In our previous blog post, seasoned Lazada executives have shared with us on how to prepare for the largest online shopping day of the year. 11 November, is not only to celebrate the Single's Day but also to boost ecommerce sales and clear up stocks, fast!
In this blog, a Qoo10 power seller, also a level 7 seller on Lazada (the highest tier), will share his success stories during his 11.11 Single's Day Sale experience in previous years.
"Expect 5-7x more sales during 11.11 compared to normal days".
- Henry Hoe
Meet the Qoo10 Power Seller
Henry Hoe, owner of Senior Care, Pet Food Care and Honey City, has been in the e-commerce industry since 2014. He has businesses across different platforms: Qoo10, Lazada, Shopee, Amazon, and the store's own websites. He has 20 employees working with him and 75% of them are remote workers.
"Remote employees are what business owners in general should look at"
- Henry Hoe
How was your first 11.11 experience?
"We experimented with a store-wide discount, it went too well"
- Henry Hoe
Two things happened when we had a store-wide discount: the good and the bad. The good thing is that we were able to boost sales and clear products that don't sell very well. People even queue up in our store and we were able to make a lot of orders within 15 minutes.
The bad thing, however, after the 11.11 period, sales were low for a couple of weeks.
How to boost ecommerce sales fast during 11.11?
1. Stock
This is something most people don't plan in advance. To make at least 3x the average day sales, sellers need to stock up a bit more. The next following weeks or months will be something else such as Black Friday and Cyber Monday for you to sell again if there are remaining stocks.
2. Planning
Plan in advance your inventory for the rest of the year-end. Customers will expect their orders to come fast. Hence, if you don't set up fast enough when products are made, the likelihood for them to come back will be low.
3. Inventory Management
Manage and decide which products you want to put up for discounts beforehand. A simple way to do this is by creating an Excel sheet and make one list of products that sell well, and another one that doesn't sell too well to be put on discounts.
Which e-commerce platform is better for 11.11?
"More of Senior Care's customers purchased from Qoo10 and Shopee compared to Lazada during 11.11"
- Henry Hoe
It depends on the products and customers, really. Plus, you can't put it all in one day. It cost money to acquire new users and see which platform most of your customers come from.
It is more of a compilation over a period of time to find out which platform works best for your store. For me, up to 40% of my income comes from Qoo10.
Who is the target to boost ecommerce sales?
"7 out of 10 are returning customers"
- Henry Hoe
While your primary objective is to clear away stocks, try to focus on returning customers.
In my experience, 7 out of 10 customers are returning customers. Reach out to returning customers and give your VIP customers discount codes with an expiry date to use for pre-sale. Attract your previous customers by giving them the privilege to enjoy the discounts before everyone else.
To Conclude
"Loan is okay, the risk is low"
- Henry Hoe
I met a lot of sellers and they are usually scared of fundings. This restrains sellers from stocking up inventories when needed. Something I always tell them is that it is okay to take loans, the risk is low especially during these events.
However, I also find common mistakes in buying too many inventories in the wrong products. Basically, everything can sell, but with the wrong products, it will probably sell a bit slower. Hence, to boost ecommerce sales fast, make sure you have enough stocks of the right products.
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