Fundamentals To Boost Online Sales During Ramadan

Online Shopping
Notable shopping days and periods including Black Friday in the US, and Summer Sales in France, are a major trend spreading across the globe in 2016. While Cyber Monday in the US largely recognized as online shopping day, Singles Day celebrated in China was actually the world’s leading online shopping day in 2015, with Alibaba alone reporting sales worth USD 14.3 billion, a 60 percent increase from last year.

Though the Middle East does not have specific days dedicated to shopping, ecommerce in the region witnessed a 15 percent growth in the retail sector, and a significant 35 percent growth in the travel sector during Ramadan last year. The Ramadan season can be leveraged by retailers who understand their customers’ needs and interests. By making special relevant offers, there is huge potential for ecommerce companies to further boost sales during this period.

There are some basic fundamentals for marketers to keep in mind during Ramadan.

Get Aggressive On Mobile
During Ramadan, consumers will make more purchases through their mobile devices than usual. Weekends and early morning hours will witness a peak in mobile traffic, which will also reflect in mobile sales. Make sure you are prepared for the mobile consumer. A fully responsive and optimized website for mobile web is an absolute requirement, and a transaction-oriented mobile app is a big plus. Additionally, marketing activities should follow a ‘mobile first’approach in order to successfully address the valuable mobile audience.

Cross Device Tracking
Consumers make use of several devices during their path to purchase, switching from their smartphone, to a PC, to a tablet, and back to the smartphone again, for example. During Ramadan, this purchase behavior changes even more, with individuals spending less time in front of their PCs, and more with their mobile devices. If brands don’t have a reliable way of tracking weekend mobile shoppers across their different devices, they may address users with messages which are most likely no longer interesting for them, thus missing out on sales.

Differentiate From Competition
As purchase intent surges, the competition among brands intensifies in correspondence – and increased digital marketing budgets are a key driver to capitalize on this interest. No matter what industry you operate in, invest in ecommerce strategies to set your brand apart from competitors. Proposing special offers during Ramadan may be a good way to break through the clutter.

Specify Campaign Management
Not all verticals are affected during Ramadan, and some categories are more in the focus than others. For example, the fashion industry benefits significantly during Ramadan, as consumers flock to purchase new clothes for their kids. Test what works best for your product categories, especially if you work within the travel industry: Wait for the most appropriate times for packages, hotels, flights and market correspondent offers. It is important to maintain the momentum even after Ramadan, as individuals are still going on holiday.

Digital Impact On Physical 
According to recent report by Ovum and Criteo, offline sales can be pushed through digital commerce as well, as consumers are more likely to buy a product or service when they have a better understanding of a brand’s offering through their digital channels. Don’t assume visitors to your shop are simply show-rooming when they are using their smartphones in-store; it is very likely they are checking ratings, further information and more.

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