Christmas is just about 6 months away from this week and already people are starting to search online for holiday gifts. We're going to continue our discussion from yesterday and provide a few more ideas.
Since 2009, Google's been compiling data about holiday shopping experiences and then publishing it through www.google.com/think/insights. We're grabbing some of the important information and giving it to you with key takeaways. Unless otherwise noted, all the data presented here comes directly from Google's reports for retail stores.
Google referred to consumers as "Pavlov's dogs, trained for coupons." Like we explained yesterday, the consumer is always looking for some type of free offer or discount. You don't simply have to discount your jewelry. You could make them work for the discounts. Before we get to some ideas let's review Google's report.
They surveyed people for the following question: "Which offer or promotion would persuade you or help make up your mind to purchase a product when shopping?" Here are the results:
71% said they wanted price discounts or sales.
60% said they would buy online if free shipping was offered.
54% of those surveyed were interested in coupons.
25% of customers felt they were repeat customers enough and wanted loyalty programs.
23% of customers would purchase if the payment plans were flexible.
20% of those surveyed would have liked layaway plans.
Only 19% were looking for some type of gift set or complementary items packaged together.
The largest percentage of respondents was simply looking for some type of discount. Although for a jewelry store, it's going to be difficult for a customer to verify a discounted price unless you are selling specific designer jewelry that can be easily found.
One of the absolutely amazing finding published from the Holiday 2010 season is that 80% of smartphone users were, in fact, using their phones to shop/research and compare pricing while in the retail store. Many retail jewelers do not have mobile websites, or even websites at all, so jewelry shoppers are forced to compare your store to Blue Nile, James Allan and any other big brand that is willing to leap into the mobile technology age.
What if you took that leap this year, right now? Would you have a mobile website ready in time so you can pluck customers away from your competitor down the street?
Google explained that the word "coupon" is used a lot in online search that eventually results in a sale. Their data showed that the average monthly searches including the word coupon increase 38% during the holiday months.
Our bottom line Golden Nugget action item for today is that you need to start seeding your website with the words that customers are looking for.
* Price Discounts
* Sales
* Coupons
* Customer Loyalty Program
* Flexible Payment Plans
* Layaway Options/Plans
* Gift Sets
Use these phrases in conjunction with other these popular jewelry website phrases:
* engagement rings stores
* vintage inspired rings
* jewelry store
* wedding ring sets
* wedding sets
Try to weave these phrases throughout your landing pages, product descriptions, and specific pages you might have for those discount programs.
