Marketing & Advertising

9 Back-to-school Tips to Increase Sales

Fortunately for ecommerce businesses, many back-to-school shoppers this year will shop online. According to a recent PriceGrabber survey, when asked where they would shop for back-to-school items, respondents selected discount stores first, followed by online-only retailers. Office supply chains and traditional department stores ranked third and fourth place, respectively.

If you’re looking to grow back-to-school sales, below are some ideas that you can still implement.

Create a Special Back-to-school Section

Create a special back-to-school page on your store to make it easy for shoppers to find what they’re looking for. Put all related items, promotions, and deals in one place so it’s more convenient for shoppers to locate what they need.

Create a page dedicated to back-to-school products and sales. Example from Staples.

Create a page dedicated to back-to-school products and sales. Example from Staples.

This will work especially well if you’re selling a variety of items. Round up all the back-to-school-related merchandise, put it all in one place, and make the link easy to find on your home page.

Let Shoppers Personalize their Products

Attract shoppers with items that incorporate their school’s colors and themes.

Regarding customized products, “Personalized school supplies” made it to Google’s list of trending back-to-school searches. Consumers are looking to personalize their back-to-school items this year. If you can accommodate them, you can perhaps convert them.

Write Detailed Product Descriptions

One of the downsides of online shopping is that shoppers can’t touch the products. You can bet that online shoppers are thinking that, too. So the best way to help them make a decision is to provide a lot of information.

Be very detailed with your product descriptions. Add measurements, material, color options, and any other relevant information. This enables shoppers to decide if the product is right for them and gives them more accurate expectations of the merchandise.

Additionally, detailed product descriptions make you appear more trustworthy and set you apart from merchants with vague, one-line descriptions.

Get Every Angle on Camera

In addition to being detailed with text descriptions, do the same with your product photos. Shoot many photos of the merchandise. Get it from every angle and be sure to capture the details. This helps shoppers determine if the product is for them, and it gives you an edge over stores that only have a single photo of the product.

Offer Deals

Consumers are looking for deals this time of year. According to PriceGrabber, free shipping is the leading incentive most valued by consumers. So if you’re considering coupons, a free shipping offer would likely be effective. Even better, consider tailored promotions based on customer data and behavior.

Give Away Helpful Content

You don’t always have to offer tremendous deals to convert users — although deals certainly help. You should also consider giving away free content. Most people are looking for tips and information this time of year. Offering knowledge — no strings attached — will often get attention.

Whatever your industry is, try to find a back-to-school angle that you can use in your content. For instance, if you’re selling food, share quick and easy recipes for the busy mom or student. Is your company in the health industry? Content about health or safety tips in school would be helpful.

Ramp Up your Social Media Efforts

Don’t forget about social media marketing. It’s still summer after all. So it’s likely that students who don’t have to worry about homework or school are checking their social accounts more often.

Be sure to broadcast updates from your company on a regularly. It doesn’t always have to be about your latest back-to-school promotions. You can share your free content via social media as well.

Try Remarketing

People are shopping for the best back-to-school deals and products. So it’s common for them to visit many websites without buying anything. The best way to stand out and reel those users back in is by using remarketing, which puts display ads in front of users who visited your site without completing a purchase. It’s effective in reminding people to go back to your store and it has a relatively high conversion rate because it targets users who already expressed interest in your products.

Optimize for Mobile

Consumers are using their smartphones and tablets for back-to-school shopping and research. Ensure that your store is ready for the small screen. Have an intuitive design that looks good on mobile devices, make content easy to consume, and ensure that the site doesn’t take forever to load.

Jerry Jao
Jerry Jao
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