Record Online Ecommerce Sales - Web Hosting Tips

Beat The Heat With Wintry Thoughts

As the popular holiday carol goes: “The weather outside is frightful.” The month of August has dealt some cruel blows to our country with triple digit temperatures accompanied by scorching draughts in some areas and sweeping floods in others. This weather pattern makes it understandably difficult to conjure up wintry thoughts.  But ecommerce owners who don’t start thinking about the holiday season right now will miss their piece of what is predicted to be an extremely lucrative economic pie.

Holiday Online Spending and Ecommerce Websites

Recent surveys predict that online holiday spending will hit $32 billion this year, an increase of 18 percent over last year’s record sales. The holiday shoppers are coming whether you are ready or not. If your site isn’t ready to meet their demands, they will find one that is.

“There is no better time than the holidays to take advantage of online marketing,” said Young-Bean Song, director of the Atlas Institute. “Timing, campaign volume and targeting can make a huge difference in both website conversion rates and holiday sales. The winners online this holiday season will be the ones who understand the trends and behaviors and who optimize campaigns appropriately.”

Holiday Online Ecommerce Marketing and Your Website

Many retailers have already expressed their intentions of launching their holiday marketing efforts earlier this year. Approximately 38.5 percent of online retailers plan to start intensive holiday marketing efforts by mid October (not a bad idea since one in five online shoppers say they plan to begin their Christmas shopping before Halloween).

Last year’s record online holiday sales were driven, in part by special promotions, especially free shipping. In a recent survey, 83 percent of ecommerce owners said they will offer free shipping compared with 64 percent last year. More than 41 percent of etailers say they plan to use blogs or RSS feeds to boost holiday sales, and 81 percent say they plan to use viral marketing.

According to Dan Hess, senior vice president at comSource, free shipping and guaranteed delivery dates prompted shoppers to by more items online in 2006. “There has been extensive research done behind the scenes to enable retailers and shippers to shave days off of shipping timelines and effectively communicate that to consumers,” said Hess. Planning for impeccable shipping outcomes on your site should begin right now. Interestingly, consumers like shipping cutoff dates because they feel they are more in control of the season when they are presented with shipping deadlines early and often.

Web Hosting Provider Tips for Preparing Your Website

Here are some other things to consider as you prepare your website for holiday shoppers:

• Consumers expect more from ecommerce than ever before. While availability and convenience still matter, shoppers also want added value. Online shoppers need a compelling reason to shop a specific site. They expect browsing an ecommerce site to be as engaging and fun as shopping in their favorite brick and mortar store.
• Online shoppers are not motivated by price alone. Studies show that as more shoppers spend time researching their buying decisions online, they are less fixated on price and more concerned with other factors such as brand and reputation. Bear this in mind as you prepare your holiday marketing strategy.
• Make sure the photographs of your products are clear and easy to understand. All items offered should feature a picture, if not multiple pictures. People can be a bit reluctant to buy products that they cannot see or hold unless you have complete descriptions. Show a couple of angles and offer the option to view a larger image of your product. Be sure to include information about the dimensions of the item.
• Provide fresh content. One of the main reasons people visit websites is to get information. If you can provide fresh, interesting, relevant information on a regular basis, you will be rewarded by visitors and return visitors. Additionally, a website with fresh content is crawled more frequently by search engine spiders, boosting your traffic.
• Make sure prices are easy to find and understand. Very few consumers will take the time to find prices that are not prominently displayed.

Get Started on Your Website

So what are you waiting for? Turn up the air-conditioning, play some holiday music, rent a Christmas DVD and sip some eggnog.  Do whatever it takes to forget the brutal August heat and put yourself into the holiday spirit. The 2007 online shopping extravaganza is coming with or without you. A little planning now can generate a lot of sales three months from now.

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