Get your Shopify Store Ready for Valentine’s Day Shopping January 26, 2016 20:00

The beginning of the year can be a slow time for merchants and store owners as shoppers usually do most of their purchasing during or around the holiday season. Valentine’s Day is the first major sales opportunity for the year as consumers come back for gift purchases.

Shopify store owners can do a number of things to prepare their store for this resurgence in sales. In this article, we highlight how the meaning of the day has evolved for shoppers, and list 5 tips to prepare your store.

Valentine’s Day Shopping: Celebrate all loved ones

When we think Valentine’s, images of cupids, roses, and romantic hearts (and expensive jewelry), may conjure up in our minds. This may no longer be the case for many people as the meaning of the day continues to evolve. According to a survey by Influence Central, majority of women don’t associate Valentine’s Day only with their romantic partners.

Nearly 70% of women now think that Valentine’s Day is about kids, family and cherished friends.

The day has now become an occasion to celebrate all loved ones, instead of just romance. This transition in the meaning of the day also influences consumers’ spending habits. A majority of women now think that gifts for kids will be the biggest expenditure related to Valentine’s in their household.

Although this survey only targeted women, overall, consumers are shifting their gifting habits for Valentine’s. This means that stores that traditionally may not have participated in Valentine’s Day shopping, now have an opportunity to tap into this occasion. There are a number of things Shopify store owners can do to set up for Valentine’s shopping.

Valentine’s Day Shopping: 5 tips to prepare your Shopify store

Even if you don’t sell Valentine’s-themed products, you can use the below tips to market the existing products on your store.

1. Gift Guide and discounts

Gift guides are a curated list of items that can make appropriate gifts for an occasion. You can create a gift guide for Valentine’s of existing products on your store. These gifts can be geared towards any close loved one. In addition, you can provide a discount on certain items to encourage sales.

This can help get rid of any excess inventory left over from the holiday season. An important thing to note about gift guides is that the products highlighted should be relatively inexpensive (typically less than $100), and easy to ship. If you are not able to design a page on your store for the gift guide, you can create a PDF gift guide using Microsoft Word or Apple Pages.

Make sure the gift guide is highlighted on your website, and sent in advance to your mailing list. Take a look at the Macy’s Valentine’s Day gift guide to get ideas of how you can highlight yours.

2. Mobile-friendly store

Almost a third of consumers make their Valentine’s Day purchases on mobile devices. According to the National Retail Federation, many people use smartphones and tablets to research and compare products for gifting on Valentine’s.

This means that your store’s mobile experience is critical to how customers perceive your brand, which can influence their buying decision. Shopify comes out-of-the-box with a number of mobile-friendly features – like the responsive checkout. In addition, you can install a responsive theme so that your entire store adjusts optimally to the screen size of your visitor’s device.

Read our post about mobile-friendly stores to learn more.

3. Themed emails and store imagery

The meaning of Valentine’s Day may be evolving in consumer’s minds, but the day is still associated with themes of love including pink and red colors, and heart shapes. You can make your store stand out by including a themed image or graphic on your store homepage, or in emails leading up to the day. Adjusting your theme’s color settings temporarily can also do the trick.

Walmart.com Valentine’s Day banner image

This captures customer’s attention as they would anticipate a gift guide for Valentine’s Day, or at least discounts on certain products.

4. Customizable products

A big sell during Valentine’s Day are personalized products and gifts. These items let people create unique and special gifts for their loved ones. These can be engravings on products, text on clothing, or even as simple as an added card. If your business isn’t in the personalized items market, you can create an add-on – like a card – with special messages that people can create.

Learn more about how to create personalized products using our Product Customizer app.

5. Gift cards

Many shoppers may leave purchasing a gift until the last minute, and may not have enough time to get it shipped. For such last minute purchases, and to give customers options, you can activate and create gift cards for your Shopify store.

Gift cards for your Shopify store

Gift cards are convenient to purchase and send, and can potentially gain new customers for your store. In addition, people using gift cards typically purchase over the value of the gift card. This can help increase the average order value on your store.

Valentine’s Day Shopping: Summary

January can be a bit of a lull for sales after the holiday shopping season. But Valentine’s Day shopping can help reignite sales as shoppers start thinking about gifts for their loved ones. Valentine’s Day is no longer only about romantic relationships. The day has become increasingly oriented towards family, with many people celebrating, and shopping for their kids. Store owners should keep this demographic in mind as well when creating gift guides or preparing their store.

We have outlined a number of tips that can help you make the most out of Valentine’s Day shopping. If your store is heavily focused on love-themed products, make sure you’re prepared for last-minute shopping. A lot of people leave purchasing gifts until right before the day. This is especially true for jewellery and flower shops. You can help reduce a bottleneck by preparing inventory in advance, and highlighting overnight or express shipping options.

Do you do anything special to prepare your store for Valentine’s Day? Tell us what works and what doesn’t in the comments below.

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