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The holiday season is here and consumers are getting prepared to stack their shopping carts with gifts. 

This is a great opportunity for online retailers selling on Amazon to leverage the large audience, increase company sales, and grow revenue with Amazon. 

According to eMarketer, holiday eCommerce sales in the U.S are projected to increase to $206.88 billion, rising by 11.3%. 

How can online retailers take advantage of this opportunity and increase sales on Amazon this holiday season? 

In this article, we will run through ten ways to boost Amazon sales and how to generate more income for your business this holiday. 

10 ways to boost your Amazon sales this holiday season 

Here’s our list of ten ways you can boost sales and grow revenue with Amazon this holiday season: 

1. Optimize your Amazon product listings
2. Stock up your inventory 
3. Drive sales using Sponsored Ads 
4. Keep your pricing competitive 
5. Implement Lightning deals 
6. Design a holiday-themed storefront 
7. Win the Buy Box 
8. Be Amazon Prime eligible 
9. Prepare for product returns 
10. Deliver quality customer service 

Optimize your Amazon product listings 

Optimizing your Amazon product listings will help you stand out of the competition, become visible to new and existing customers, and increase your conversion rate and sales. Let’s look at some best practices for product listing optimization: 

• Optimize for mobile: Nearly three out of four online purchases are done through mobile devices. So the first thing you want to do is work on optimizing your product page for mobile users. One important aspect you need to pay attention to is your product title. If customers can’t see a full title, they are less likely to click. Work on keeping your product titles under 80 characters while retaining relevant keywords. Include relevant keywords at the beginning of the title and avoid stuffing keywords as this could hurt your search rankings. 
• Use quality product images: Next, you want to pay attention to your product images as this plays a crucial role in driving sales on Amazon especially during holiday seasons. With high-quality images communicating the Unique Selling Point (USP), customers are more likely to make a buying decision in a few seconds. Ensure you use a high-resolution camera and each image meets the Amazon guidelines. 
• Use holiday-specific keywords: To drive traffic to your product page, consider incorporating holiday-related keywords into our content. You can carry out keyword research using tools like Google Keyword Planner. You may also want to look out for holiday keywords your competitors are using. Check for their search volume and incorporate them into your product listings. 
• Create top-notch content: Ensure your content is well-crafted with compelling copy, well-written sentences, bullet points, and so on. Add some festivity to your product listings by creating content around holiday seasons like Christmas. This brings relevancy to your page and helps you stand out from the competition. Don’t forget to look out for spelling and grammatical errors. 
• Check reviews and ratings: Most customers are influenced by positive reviews. Reviews do not only add social proof but boost your search rankings and increase your conversion rate. Provide quality products and services and encourage customers to drop a review after making a purchase. Look out for negative reviews and do your best to manage them. 

Stock up on inventory 

Stocking up inventory means you have greater potential to make more holiday sales. Inventory levels also affect your optimization. Products with low stock levels are less likely to appear on the first page of search results. Also, customers are more likely to trust a company with more units of a product available. Ensure you have enough inventory to meet the increased demand during the holiday season. 

Drive traffic using Sponsored Ads 

Sponsored Ads are an effective way to improve search rankings and drive traffic to your product page. You can run different types of sponsored Ads- Sponsored Product Ads, Sponsored Brand Ads, and Display Ads. 

Sponsored Product Ads are an effective way to drive traffic to some of the best products available. You can advertise your best sellers for the holiday season and reach a wider range of customers who are willing to buy. 

When a customer clicks on a Sponsored Product ad, they are directed to the corresponding product page. 

Sponsored Brand Ads allow you to advertise a wide range of products and also drive traffic to your brand store. Customers can get to know the latest holiday offers and deals on your store using brand ads. 

Display Ads allows you to target previous customers, updating them on the latest deals. This can entice them to make another purchase or complete a purchase previously abandoned. 

It also helps drive external traffic to your product page. 

Keep your pricing competitive 

Pricing is an important consideration since it affects your sales and profits. You want to pay attention to your competitor's pricing. You might consider keeping your prices lower than your competitors for the holiday season as this could increase your sales volume. However, you want to keep your profit margin in mind. Ensure you keep your prices as competitive as possible. 

Implement lightning deals 

During the holidays, customers are on a hunt for discounts. Consequently, you can implement lightning deals for some of your products.

Lightning Deals are promotions where a limited number of discounts are placed on a product for some time. These are fast sales deals that can be found on the Amazon deals page for a few hours. To run lightning deals promotion, you must have a Professional Amazon Seller account. 

Lightning deals help to boost brand awareness, increase traffic and sales on Amazon. 

Here are a few criteria for your product's eligibility for lightning deals:

• You need to set your discount prices at 20% higher than your retail cost. Setting prices below 20% may lead to deal cancellation.
• You need to have the minimum inventory stocked in a fulfillment center 
• You need to have an overall star rating of 3.5
• Your products must be Prime eligible
• You must be compliant with deal frequency policies and customer product reviews policies. 

Design a holiday-themed storefront 

Brick and Mortar stores create seasonal displays during festive seasons. So why not take this approach to your Amazon brand store? 

You can design a holiday-themed storefront using holiday-specific content. You can create gift bundles and reposition your products as holiday gifts. Tell your brand story in the most unique way using A+ content. You can experiment with colors and use high-quality lifestyle images that make your brand store stand out. 

Win the Buy Box 

The Buy Box is a widget on most Amazon product listings. It allows buyers to make a purchase as easily and quickly as possible. Sellers can compete for ownership of the Buy Box. 

Winning the Buy Box presents many advantages. The most obvious is an increase in sales. Customers will most likely shop for an item that has the Buy Box regardless of who the seller is. This means that winning the Buy Box during the holiday season will double your sales. 

Here are a few ways to become eligible to win the Buy Box: 

• You must have a Professional Amazon Seller account. 
• Secondly, your account must be in good health. A healthy account has good customer service performance, excellent shipping, and complies with Amazon product policy. You can easily check your account health by logging on to your Amazon Seller Central, clicking on Performance and Account health. 
• Keep your items in stock 
• Improve on your seller feedback

Be Amazon Prime eligible 

With over 200 million Prime members all over the world, being prime eligible presents enormous benefits for your business. The first is, you can offer one to two-day shipping which most Prime customers subscribe for. 

Also, being Prime eligible increases your search visibility. Customers filter for Prime-eligible products, so they are likely to find your product when searching. 

It also helps you win the Buy Box which translates to an increase in sales. 

If you sell with fulfillment by Amazon (FBA), you are automatically Prime eligible. If you are not selling on Amazon FBA, you can join the Seller-Fulfilled Prime (SFP) program. Once you meet the requirements, you can sell on Prime.

Prepare for product returns 

Product returns are an inevitable part of selling on Amazon. Amazon has extended its holiday return policy requiring that products purchased between October 1st and December 31st, 2021 be eligible for return through to January 31st, 2022. While this may not be convenient for an Amazon seller, it is important to ensure your product listings are well-optimized for the marketplace. It is also important to create a contingency plan for the holiday season. 

Deliver quality customer service 

One way to attract new and existing customers is to deliver quality customer service. During the holiday season, shopping can get quite complicated. 

The best way to ‘wow’ your customers is to create a memorable shopping experience. Be professional and courteous, respond to their inquiries within 24 hours, and don't forget to send thank you notes after they make a purchase. 

Quality customer service will spur positive reviews which improves search rankings and attracts new customers. 

Conclusion 

This holiday season is a golden opportunity to drive volumes of sales and grow revenue with Amazon. With the tips mentioned above, you can stand out from the competition, drive traffic to your product page and increase sales and profit. 

You can also contact ePlaybooks to help you evaluate your business and define strategies that will help you boost sales and curb risks during the holiday season.