In a lackadaisical economy, there can be a lot of pressure to come up with ways to get customers in the door (or onto the website and up to the shopping cart, as the case may be). Ecommerce retailers struggle with how to balance a consumerist hunger for the best prices with a fundamental need to maintain their bottom line and keep the doors open.
For many seasons, retailers have responded to consumer demand (or, arguably lack thereof) by offering around-the-clock discounts and the constantly revolving weekend sale. However, an interesting trend began to pop up last holiday season, as savvy retailers began to look for alternate ways to boost their sales without constantly cutting into their profits on products.
Its about services.
While many ecommerce retailers continued to offer discounts on products over Cyber Monday and the days and weeks to follow, a greater emphasis was put on highlighting and discounting services like free shipping, rewards programs and gift wrap according to Internet Retailer Editor Allison Enright. Lets look at why so many stores offer that last feature.
Offering gift services, which includes wrapping paper, gift notes, and gift receipts, whether free or for a small fee, can be a great service add-on for your online webstore. Most importantly, it can be used to increase sales, either through the fee charged, or as a purchase incentive to chose your site over another that does not include these services. It makes gift giving easier for your customer, and provides you with a way to bring in sales without gouging your prices.
And of course, Upshot Commerce has you covered. The Gift Wrap Extension, which is included in with the use of the Upshot Commerce Core Platform allows ecommerce retailers to offer gift wrap, gift messages and special gift receipts on their products in an organized and simple manner. As the retailer, you select which items you want to offer for gift wrap (because after all, it may be a little difficult to wrap a giant giraffe or an online gift code), and the system does the rest. Changing out different seasonal offerings for gift wrap is also simple and can be done right from the your Upshot Commerce platform as needed. Gift receipts are printed automatically when a customer indicates that the product ordered is a gift, removing the hassle of printing out special receipts for gift orders.
It’s simple, fast, effective, and a must have for your website. Check out our Gift Wrap Extension today.