Taking the time to review your Black Friday and Christmas sales can give you key insights about how to prepare for the next holiday season. This guide will outline three major holiday sales trends we saw in 2021 that we believe retailers should keep in mind throughout 2022 to maximize profits and boost business efficiency.
1. Use inventory and order management tools.
Shipping delays and other supply chain issues caused out-of-stock alerts to skyrocket in 2021. According to CNN, there were more than 2 billion instances of out-of-stock products in October 2021 alone. This is a 325% increase from October 2019.
Some of the most difficult items to keep in stock included appliances, electronics, cleaning supplies, and home and garden products. Retailers specializing in any of these key market areas should take extra precautions to ensure that their most popular items arrive with plenty of time to spare.
Adobe Commerce/Magento Commerce users can take advantage of their platform’s Real-Time Inventory and Order Management System, which can manage your inventory across multiple channels with outstanding accuracy. If you’re using BigCommerce, you can choose among several different extensions for improved inventory management capabilities.
2. Plan for continuing BOPIS trends.
Experts predict that BOPIS (buy online, pickup in-store) will continue to be a major trend throughout 2022. The trend increased sharply during the 2020 pandemic, and it has continued to impact shoppers’ decisions during the 2021 holiday season. Consumers who have grown to prefer this shopping method will expect retailers to keep offering BOPIS options.
BigCommerce users can choose from various apps and extensions that can help them improve their BOPIS services for customers. Adobe Commerce retailers can use the features offered through the Adobe Commerce Store Fulfillment tool to expand their fulfillment options.
3. Price items using data and analytics.
Customers expect discounts and special deals during the holiday shopping season, and retailers can’t afford to miss out on increased traffic to their stores and websites. To ensure that you drive the most traffic possible to all of your online and offline channels, it’s critical to price your products competitively. Luckily, there are specialized tools to help you analyze your sales data and price items to attract the most buyers while maximizing your profits.
Adobe Commerce’s Business Intelligence feature makes it effortless to collect and analyze the most important data from all of your retail channels. BigCommerce users can try competitive pricing extensions to keep an eye on their competitors and strive to continuously offer the best deals.
Want more tips to improve your company’s success in 2022? Connect with a Wagento developer to get a customized plan today!
