Get ahead: 6 promo ideas for BFCM and holiday sales this year

Prep your promos now and hit the ground running for BFCM (and beyond)

The eCommerce landscape has been a rollercoaster this year. Throughout the summer,the world has been hit with shortages that have been affecting supply chains and global shipping timefor a slew of products: from ketchup packets to steel to pool chlorine (CNN). Even now, the future of themicrochip shortageis unclear.

With so much unpredictability putting pressure on your business, it might seem too early to focus on your promotions for the holiday season. But, making your preparations for BFCM now will remove future aches and pains. There's no doubt that customers' shopping behavior will be different thanks to these shortages and more permanent changes created by the pandemic.

According to the National Retail Federation,40% of consumerswill start shopping earlier than usual for the 2021 holiday season. And they have three main concerns while holiday shopping:

1. Will my loved one like it?
2. Am I getting a good deal?
3. Will it get delivered on time?

To address their delivery concerns, you need to prepare your promotion strategies now: what will you offer, and how will you get it done?

Manual and repetitive tasks can build up when getting your promos out the door.To make sure you can set up your promos quickly, implement marketing automation for promos with Shopify Flow + Edit Orderto save you hours of work so you can focus on your store's performance once the holidays hit. If you're ready to start strategizing your BFCM and holiday promos for your customer base, keep reading.

Below we've outlined six customer favorites when it comes to promotions.

1. Buy X and get a gift

Nothing says "BFCM is here!" like a gift with purchase. Use this promo idea to boost your sales throughout this year's holiday season while also maintaining customer loyalty. If you’d like toadd your free gift with purchase to your customer’s cartbefore they’ve paid, check out these apps:

• Sales Motivator ‑ Free Gifts by Singleton software
• Gift Box — Free Gifts on Order by Digismoothie

If you want to surprise your customers with agift after they've placed their order, automate this promo using theShopify Flow + Edit Order. Whether you’re helping Santa with his one-night trip or Hanukkah’s eight crazy nights, you can customize the duration of your promotion to match your holiday needs.

📋Give it a try with Shopify Flow + Edit Order actions.

2. Place an order over $100 and get a free gift

Encourage your customers to spend more and say thank you by including a gift when they buy more. Add extra cheer to your holiday campaigns andautomate adding a freebie to larger purchases using Shopify Flow + Edit Order.

📋Give it a try with Shopify Flow + Edit Order actions.

PRO-TIP:the orders don't always have to be $100; automation can by triggered by any amount, so try testing different amounts!

3. Place an order and get free gift-wrapping

Everyone is so busy during the holiday season, and your customers will definitely appreciate this perk. You'll need to keep track of orders that need gift-wrapping, and sales automation is the best way to keep up with that extra effort.Get your gift wrapping processed more efficiently with automation using Shopify Flow + Edit Order.

📋Give it a try with Shopify Flow + Edit Order actions.

4. Holiday discount codes

There are fa-la-la-la-lots of ways toautomate how you send holiday discount codes to your customers.Use apps likeAutomizely,Shopify Flow, andMailchimpto act as your automation elves when you offer a discount. You can:

• Text a discount code after a second order with Shopify Flow
• Display codes on your store’s website with pop-ups using Automizely
• Email discount codes to your customers with Mailchimp and Shopify

PRO-TIP:Combine discount codes with a free gift using automation!Give it a try with Shopify Flow + Edit Order actions.

5. Holiday bundles

If your elves have too many cookies on their plate this year, help themautomate bundle creationfor you with one of these apps:

• Bundle Products and Discounts by Thimatic
• Bundle Builder by Bundle Builder
• Bold Bundles ‑ Product Bundles by BOLD

And behind the scenes,Shopify Flow + Edit Order actions will automate the pain out of fulfilling multiple items under one bundle SKU.Automatically expand the bundle SKU into all bundled product SKUs for fast fulfillment!

📋Set up bundle fulfillment automation with this quick video tutorial

6. Thank you gifts for your VIP customers

Tag your top-spending, VIP customers, and automatically send out thank you gifts to make their holiday season (and loyalty!) that much brighter by letting them know you care (which usually sparks arepeat purchase).Use Shopify Flow + Edit Order to tag your loyal customers and automatically send them a gift with purchase.

📋Give it a try with Shopify Flow + Edit Order actions.

Enjoy some holiday cheer

Automation is the gift of growth for your business by saving you time and money.Holiday shoppers will love the consistent experience, but unless you have the proper tools for implementing your promotions, it’s less a labor of love and instead is plain hard labor.

Here are apps we mentioned that will help with your sales automation:

• Shopify Flow: for automating your discount codes
• Edit Order + Shopify Flow: for automating your bundle fulfillment, gifts with purchase and gift-wrapping
• Email Marketing + Sales Pop Up by AfterShip & Automizely: for automating your holiday discounts
• Mailchimp: For automating your email discount codes
• Gift Box — Free Gifts on Order by Digismoothie: for creating hard-to-turndown gift sets
• Sales Motivator ‑ Free Gifts by Singleton software: for adding a gift with purchase to your customer's carts
• Bundle Products and Discounts by Thimatic: for helping you create great product bundles
• Bundle Builder by Bundle Builder: for helping you create great product bundles
• Bold Bundles ‑ Product Bundles by BOLD: for helping you create great product bundles

What’s next for your holiday prep?

• Get detailed instructions on how to set up 4 workflows with Edit Order + Shopify Flow
• See it all in action with this video tutorial on automatically adding a free item
• Check out how to speed up your bundle fulfillment with Edit Order in this video tutorial

Deanna is theContent Marketing Manager at Cleverific, Inc., formerly from the Shopify Apps and Partner team. She enjoys writing about ecommerce to help entrepreneurs grow their businesses. She lives in the countryside of Canada's capital with her husband, her exceptionally perfect dog Leo, and her exceptionally loud dog Cece.