Top 10 tips for Christmas E-Commerce Success

It's almost that time of year again. Christmas is approaching fast and if you manage your ECommerce web site well, it's not just the Goose that is going to get fat. Last year over half the UK population bought over the Internet with sales in excess of £4billion for the Christmas period alone (source IMRG). That is a staggering 64% increase on the previous year.

And why not? Given the choice between the Oxford street Christmas rush and a warm house with a glass of mulled wine, I know which I am going to choose any day.

With so much potential and an ever increasing appetite for spending online, how can we make sure we maximise the opportunity Christmas 2005 represents?

I am lucky enough to work closely with clients all year round helping them increase their online revenue. I have found the following ten points to be very useful in the past at this crucial time of year and hope they help you make this Christmas your most successful yet.

1. Planning - Start your Christmas campaign early! For many E-Commerce sites the Christmas buying season is already in full swing. Give you and your E-Commerce agency enough time to take advantage of this seasonal spend with clever well planned campaigns, plenty of time in advance.
2. Evolution not revolution! - When you and your agency come up with new ideas make sure they do not represent a major change in functionality or require significant technical development to your web site. Christmas is not the time of year to be making major changes to your E-Commerce web site.
3. Seasonal Design - Come on its Chrissstmaasss! It is important to stay on brand and on message all year round, however, clever use of seasonal design in both the site copy and creative can make all the difference to the user experience.
4. Your Christmas Homepage - Your homepage is critical to your online sales at any time of the year but never more so than at Christmas. Provide a variety of options and routes through your product catalogue appealing to users with difference tastes and budgets. Present prominent special offers, delivery options and incentivise Email Newsletter sign up to capitalise on the increased traffic all year around. Once you are happy with the Homepage changes and prior to making them live, perform usability tests to make sure your Christmas homepage is clear, attractive and easy to use.
5. Email Marketing - For maximum success you need to think of Christmas as a campaign rather than a one off Email blast. Plan a sequence of emails with relevant information and Christmas gift ideas, product tips and advice; measuring your response along the way. Oh and don't forget to thank your customers and wish them a Happy Christmas close to the day itself.
6. Gift ideas - People are desperate to spend money online with you – help them! Position your product range and present a range of seasonal offers to meet a variety of buyers, gift recipients and budgets. Provide product gift finders and present a range of related products to make the buying process quick and easy. QUICK + EASY online = Increased Revenue.
7. Delivery - People are nervous about getting things delivered on time during the Christmas rush. First calculate the order throughput you can cope with and decide on the final cut off order date by which you can safely ensure on time Christmas delivery. Then make sure you prominently reassure your site visitors of your ability to deliver on time at every stage of the buying process. If a product is not in stock give accurate lead times where possible. In the event you cannot deliver an order act quickly and contact the customer. Make a mistake on a gift order for Christmas and you will loose a customer for life.
8. Gift wrapping, messages & packaging - I am a man. If you offer me a great gift that I have to wrap or a good gift which comes ready wrapped; sorry Mum, it was the best I could find. Seriously though, if relevant and feasible make sure you offer seasonal wrapping and or gift box services. This makes life easy for your customers, (remember EASY online = Increased Revenue) can provide some extra revenue and if the end result looks great, will bring customers back time after time for other special occasions.
9. Manage your Affiliates and Banner Adverts - A successful online merchant may have many sites other than their own which feature links or banners to their web site. Make sure all the other online real estate your site appears on (and you pay for) is represented as part of your Christmas campaign. If you run an Affiliate network give your Affiliates the tools they need to maximise sales for you. At no other time of the year will Affiliates make more money from their sites, if you don't help them there will be plenty of other merchants that will. You may find yourself loosing out on some very valuable traffic and sales.
10. Measurement - If 'Location, Location, Location' is the key to successful property development then 'Measure, Measurement, Measurement' is the key to successful ECommerce. Measure all of your marketing campaign statistics, web site statistics and online sales performance this Christmas to make sure 2006 will be even better.

And remember; you don't have to be a scrooge to enjoy counting your money at Christmas!

I hope you find the 10 points above useful. For more information on boosting your online sales at Christmas or at any other time of the year, please do not hesitate to contact us.