Ecommerce sales tend to be 10X around events and certain seasons.
Take for instance BFCM sales. The event marks the highest sales for many brands.
Ecommerce shopping has its highs and lows; peak seasons and slow periods. Customers generally tend to buy a lot more around key dates, seasons, and specific times of the year.
As customers buy a lot, one strategy that can be beneficial for both customers and Shopify merchants is product bundles.
Why so?
Bundles increase the perceived value of the customers’ purchases, are convenient, and offer price benefits.
For brands, seasonal Shopify bundles increase sales, customer satisfaction, and revenue.
However, there’s a lot that goes into creating bundles for seasons and events. In this blog, we explore all about creating seasonal Shopify bundles.
Curious to learn? Let’s go!
Identifying key retail dates for your niche
One of the first steps to planning seasonal bundles is to identify key dates/seasons. But these will also depend on your product niche, locations you deliver to, etc. Let’s look at a few ways to go about holiday bundle ideas:
1. Common, global events
Common events such as BFCM sales, Valentine’s Day, Mother’s Day, back to school, etc. are potential dates for offering bundles. Since the dates of these events are fixed, you can plan much in advance.
Here’s a pro tip to stand out from the crowd and increase event-driven sales: Don’t bundle common items available on every other eCommerce store. Take the approach of emotional storytelling. For example, for V-Day, put together items that lead to spending quality time together, offer bonding activities, acts of love, etc.
Example: School-themed bundles
2. Industry-specific dates
Another seasonal Shopify bundle idea is to tap into your industry-specific dates. For example, if you’re a sports brand that sells clothing and accessories, identify key dates in the year and create relevant bundles. Show customers you’re an industry expert. Here are some ideas:
- Yoga bundle for yoga day
- Running bundle for the annual marathon day
- Sport-specific bundles, for example, tennis bundle during Wimbledon
3. Plan your eCommerce marketing calendar in advance
Planning ahead can ensure you have enough time to market and promote your bundles via different platforms. Moreover, it also gives you time to adjust and optimize to increase event-driven sales from bundles:
Here are some tips:
- Plan for global and local calendars
- Run A/B tests for the bundles
- Optimize for maximum ROI
- Upgrade your Shopify tools in time for a seamless experience
Bundle ideas by season/event
Now let’s look at some bundling ideas you can use to create bundles based on seasons or events.
1. Holiday gift bundles
Holiday seasons offer multiple opportunities to create bundles. Most customers go through something called choice paralysis – find it hard to choose gifts. You can solve this problem by offering thoughtful bundles and increasing sales. Let’s look at some holiday bundle ideas:
- For Christmas, create experience bundles with gourmet hot chocolate, luxury blankets, candles, etc.
- For the Holiday Season, put together travel kits, bags, travel accessories, etc.
- Offer a considerable discount on the bundle, for example, 20 to 25%, which makes it valuable and increase AOV
Example: A tea brand offer Christmas tea bundles for gifting
2. Back to school kits
Another opportunity to create seasonal Shopify bundles is during school reopening. Customers buy all sorts of products for schools and if combined together in a bundle, it can offer considerable price benefits and savings. Let’s look at some different ideas to create back-to-school bundles.
- Back to school bundle for boys and girls
- School basics bundle, with bag, lunch box, water bottle
- Stationery kit bundle
- Art and creative bundle
- School sports bundle, with shoes, clothes, towel, etc.
3. Cross-sell opportunities for themed bundles
Seasonal Shopify bundles are also an opportunity for cross-selling products. Rather than selling a single product, encourage customers to buy more via bundles. The trick? Put together complementing items and position them as complete solutions. Here’s what you can do:
- Use customer data to identify products bought together
- Create seasonal themed bundles from these products
- Example: A fitness brand can create travel sports bundles, yoga retreat bundles, hiking vacation bundles, etc.
How to automate bundle launches?
One of the best features for eCommerce stores is automation. From bundle launch to marketing to discounting, you can automate all the processes related to bundles. Here’s how:
1. Scheduling launches and taking bundles live automatically
Bundling apps offer automation features, including Shopify bundle scheduling. This allows you to plan and prepare for bundle launches much in advance, so you don’t have to leave all the tedious work for the last minute.
Here are some aspects to keep in mind for Shopify automation for bundle launches:
- Ensure you choose an app that has Shopify bundle scheduling features
- Set up pricing changes, inventory allocation, etc.
- Craft a compelling promotional message
- Choose an optimal day, date, and time, and pre-configure in advance
- Use advanced bundling features that allow you to launch bundles in sequence, where tiered bundles become available at specific interval
2. Set timers for expiry
Another key factor to think about when automating your seasonal Shopify bundles is to set timers for its expiry. By offering limited-period seasonal bundle offers, you can create FOMO and urgency, increasing sales.
Here’s one way of setting timers:
- Start with full availability when you make all bundle available
- As they get sold, set up a ‘limited number remaining’ status
- Next, set up ‘final hours’ for specific discounts on the bundles
- And the last stage, automatically remove the bundles from the Shopify catalog
3. Email/SMS integration for announcement
Once you automate bundles, it’s also important to ensure your customers know about these. That’s where integrated Shopify automation communication comes in. Think email, SMS, WhatsApp messages, etc.
Smart Shopify bundling apps help with data collection, analysis, and segmenting customers based on the data. You can also set up personalization for bundle announcements based on customers’ past purchases.
Promotional tactics for seasonal bundles
Once you set up and automate your bundles, it’s time to promote and market them. Because unless you market your Shopify bundles, your target audience may not even know about them.
1. Landing pages, countdown timers, FOMO tactics
Since seasonal and event-based bundles are not regulars, you will need to create special promotional campaigns. You not only have to make customers aware about these bundles, but also ensure they buy it within a specific period. Here are some tips:
- Create a landing page with images showing the complete bundle, strategic CTAs, countdown timers, social proof, etc.
- Include different FOMO elements to encourage customers to buy the seasonal Shopify bundles in time, for example, limited-time bonus items that disappear at specific intervals, etc.
- Keep it authentic by using real inventory data, real customer reviews, etc.
2. Collaborate with influencers and partners
Depending on your products and industry, you can partner with influencers and other brands to create and offer bundles. Doing so can help you expand your reach and grow your customer base. Here’s how you can make this exercise more meaningful:
- Create co-branded bundles with influencers and other brands
- Create exclusive campaigns to promote these seasonal Shopify bundles
- Make the bundle experiential by adding experiences to the bundle along with products
- Engage in cross-promotion with the influencer or brand
3. Offer exclusivity to loyal customers
One way to increase sales from seasonal bundles is to offer exclusive access and incentives to loyal customers. Here are some ideas:
- Create tiered exclusive offers and access. For instance, different loyalty levels receive different bundle benefits
- Create members only bundles that include exclusive, limited-edition products
- Combine other marketing tactics such as referrals for your loyal members
Wrapping up: get started with seasonal Shopify bundles
There are many opportunities round the year to create seasonal bundles. From festivals to global events to special days, you can truly succeed with your bundling strategy if you plan it strategically.
One of the most important parts of strategic planning is to plan ahead. And thankfully, if you know your yearly calendar, you can not only plan, but also schedule bundle campaigns in advance.
However, to schedule and automate, you will require a smart bundling app that has various features to market, promote, collect data, and optimize campaigns.
Meet Appstle Bundles & Discounts. A Shopify bundling app designed for Shopify and Shopify Plus stores.
