2013 HOLIDAY GUIDE FOR ONLINE RETAILERS - Top 10 Practices & Monthly Checklist
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2013 HOLIDAY GUIDE
FOR ONLINE RETAILERS
Top 10 Practices & Monthly Checklist
© 2013, ebook by Shopgate Inc. - Questions? Call Us at +1-800-490-2467 1
WHAT IS SHOPGATE?
Shopgate is the award winning mobile commerce solution for businesses of any
size. Our company‘s portfolio currently features more than 10 million products,
over 5000 online shops, and more than 1,200 shopping apps for iPhone, iPad and
Android.
Our goal is to help ecommerce businesses maximize online sales by providing
them with mobile optimized websites and native apps. We connect your offline
marketing strategy with mobile shopping. We link promotional materials such as
catalogs, print ads, posters, billboards, recommendations, TV ads and online shops
to your mobile shopping terminal.
INCREASE YOUR ONLINE SALES THIS SEASON!
READ THIS EBOOK AND LEARN ABOUT THE MOST PROFITABLE
MARKETING TIPS AND STRATEGIES
© 2013, ebook by Shopgate Inc. - Questions? Call Us at +1-800-490-2467 2
INTRODUCTION
Most online retailers prepare their businesses well in advance of the holiday
season. Afterall, holiday shopping accounts for a large chunk of most companies‘
annual revenue. This year will be no different. According to eMarketer, eCommerce
sales are expected to to reach an all time high of $62 billion this holiday shopping
season, up from $53.7 billion in 2012. (Source: eMarketer).
However, most online retailers do not have the time to develop an in-depth stra-
tegy to be successful during the busiest shopping season of the year. Therefore,
Shopgate has made this step easier for you by compiling an eBook with 10 of the
most profitable marketing tips and strategies to ensure that you increase your on-
line sales this holiday season.
THIS EBOOK INCLUDES TIPS ON:
• How to optimize your website and prepare your team for the holiday rush
• Marketing strategies to help increase your revenue
• How to reach new customers and keep existing customers satisfied
• How mobile commerce can dramatically increase your revenue this
holiday season
• A monthly checklist to help you plan ahead efficiently and effectively
© 2013, ebook by Shopgate Inc. - Questions? Call Us at +1-800-490-2467 3
1. PREPARE YOUR CUSTOMER SUPPORT TEAM
Customer service can make or break a business during the holiday season. Having
an unprepared team can destroy your credibility as a business and definitely con-
vince impatient holiday shoppers to shop elsewhere. Ensure that your customer
support team is properly trained to handle complicated customer support scena-
rios and is well-informed about basic customer service inquiries such as shipping
terms, your return policy, and product availability. Customer inquiries should be
answered appropriately within a 24 hour period and no later than 48 hours.
2. TEST YOUR ONLINE SHOP
You should take a second glance at your website before the holiday season begins.
Make sure your website functions properly, you can navigate and search for
products easily, and your website is free of any typos or broken hyperlinks.
Nothing is worse than finding out that you had a high shopping cart
abandonment rate in December due to a preventable error on your website.
© 2013, ebook by Shopgate Inc. - Questions? Call Us at +1-800-490-2467 4
You should also think about what impression your website gives off and if it
appears secure and appealing to visitors. Would you purchase an item from your
online store? Is the contact information easy to find? Although you might have a
positive point of view about your online store, other individuals might have a dif-
ferent perception of it. Consider asking a couple of friends for an honest opinion
about their shopping experience on your website. This is a great way to get const-
ructive feedback about your website.
In fact, you run the risk of losing your customers for good if they have a bad expe-
rience on your website and this will more than likely significantly affect your con-
version rates. According to a survey conducted by Gomez and Akamai, 79 percent
of online shoppers who encounter problems on an online shop said they would
probably not purchase from the same shop again, and around 44 percent of the
respondents said they would tell a friend about their poor shopping experience
(Source: Akamai).
3. HOLIDAY DESIGN
Your website‘s appearance shouldn‘t be
underestimated. Adding colorful or decorative
elements can get customers into the holiday
spirit. You can take a simple approach
such as adding small seasonal graphics
and holiday colors to your website, or a bold
look by adding a holiday theme to your
website‘s background. Add additional pictures
and improve product descriptions to include
more holidayrelated keywords
such as “Great Gift Ideas”.
© 2013, ebook by Shopgate Inc. - Questions? Call Us at +1-800-490-2467 5
Also consider creating a separate holidaythemed landing page to engage your
target audience. You can quickly and easily liven up your online shop and capture
potential customers by creating a seasonal landing page that is optimized for holi-
day keywords and phrases such as “Gifts for Mom”, “Black Friday Sale”, and “Delivery
by Christmas”.
Your landing page should also include a gift finder which allows customers to
quickly filter gifts by age, gender, personality and price range. This helps holiday
shoppers navigate through your online store much more easily.
Here are a few examples of popular categories that you
could also use for your gift finder:
• “Gifts for Him”
• “Gifts for Her”
• “Gifts for Occasions”
• “Gifts under $20”
• “Gifts under $50”
• “Last Minute Gifts”
• “Stocking Stuffers”
If you don‘t already have a wish list feature on your website, think about adding
one to your holiday landing page which visitors can share with others. Include a
holidaythemed color scheme, add seasonal images such as ornaments, snowflakes
or gifts, and display any winterthemed items you may have available in your shop.
All of your special offers should be on this page, such as “Christmas Countdown
Deals” or “Holiday Sales”. Of course, use your best judgment and apply a holiday
theme to match the overall style and mood of your store.
© 2013, ebook by Shopgate Inc. - Questions? Call Us at +1-800-490-2467 6
4. HOLIDAY SHIPPING DEADLINES
The holiday shopping season is usually stressful and most people don‘t have the
time or patience to decipher complicated shipping terms or return policies. So,
make sure that your shipping terms, restrictions and deadlines, as well as your
return policy are clear and prominently displayed on your website.
Besides offering clear shipping cut off dates(example: writing “purchase by Decem-
ber 20th to get by Christmas“), consider offering a guaranteed delivery discount on
all orders not received before Christmas. This gives your customer further incentive
to purchase from your site.
Another great way to boost your sales this holiday season is by offering limitedtime
shipping. For example, you could offer free shipping on all orders made by midnight
on Black Friday or free shipping on all orders over $75. This produces two benefits:
first, online consumers are more likely to purchase more to qualify for free shipping.
Second, they are much more likely to recommend your shop to family, friends and
coworkers. According to a study conducted by UPS, 68 percent of shoppers recom-
mend online stores that offer free shipping (Source: UPS).
© 2013, ebook by Shopgate Inc. - Questions? Call Us at +1-800-490-2467 7
5. OFFER HOLIDAY GIFT CARDS
Gift cards are extremely popular and are a great alternative or last minute gift for
many holiday shoppers. It can be extremely difficult to make gift decisions for
some family members and friends, and some customers simply do not have the
time to shop around. Make it easier for your customers by offering a second option
that will still benefit your company.
Make sure that you place
your gift cards on your
homepage, or in your navigation
bar, or any other area that your
customers can easily see. It is also
important that your customers are able to redeem their gift cards or gift certifica-
tes during the checkout process. Do not forget to add the gift card as a payment
option. Remember to clearly indicate all gift card terms and conditions on your
website and in your email confirmation.
6. OFFER GIFT WRAP
Another great way to distinguish your company from your competitors is to offer
free gift wrapping or a lowpriced gift wrap service for each order. Though it might
not be possible for all retailers, a gift wrap service can potentially generate
customer loyalty for smaller online retailers.
Offering gift wrap is convenient for
customers and you because orders
can be shipped directly to recipients.
7. LAUNCH A HOLIDAY MARKETING CAMPAIGN
A well-structured and well-targeted marketing campaign is a great way to drive
more traffic to your online shop and increase conversion rates. Take a multi-chan-
nel approach to reach new customers, engage your target audience, and reactivate
former customers.
© 2013, ebook by Shopgate Inc. - Questions? Call Us at +1-800-490-2467 8
Some holiday marketing tips:
• Start by promoting new product releases right when the holiday season begins.
• Offer existing customers exclusive deals, and all customers the ability to
pre-order.
• Encourage repeat purchases from new customers and last-minute shoppers by
offering coupons, a discount on their next purchase, and/or a holiday-themed
freebie.
• Highlight special offers and promotions explicitly on your homepage, by using a
holiday banner, or on a separate holiday-themed landing page.
• Leverage an email marketing campaign well in advance. Inform your customers
about upcoming promotions such as a “Black Friday sale” or your unbeatable
“Cyber Monday deals”.
• Have your emails stand out among the rest by perfecting an appealing email
subject line.
• To reduce shopping cart abandonment rates, use an email remarketing
campaign by sending reminders to encourage consumers to retrieve their
abandoned shopping cart items.
• Promote all holiday deals and discounts via social media. It is for free! In fact,
most large retailers announce their holiday deals via social media. You can also
reach a larger audience with specific hashtags that include your products and
company brand.
• Start holiday themed blog posts that will help your customers collect gift ideas
and find products on your website easily. Pay attention to the title, use everyday
language and common keywords to increase traffic via search engine.
For instance: “Top 10 Gifts for Book Lovers” or “10 Holiday Gift Ideas for Mom”.
8. SOCIAL MEDIA MARKETING STRATEGY
Social media is a great marketing channel that allows you to connect with your
customers, increase customer loyalty and enlarge your audience on a daily basis.
Even though social media is not a direct sales channel, you can use it to establish
your brand image and to encourage customer loyalty while also promoting seaso-
nal specials. Keep in mind that social media is often used for entertainment purpo-
ses. Play to your audience by entertaining your followers with shareable user con-
tent such as funny holiday videos or catchy holiday eCards with your company‘s
logo on them.
© 2013, ebook by Shopgate Inc. - Questions? Call Us at +1-800-490-2467 9
Additionally, add social sharing buttons on your homepage, email signature, pro-
duct descriptions and blog posts to encourage your customers to share your con-
tent and holiday deals with others. Make sure to post consistently across all major
social networks! As a rule of thumb, post at least once a day and remember to add
images to your post and a link to your online shop, which are more likely to be
clicked on.
9. GO MOBILE
If you have not gone mobile yet, you need to do it now! Mobile traffic not only
accounts for over 20 percent of U.S. internet traffic, but is also expected to surpass
desktop internet usage by 2014 (Source: Microsoft Tag). You should not find it sur-
prising that mobile commerce is expected to skyrocket this holiday season. Accor-
ding to eMarketer, e-commerce sales made from mobile devices are anticipated to
reach up to $42 billion this year, making up a larger part of e-commerce sales than
ever before. (Source: eMarketer).
You are actually losing revenue by not providing a mobile optimized option for
mobile users. In fact, Econsultancy concluded that 62% of companies that desig-
ned a website specifically for mobile usage had increased sales (Source: Econsul-
tancy). This should encourage e-tailers to think twice about not including a mobile
marketing strategy into their holiday campaign.
© 2013, ebook by Shopgate Inc. - Questions? Call Us at +1-800-490-2467 10GREAT MOBILE FEATURES THAT SHOPGATE OFFERS!
INCREASE YOUR PROFIT BY GOING MOBILE THIS HOLIDAY SEASON
1. Mobile Coupons
A great mobile marketing tool for generating new customers and last minute
holiday orders.
2. Push Notifications
Send customers instant messages containing special holiday offers directly to their
mobile devices.
3. Ad Scanners
Shopgate‘s Ad Scanner allows you to turn every printed ad into a point of sale
by letting your customers scan items in your catalog and order directly through
your app!
4. Daily Deals
Offer limitedtime discounts on products! This is great for key holiday shopping
days such as Black Friday or Cyber Monday.
5. QR Codes
Direct your customers to your mobile shop, select products and redeem special
mobile coupons during the holidays.
6. Mobile SEO
A search engine optimized mobile website that will boost your Google rankings.
7. Product Categories
Shopgate’s automatic import of your store‘s product ratings helps your customers
identify high quality and other customers‘ satisfaction with your products and
services.
© 2013, ebook by Shopgate Inc. - Questions? Call Us at +1-800-490-2467 1110. TAKE TIME OUT OF THE EQUATION: START NOW!
The holiday season is just around the corner, so preparation is key to any business
that plans on being successful. Below you‘ll find a short monthly checklist to help
you organize and prepare your eCommerce business for the upcoming holiday
season.
CHECKLIST:
September
Stock up your inventory, check with your vendors well in advance, prepare
your website by checking for speed and by updatíng content. People love
visuals! Focus on increasing the size and quality of product images and
removing any unnecessary content that may be distracting or over-
whelming for customers. If you have a large range of items, display your
most popular or unique products for your site‘s visitors to see.
October
Begin prominently displaying products that are more popular during the
holiday season. Build holiday content into your online store. Create a
seasonal atmosphere by including seasonal graphics and holiday themed
content and possibly by creating a separate holiday themed landing page.
Put the finishing touches on your holiday season marketing strategy. Check
out your competitor’s website to determine what you can do better. In fact,
the sooner you start, the better. Consumers actually begin holiday
shopping well before the Holiday season begins. According to a Google
consumer survey, 30% of respondents claim to begin shopping for gifts
before Halloween. (Source: Google)
© 2013, ebook by Shopgate Inc. - Questions? Call Us at +1-800-490-2467 12November
Launch a broad-scale holiday marketing strategy. Take an omni-channel
marketing approach e.g. promote your online shop and seasonal deals
through social media, email campaigns, ads, press, and creating a mobile-
optimized website. Launch your holiday season landing page by No-
vember 29th (Black Friday). This is one of the busiest shopping days of the
year. In fact, in 2012 there was a 26 percent increase from 2011 in online
sales on Black Friday which topped at $1.04 billion in online sales.
(Source: ComScore).
Major Shopping Dates:
Thanksgiving Nov. 28
Black Friday Nov. 29
December
Focus on providing a great customer experience, and promoting last
minute discounted gifts, flash deals, or buy-one-and-get-one-free
promotion. Do not forget about last-minute shoppers. Make sure to offer
stocking stuffers and last minute gift idea categories on your website.
Major Shopping Dates:
Cyber Monday Dec. 2
Christmas Eve Tuesday, Dec. 24
Christmas Day Wednesday, Dec. 25
Boxing Day Thursday, Dec. 26
© 2013, ebook by Shopgate Inc. - Questions? Call Us at +1-800-490-2467 13GOOD LUCK BOOSTING YOUR HOLIDAY SALES!
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© 2013, ebook by Shopgate Inc. - Questions? Call Us at +1-800-490-2467 14You can also read
