Turn your Holiday Season lights on

It’s that time of year when most people turn their thoughts to family, friends and time off, while retailers turn their thoughts to bigger profits. The Holiday Season is a ‘make or break’ time for retailers — a time to make up sales from a sluggish year, and online it’s no different.

One could argue online vendors face greater challenges than their offline counterparts. All with additional headaches such as last-minute order times for delivery, increased customer service demands, expensive gift-wrapping — not to mention simply meeting demand.

That said, it can also be a time when online comes into its own because of all the advantages it provides, specifically ease of ordering. With this in mind here are five tips for a how online retailers can make this Holiday Season a bumper season!

1. Spruce up the shop front

   You can be sure that every high street shopkeeper will be buying a Christmas tree, getting some decorations in and making their premises look inviting and festive, so why would you treat your webshop any differently ? Festive imagery featuring the usual suspects (trees, bells, holly and, of course, Santa) are all firmly in order. Have a sense of humour with it, don’t worry if it’s not ‘on brand’ (no-one will know!). Remember, Holiday Season is a time for fun and your customers will love you for being a part of their festivities. Also, reminding them it’s Christmas will help drive sales as they remember all the shopping they have to do!

2. Give a little Holiday lovin

   It might seem on the face of it to be a little counterintuitive to be offering discounts during the year’s biggest trading period. But with the internet being the place to grab a bargain – along with typically reduced customer loyalty — offering a bit to get a lot back can mean huge rewards.

3. Let them know it’s Holiday

   The Holiday Season is a time when we’re all spreading love and joy, so don’t leave your customer email database out of it !  Keep in touch with customers. Along with regular direct mail, retailers need to drop customers a line via e-mail. This is a great way to get the word out about last minute incentives to an audience you know is interested in your products.

4. Don’t ruin their Holiday

   OK, maybe I’m being a bit dramatic, but there’s nothing worse than ordering online during the holiday shopping season and not receiving you gifts in time for the big day. While you may not be able to control the postal service, you can make sure you let your customers know well in advance of their order when they should expect to receive their gifts. Use it as a selling point — remember small items such as gift cards can be shipped much quicker by special delivery, so give your customers this option to maximise those vital last minute sales.

5. Check-up on your Domain, Web hosting, and Merchants

   God forbid that your credit card or domain name expires during the Holiday season rush. Double check the basics just to be safe.

   Holiday shopping is well underway this year, which means many consumers have already begun looking for those special gifts. And many consumers worried about economic conditions save time and money by purchasing their gifts online, rather than traveling to a traditional brick and mortar location. Knowing when consumers are ready to buy makes it easier for retailers to do just that. To turn your browser into cold hard cash, consider these tips.