For many of us, summertime is filled with sun-soaked days spent away from our computers. And while online consumers are reaching for golf clubs and tanning lotion instead of keyboards, e-store owners are experiencing a sharp dip in sales.

According to an article published by Internet Retailer, summer-sales margins tend to drop approximately 30% from their December highs. However, armed with the tools 3dcart provides, online merchants can easily increase sales during the slow summer months by following these five-simple tips.

1.)    Feature Daily Deals on Your Homepage

With 3dcart as your chosen ecommerce solution, overcoming the summertime-sales blues is a breeze if you know how to effectively utilize the right features. For example, did you know that 3dcart makes it easy to showcase daily deals on your homepage? Doing so will allow you to select a product, or group of products, and offer them to your customers at a discount. You can even configure a countdown clock to let your customers know how much time they have left to purchase the product(s) you choose to feature.

Daily deals are a great way to increase sales, promote customer interaction and escalate profit margins during the summer season.  For easy instructions on how to configure daily deals in your 3dcart store, check out this helpful step-by-step guide!

2.)    Create and Send Newsletters to Your Customers

Newsletters are an essential marketing tool for online merchants who want to increase profit margins during the traditionally slow summer months. By creating a newsletter campaign, you’ll be able to quickly and effectively inform your customers about special promotions, new products, discounts, etc…

With 3dcart, setting up, configuring and distributing newsletters couldn’t be easier. Not only do we offer a built-in newsletter service, you can also install MailChimp -- included as a native feature inside 3dcart -- for a more robust email marketing experience.

If you want to get your newsletter campaign up and running in minutes, we invite you to read this tutorial.

3.)    Use Social Media to Your Advantage

Every ecommerce website should have affiliate Facebook and Twitter accounts. Setting  them up is easy, and we consider both to be a must-haves when looking to increase sales.

Think of it this way. We live in a mobile world, and just about everyone you know has a smartphone. So while people may spend the majority of their free summer time outdoors, it’s safe to assume that many will be checking their personal Facebook and Twitter accounts. So why is this important to you, the merchant? That’s simple. Having social media accounts associated with your e-store allows you to stay in constant contact with your customers, even if they’re frolicking in the sand or drinking rum at a tiki bar.

Get more information on how social media marketing can increase your profits by reading this article housed in 3dcart’s Ecommerce University.

4.)    It’s Time to Go Mobile

3dcart has made it easy for merchants to sell products on mobile platforms, and doing so is essential when looking to maximize profits in the summertime.

As mentioned above, just about everyone you know has a smartphone or tablet, giving them the ability to purchase products on go.

Since 3dcart is robust and full-featured; all of our merchants have the option to sell their products on a mobile platform.  Getting your m-commerce site configured is easier than you think, and we invite you to learn how to make it happen by checking out this detailed tutorial.

5.)    Establish Loyalty/Rewards Programs

Everyone loves getting something for free, and that’s why it’s a good idea to offer customers reward-based incentives for being loyal shoppers. Doing so will not only increase your summertime sales, it will also promote customer interaction and drive repeat business.

3dcart comes equipped with everything you need to effectively create, market and maintain successful rewards programs. And if you’re interested in learning how to implement  them in your e-store, you should check out our amazing .pdf guide that can be downloaded for free by clicking here.