Viximo

Last week local news reporter Jon Keller of WBZ (Boston’s channel 4) caught wind of the emerging virtual goods industry and came by and did an interview with Viximo about virtual goods and the holiday season.  The holidays bring along some very good opportunities for publishers with virtual goods models to increase revenue.  As I sit here at Starbucks writing this blog post, the similarities between offline merchandising and virtual goods merchandising become very clear.  Here are just a few best practices for virtual goods providers on how to capitalize around the holiday season.

The Content

Go to your nearest Starbucks (it’s probably only 100 feet away) and the first thing you’ll notice is their holiday merchandise. This includes specialty drinks such as the Peppermint Mocha and Gingerbread Latte, Christmas themed bags of coffee beans, mugs and even pastries with festive toppings.

Starbucks Peppermint Mocha points to the most important thing about any virtual goods holiday program; creating fun and compelling holiday themed merchandise.  Users are in the spending mood around the holidays, and creating specialty items for them to purchase increases what they would normally spend.   The December holiday season provides a timeframe of several weeks for users to purchase holiday content and release the content in waves.  New sets every week will keep users coming back during the entire holiday season.

Holiday Context

It is not just the merchandise that gets people to spend, but the overall environment.  The moment you walk into a Starbucks right now you are surrounded by holiday decorations, Christmas music, and more.  These things set the environment and mood which contributes to a consumers purchasing behavior.

How do you recreate this in the virtual environment?  Simple things like giving the storefront and shopping experience a holiday theme can set the tone.

Promotion

As you walk into a Starbucks you are immediately hit with promotional messages informing you of their specialty holiday merchandise.  A sign in the window, a billboard right inside the door, a holiday themed menu, and a promotional stand up at the counter provide four touch points before you even order.

Similar to offline merchandise, no one is going to buy your virtual merchandise unless they know about it.   The holidays provide an opportunity to reach out to your users in a fun and festive way to promote your specialty products.  As with Starbucks, make sure you have multiple touch points within the purchasing flow in the form of promotional emails, calls to action, storefront, and purchasing dialogue.

Limited Time Only

Could Starbucks sell their specialty holiday drinks year round and profit?  Absolutely.  But offering them for a limited time only sparks interest and creates urgency.  If customers know it is only around for a limited time, they had better get their fill while they can.

Make sure you get the same message across in promotions about your virtual holiday items.  Leave them in the storefront for a couple days after the holiday, but make them unable to be purchased so consumers who want to purchase them know they missed out and will have to get in early next time.

Pricing

Taking a quick scan of Starbucks Holiday drinks you’ll notice that they are 25% – 50% more expensive than any other drink on the menu.  Does it cost Starbucks more to make?  Maybe, but certainly not 25% – 50% more.

Consumers are willing to pay more for specialty, limited time only items, especially during the holidays. Does this sound familiar:  “It’s more expensive then I usually spend.  Oh well, that’s what the holidays are for.”  Price your holiday items higher than the average price of your other goods and you will see increased results in revenue and engagement.