Christmas Shopping Online: Is Your Ecommerce Site Ready?

Black Friday, Cyber Monday and Green Monday have come and gone but I bet you people are still high on the holiday shopping fever. We’re inching towards Christmas Day and the New Year, which means there are still reasons to celebrate (and shop!). Not even the foreboding fiscal cliff in US can slow citizens down in ticking off items on their Christmas shopping lists screaming “me gusta!”. And with the proliferation of holiday gift guide ideas, people aren’t about to snap their wallets close yet.

According to the latest National Retail Federation study, the average American consumer has completed 56% of their shopping. That means there’s still much shopping to do left.

Are you ready? It’s never too late to make online marketing last minute tweaks a week before Christmas to attract holiday shoppers to your door. Here’s a mini-list of top marketing techniques to use and apply to your e-commerce site before Christmas shopping kicks in.

Christmas Email Newsletter

All e-commerce sites practice email marketing. Don’t let the holidays pass without sending out a warm (but not schmaltzy) season’s greetings email to the members of your list to attract them to do their Christmas shopping online. Top it off with the sweetest news – the bargain sales happening in your online store and the perks they could get by shopping from your shop.

You can find more Christmas newsletter templates like these and get ideas at Toddle.

Don’t miss out on spreading the true spirit of Christmas, too. Consider a way for your business to be a blessing to others, especially those in need. Start a charitable online marketing campaign that would support a good cause, perhaps through a portion of your sales. Let your customers know about this and encourage them to contribute to a better world. Life’s not all about making huge profit and hoarding goods, after all, and this homeless man clearly knows it.

Deeper December Price Dive

Price competition during Christmas week is tougher than ever – one of the reasons why many shoppers put off shopping for stuff until Christmas and the days after. ‘Tis also the season stores empty their inventories out to make room for newer supplies for the coming New Year. So go ahead make the prices for your leftover and discounted products plunge deeper. Empty your warehouse and give customers huge savings! Tweak your homepage and give it the Christmas makeover. Display your biggest discount offer in the most prominent part of your site. Put a pop up stopper when a customer clicks to abandon cart with a blurb that you offer huge discounts or free shipping.

Focus on Mobile Marketing

The image below tells hefty info on the state of mobile shopping.

How’s your mobile marketing strategy? Is your online store viewable in mobile devices? Do you provide an intuitive browsing experience for your Christmas online shoppers? If not, then you better start working on it and have the tweaks in place for the rest of the 2013. Another technique to consider is SMS marketing. It’s another way for mobile users to know about your Christmas promos. Make it exclusive to give it more value. Give out special promo codes through text messages. Give you social media marketing strategies a full throttle since most people are scouring tweets and Facebook updates for the hottest deals.

Make Your Customer Service Count

These droves of shoppers will need assistance at some point. The competition for price and perks among stores may be tough but you can get ahead by belting the most dazzling customer service support. Anticipate scenarios and always be ready with your store policies. Add a live chat widget on your site. Check out the Offerchat install guides for a painless, hassle-free way to add a live chat to your e-commerce shop.

If you already have a live chat widget, make sure it’s open during peak hours of Christmas shopping. There’s nothing worse than having a live chat functionality that’s offline most of the time. Make sure there are enough people in your team to monitor and respond to customer chats as they come.

What are the preps you’ve done to get into the frenzy of the Christmas shopping season?

christmas shopping marketing