The festive season is here and e-commerce businesses all over the world are prepping up to cater to a large number of online orders that are soon going to flood their inboxes. What makes the festive season a big hit for e-commerce companies is that this is the time when people send gifts to their colleagues, clients and loved ones as a token of love, appreciation and valued relationship.

A beautifully wrapped gift gives a personal touch & significantly increases the excitement level among those receiving it. By providing great gift wrapping options, you are able to increase your brand loyalty, brand perception & customer retention rate.

So, if you too own an e-commerce platform and are thinking of ways to amp up your sales this festive season, then you need to focus on gift wrapping. You would be surprised how this tiny add-on service can drastically pull up your sales! Read on to know more.

Why gift wrapping services?

A beautifully wrapped gift gives it a personal touch and significantly increases the excitement level among those receiving it. Not only that, but by providing great gift wrapping options, you are able to increase your brand loyalty, brand perception and customer retention rate.

Here are some reasons why gift wrapping is an essential part of your e-commerce business:

• Apart from the festive season, there are so many other occasions like birthdays, anniversaries, special days when people love sending gifts.
• In this fast paced world where almost everyone is crunched for time, and online shopping has taken the front seat, people prefer getting gifts wrapped by experts. This saves their time.
• By providing gift wrapping services, your customers can send gifts directly to the recipient.
• Helps reduce cart abandonment to an extent because of the customer-driven nature of the business. People are more willing to experience a personalised touch to gifting.
• Gift wrapping provides both the customers and the receivers an emotionally engaging experience.
• Gift wrapping options can also attract the last minute shoppers.
  
  

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Now that you know why gift wrapping is essential for your e-commerce business, here is a list of things you should keep in mind while implementing the same:

1. Proper description of the feature

When you include a brand new feature on your e-commerce site, you need to properly describe it so that customers are able to make proper use of it.

Let your customers know how the gift wrapping feature works, which products can be gift wrapped and what are the various options you are providing. Is the gift wrapping feature free or chargeable? Do you have multiple gifting options like gift kits and hampers? Everything needs to be stated clearly.

2. Choice of gift wrapping

This is a great way to boost sales. Offer your customers 3-4 options of gift wrapping they can choose from. You customer base spreads from men, women to kids and hence it is important to be able to cater to the needs of each category. You can have categories like a simple gift wrap, corporate gift wrap or even exclusive gift wraps to take it up a notch higher.

3. Free gift message

This is a small gesture that can go a long way to boost your e-commerce sales. Give your customers the option of including a note/message for free. This will give both your customers and their recipients an emotionally engaging experience.

Also read: Are you forgetting your repeat customers?

4. Products that can be gift wrapped

Not all products can be gift wrapped. Some products take a long time to be packed. If as a startup or an SME, you can’t afford to do that, mention that in the checkout.

5. Stress on quality service

This is of course the most important point to keep in mind as an e-commerce platform and you must already know this. Yet you can mention in a line or two about your services to your buyers. This gives them an additional sense of trust on the platform which in turn also increases your brand value.

6. Reinvent your gifting options from time-to-time

It is important to keep updating your gifting options to be at par with the emerging trends. Gift wrapping has taken on a whole new level and with so many easy to do DIYs all over the internet, it is important that your ideas are unique and interesting.

7. Free gift wrapping option with expensive products

Expecting a free gifting is increasingly becoming the norm for many specific industries because rather than just gifting, these industries focus on gifting their clients or employees an experience that they would remember for a long time to come. Hence, you can provide an option for free gifting with purchase of expensive products.

Instead of making the gift wrapping service specific to festivals, make it a year-round service to engage and retain more customers. 

Also read: 5 proven strategies to boost your e-commerce sales

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