E-commerce News

If you’re an online retailer, no doubt you know just how vital Cyber Monday is in the big picture of holiday shopping and your overall annual success. Online shopping is as popular as ever, with more and more people turning to the web to find deals and avoid the hassle of shopping in stores once the holidays roll around.  As such, it’s a huge priority to have everything running smoothly in plenty of time for Cyber Monday, and ideally, even a week or so before.

We spoke to a leading e-commerce industry expert to get his take on what merchants can do to best position themselves for Cyber Monday.  Here’s what he recommended:

Optimize, Optimize, Optimize!
The holiday shopping season is the least ideal time to have glitches with your technology popping up.  Studies show that slow waits and long page loads on shopping websites are akin to forcing consumers to wait on line in the mall, only when they’re on the web they can easily leave and find another site. Don’t let that happen. Make sure your site is prepared to deal with an increase in traffic by running some internal tests prior to Cyber Monday, and upgrade your capabilities to allow for faster browsing if necessary.

Beef Up Security
The biggest concern consumers have when it comes to online shopping is overwhelmingly security.  Some people simply don’t like putting their financial and other personal information out there on the web, and you can’t really blame them.  So in this case, it’s not enough to just HAVE a secure shopping platform.  You need to make every visitor who arrives at your page fully aware that their transactions will be safe and secure.  Put a seal on your homepage indicating as much and make it as visible as possible.  Chances are, shoppers will arrive at your site, see such a notification, and feel a lot better about buying through you.

Integrate
Social media networks like Facebook and Twitter have opened up incredible new opportunities for retailers to reach potential customers, and if you’re not actively involved, you’re missing out.  One example is the merchant store application offered by Sortprice.com, which lets you open a virtual storefront for your items right on your Facebook page.  There are plenty of ways to build a community of fans and friends with social media and during the holiday season, you can be certain almost all of them will be shopping for gifts, so keep them up-to-date on any sales or announcements you may have.

Advertise
Advertising is almost a must for retailers this time of year.  But be smart about where you divert your advertising dollars and make sure that you’re advertising a message that matters, like a big sale or special promotion.  If you’re going to advertise exclusively online, find a package deal with a reputable web advertising broker that will put your name out there across as many sites and portals as possible.  Stay away from ad campaigns that are ‘pay-per-click’ to avoid any possibility of click fraud.  For more traditional advertising, many local and regional newspapers will run holiday shopping guides for readers shortly after Thanksgiving. Run and ad and get listed in these guides now and your name will stick with consumers year-round. Most of all, get creative and find advertising options that maximize your investment.

Promote
Sometimes gaining separation from your competitors isn’t simply a matter of having the lowest price.  It’s what you offer in addition to great prices. The most popular holiday shopping promotion is free shipping, or discounted shipping on orders of a certain size.  Shoppers love this idea and for some, it’s the top reason why many of them are shopping online in the first place. But you don’t have to stop there.  Offer coupons on select items, or use some of those social media tools we discussed to give exclusive or “Facebook” discounts.  If you’ve got a customer email list, offer them something special for their loyalty.  Try a “Tell a Friend” promotion, which gives incentives to both the new customer and the existing one that referred them to you.  If you engage your customer base with fresh promotional ideas that are broadly communicated to them, you’ll motivate them to stick with you not only now, but in the future as well.