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Move Over Rudolph, There’s A New Hero In Town 

Have you hugged a procrastinator today? If you haven’t, you should. Because if you play your cards right procrastinators are absolutely and unequivocally your new best friends. These people are in a holiday spending panic. They have money to spend and they will pay whatever it takes to bail themselves out of their gift-giving quandaries. With just a little effort, you can emerge a hero of Rudolph proportions and make a little or maybe even a lot of money in the process.

(Perhaps they didn’t procrastinate at all. Maybe they did their shopping early but are feeling very generous this year and simply want to shop more. Who are we to deny them the opportunity to bestow additional Christmas blessings on their friends and families? And if our balance sheets benefit in the process, so be it.)

Although Black Friday, Cyber Monday and everything since have bode well for online holiday sales this year, there are still millions of people who, for whatever reason, have put off shopping for their online gifts.  According to a recent article in CNET.news.com, shoppers are actually procrastinating more than ever, casting their gift-giving fates to the winds of the U.S. Post Office and shipping companies. According to Jupiter Research, in 2005 retailers’ web sites experienced a 13% increase in visitors between December 15 and 31. This year many retailers are creating synergy between their online and brick-and-mortar stores by offering consumers the option of ordering online and picking the item up in a “real” store within an hour. 

More than a third of online buyers will still make web purchases this year even after the ground-shipping dates guaranteeing packages to arrive by Christmas have passed. There are many reasons why we should reach out to these last minute online Santas. Here are a few of them:

• Last minute shoppers will remember. There’s just no accounting for the amount of gratitude an exhausted single working mom will feel for the web retailer that helped them put the “Dora The Explorer” playhouse under the tree for their three year old daughter. They will remember their “holiday hero” and they will be back. If, however you sell them the Dora playhouse and it DOESN’T arrive in time for Christmas, they will remember that, too - every time their daughter watches the Dora commercials and looks longingly at the ill fated playhouse. You don’t want to go there. Promise only what you know you can deliver. Talk to your web host about reasonable expectations. Working together you can develop a plan that will be a win-win for you and for your customers.
• Last minute shoppers don’t require perks or free shipping. The only perk they are interested is on-time delivery and they will pay whatever it takes to make that happen.   
• Last minutes shoppers are spenders, not browsers. You won’t see as many abandoned online shopping carts during the next two weeks. These people need it and they need it now and they aren’t inclined to spend undue time mulling it over. Mulling is not a luxury they can afford. Make it quick and easy for them to find the items they need and they will love you for it and reward you with their business. Of course this only works if your site is operating at peak performance so that it really is user-friendly for last minute shoppers. Talk to your web host to make sure your site is ready for the heavy traffic that experts are predicting between now and the end of the year. This is not the time for slow downloads, links that aren’t working properly or inaccurate pricing or product descriptions. Downtime is unthinkable. It just can’t happen. Talk to your web host to make sure it doesn’t.  
• It’s the right thing to do. Helping people is a good thing to do any time of year but Santa is watching right now and he’ll be very pleased with you for your altruism.

On Christmas morning you will get an added bonus as you sip your hot spiced tea and think about the senior citizens, small children and happy couples that are basking in the glow of giving and receiving just the right gifts because you put forth a little extra effort to help those last minute Santas. Red-nosed Rudolph will have to find another gig because you will be the new holiday hero.

 

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