The holiday season is right around the corner and while we are all looking forward to spending cozy times with our families, it is also a time that we indulge in a spending frenzy. If you are a retail business or an e-commerce store owner, you know that the holidays are an ideal opportunity for you to boost sales, marketing, and reach. One of the best tools you have at your disposal during this time is holiday-themed catalogs and gift guides.
Many customers will take advantage of Black Friday and Cyber Monday deals. If done well, holiday gift-guides or holiday catalogs will showcase your products, inspire your customers to purchase them and help you stay ahead of your competitors. Putting together holiday gift catalogs involves a lot more than simply rounding up all the products that you have to offer. To decide on how best to create a unique holiday gift guide for your company, and to handle the holiday season efficiently, check out our list of five things we recommend so you can create an interactive holiday catalog or gift guide:
- Make use of sales data and trends: The best way to see what your shoppers want is to take a look at sales data, as well as what’s trending during the holiday season. Using analytics, find out how your audience engages with your content and products to determine which items are your top sellers. Once you have obtained this data, round these items up in a separate section of your digital catalog, such as “Staff Favorites” or “Best Gifts.” You can showcase products based on different categories which would allow you to target a specific segment of the market, from children to adults and men to women. Use these trends to your advantage and curate products which reflect which items are most on your customers’ minds.
- Offer product bundles in your holiday catalog: During the holidays, customers are willing to spend more, and your holiday catalog should do a good job of encouraging them. An effective method is to put together product bundles which include complementary or related items. Make your digital catalog even more effective by categorizing those bundles based on different criteria. For example, you could come up with several different bundles to cover different price ranges. That way, you will appeal to your entire audience, whether they are looking for value bundles or high-end sets.
- Consider a more personal approach: The holidays are all about spreading good cheer. Consider providing your customers with a glimpse of upcoming products or a behind the scenes look about how you and your team work together. This way, you are enabling your audience to connect with your brand or business on a more personal level. Use your digital catalog to say a few words about who you are, what you represent, and what your goals are. Strive for an atmosphere that makes you and your business look personable and relatable.
- Make sure your holiday-themed catalogs look good on any platform: Your digital holiday catalog needs to look great. For a high-quality look, spend time on the design and layout, as well as the images you use. Since your customers will check out your holiday catalog across desktop and mobile screens, make sure your content is responsive and easy to navigate in both views. Also ensure that your catalog is easily shareable across all social media channels, as well as email. Your catalog is a reflection of your brand’s aesthetic, and your audience will appreciate the effort you have put into making it look its best.
- Enrich your content with interactive elements: Utilize video clips, audio clips, and gif animations to create pop ups that tell a story about your products and the season. Use external and internal links to encourage shoppers to click directly on the links and be directed to your site or a specific page in your digital catalog. Add videos or song clips to your holiday catalog collections to encourage a festive in-catalog shopping experience, as well as showcasing your products for the season.
Holidays can be a stressful time of the year if you are a business owner, but they don’t have to be! There is a lot of material available to help guide your creativity and to connect with your consumers on a personal level. Putting together your gift guides or themed holiday catalogs should be something fun, as well as inspiring, so your customers are ready to shop. Incorporate some holiday cheer into your digital catalog and your customers will respond accordingly. At DCatalog, we are happy to help you have a merry and bright holiday season. Contact one of our Publishing Executives today to learn more about preparing your digital holiday catalog.