With Christmas around the corner, retailers should be gearing up to take advantage of the biggest seasonal buying rush of the year.

Here are a few statistics from the US Census Bureau on eCommerce during the fourth quarter of 2006. This gives an idea of the sales potential during the holiday season:

• $33.9 billion total U.S. retail e-commerce sales for the last quarter of 2006
• 32 % increase compared to the third quarter of 2006
• 25 % increase from the fourth quarter of 2005 while total retail sales increased 4.0 % in the same period
• eCommerce sales in Q4 of 2006 accounted for 3.3 % of total retail sales

These figures reinforce the point that eCommerce is consistently on the rise and that more and more shoppers buy online, even more so for Christmas.

Here are some insights from Omniture* in partnership with JupiterResearch** taken from their (free) webinar on online Retail Strategies for Holiday Sales on how to take full advantage of your eCommerce website.

1. Online holiday shoppers look for deals:

• 24% made sure to get the lowest price
• 15% only bought at sites where they got discounts
• 15% only bought at sites where they got free shipping
• 11% check online for off-line in store specials

2. Most useful online shopping features for online holiday shoppers:

• 52% want to see upfront shipping costs and estimated delivery date on product page or in shopping cart
• 48% want the option to search results by product attribute
• 46% want to add items to cart to save for later
• 40% want to be able to checkout without having to register
• 35% want to see product reviews

3. When it comes to last minute purchases:

• 36% of online holiday shoppers preferred to buy gifts in a physical store
• 29% of online holiday buyers were positively influenced by shipping cut-off information
• 37% will still buy after ground cut-off dates

In order to be successful with your online sales strategy this upcoming holiday season,

• offer your customers great seasonal deals (free shipping, online coupons, special day promotions, etc.)
• give up front all the shipping information that your customers need to evaluate their costs and delivery times.
• simplify your checkout process, maybe you can skip the registration process and get back to your customer later
• offer the option of saving the shopping cart for later. This would require a registration and would enable you to follow up with customers who haven’t completed their buy.

By combining strong seasonal promotion strategies, easy to find shipping information and an efficient checkout process, you should be able to maximize your online sales during the Christmas season.

*Omniture is one of the leading US based Web Analytics solution providers.
**JupiterResearch is one of the major US based Internet market research companies.

Bookmark to: