EU’ discount. Set amounts, time limits – it’s all in your control.

4. Domestic shipping rates on international delivery

   Wish your international customers a happy holiday with domestic rates on all international deliveries. Or just apply it for certain markets. If it sends sales skywards, you can extend it to other countries or regions, and set it to carry on indefinitely where it’s really making a difference.

5. Encourage Express shipping
   

   Express shipping is always the best option for the holidays, so to avoid disappointment it’s worth promoting. It means customers can order later with fewer delays. Try incentives and offers (e.g., 50% off express shipping before 20^th December).

6. Take care of the finer details
   

   Sometimes customers make mistakes entering their details. An address verification plug-in, especially for international deliveries, ensures fewer returned or undeliverable shipments. We recommend using AppHub’s Shipping Address Validator or something similar. And don’t forget to make sure ‘phone number’ is a required field for international deliveries.

7. Share your holiday shipping countdown earlier than ever

   With Covid impacting delivery times, your international customers will need to know when to place their orders to get their deliveries in time. Start posting these dates earlier than ever, and make sure the international dates are prominent and clear. If you are a FlavorCloud customer, you can see the holiday shipping deadlines here.

8. Be prepared

   Offers and promotions will lead to higher sales volumes. So, make sure you’re fully stocked and ready to fulfill orders. Remember, if you anticipate larger volumes, you’ll need to plan ahead. The FlavorCloud operations team can help you with scheduling and pick up.

Try it, test it, learn, and fine-tune

The Holiday Season is a great time to test and see what works – it’s completely in your control. With FlavorCloud, you’ll soon be honing your offers, attracting more customers, and optimizing your sales.

FlavorCloud also allows you to add your branding and any promotions you are offering to your order tracking page. This gives customers a seamless experience while providing the opportunity to encourage another purchase.

If you need any help with your international shipping please get in touch at: support@flavorcloud.com