In keeping with holiday traditions Shop.Org published the results of their holiday shopping survey. This year, many retailers and industry experts were hedging their bets that the slow economy would necessitate that retailers use extensive promotional offers to bring in customers and drive sales. What they found, however, was that savings didn’t top the list of what would drive purchase decisions this year.

Survey respondents were asked, “When choosing to make holiday purchases from a given online retailer, what is most important to you?” Their top five answers were as follows:

1. Being able to see the shopping cart total before checkout
   Surprisingly enough, consumers reported that the number one thing that would determine if they purchased from an online store or went elsewhere was whether or not they could see the total of their order before beginning to checkout.
   The ability for consumers to place items in their cart, and view their total after any additional fees (such as taxes and shipping and handling) before entering their personal information topped the list of factors that would make or break their purchase decision. This sentiment is likely due to the fact that being able to get an order total without having to enter any personal information makes comparison shopping faster and more secure for customers.
   Tip: If you’re requiring that customers sign up for an email list or register as a user before purchasing, you’ll definitely want to consider restructuring your checkout process before the holidays!
   
2. Clear product descriptions
   During the holidays consumers do not want to have to guess about the products they are browsing because they’re on a time schedule. They need to find which products will fit their specific gift-giving needs, order them, and get them in time for the holidays. If a product may not be exactly what they are looking for, they will not take a chance and order it anyway; they will go elsewhere and find a store that reassures them that they are getting exactly what they need.
   Tip: Try to include as many product specs as you can to influence customers that are looking for something in particular. Remember, product specs are not just limited to things like size dimensions and weight; they can also include things like age ratings for toys, size suggestions for apparel, type of accessories included, etc. (more…)
   Bookmark to:
   

Right now you’re probably shaking with anticipation like a kid on Christmas morning waiting to open his/her presents, but we need to give a little background for new readers.

I See Your “Cyber Monday” and I Raise You One “Green Monday” Most people know that Black Friday is the name given to the day after Thanksgiving, which traditionally marks the beginning of the holiday shopping season for retailers; and that it’s online equivalent (commonly referred to as Cyber Monday) is the following Monday. What most people do not know though is that while Black Friday is traditionally the busiest (and therefore most profitable) shopping day in the retail world, Cyber Monday is not the biggest online shopping day of the holiday season.

The biggest online shopping day of the year had not been given the honor of a snappy moniker until more recently: “Green Monday.” I know what you’re thinking: “Okay great, just tell us when Green Monday will be THIS year!” (more…)

Bookmark to:

The holiday shopping season is just around the corner, and you know what that means… a surge in online sales.

Every year Volusion makes a prediction as to when the biggest day of online sales will come. As you may remember from last year, we noted that a snappy business-friendly moniker had not yet been given to this “biggest day of online sales.” Well, this year Bing stepped up to dub it “Green Monday.” Why? Because they are predicting the pinnacle of this year’s online sales will come on Monday, December 7th.

We like that moniker enough to add it to our short list of holiday shopping terms (i.e. “Black Friday,” “Cyber Monday,” etc.) so we will be using it this holiday season.

The heads here at Volusion have been pretty close in past years with our holiday predictions. In fact, last year we were only one day off when we predicted that Monday, December 8th would be the pinnacle of the holiday shopping season.

So, in our expert opinion, when will “Green Monday” fall this year? You’ll have to stay tuned later this week to find out!

-Kate Pierce eCommerce Specialist

Bookmark to:

It may be July, but online stores are already gearing up for the holiday shopping season. Whether you are a first time store owner or a seasoned pro hopefully these tips will help you to organize and prioritize your holiday efforts to achieve the maximum effect this holiday season.

Based on feedback we have received from our customers the best way to get your online business “holiday ready” is to follow these three general steps: look pretty, get your name out there, and communicate with holiday shoppers.

Look Pretty
In terms of appearance, many online store owners are planning on making eye catching holiday specific design changes to their websites to bring shoppers in. Others are also considering spotlighting their most popular products with a “Seasonal Favorites” or “Holiday Must Haves” section on their homepage.

Get your name out there
To get the word out about their sites online store owners are running the gamut of advertising options from traditional media like magazines and holiday shopping guides to newer social media like Facebook.

Communicate
Communications with customers this holiday season will range from text-based newsletters and emails to interactive live chatting. The goal will be to announce holiday promotions that are running and give consumers the information and resources they need to get their gifts.

But even if you know what you will be doing this year, you may need some help deciding when you should you be doing it. Here is a rough time schedule of these crucial months leading up to the holiday shopping season: (more…)

Bookmark to:

Today’s economic climate stresses the importance of a cost effective marketing strategy in order to achieve the most gain with the least expense. Blogs fit this bill because they allow you to reach a vast global audience with very little monetary cost. Free blog software has made blogs accessible to even the smallest companies, and the movement away from structured formal writing to a more conversational dialogue has made the average person well equipped to maintain a blog. With the explosion of the “blogosphere” your business can fall behind quickly without a regularly updated quality blog. This is why it’s important to know (more…)

Bookmark to: