It’s may be difficult to think about snow and mistletoe when the dog days of summer are still here but if you’re an online retailer, preparation is everything and now is the time to be readying yourself for the holiday shopping season in a few months.
Retail sales are still lagging some, but many experts believe more people than ever will shop online for the holidays in 2009, which is even more of a reason to solidify your marketing and sales decisions in advance of the most important time of the year. We’ve compiled a few tips that every online retailer can use to put themselves in the best position to succeed when the weather does turn cooler.
–Organize: first and foremost, take a look at where you’re at. Analyze what worked and what didn’t work in previous holiday shopping seasons. Where can you improve? Should you consider advertising this season? Are there effective marketing initiatives from the past that should be built upon? Be honest and objective and build a realistic plan of attack.
–Get your site ready: technical issues and/or a website crash in the days and weeks after Thanksgiving are akin to retail suicide. Make sure your site and accompanying technology is humming along well, capable of handling lots of visitors and processing multiple orders at a time. If you’ve had concerns about the platform you’re operating on, maybe now’s the time to upgrade. Aesthetically your site should be well organized and laid out, with easy access not only to products, but to customer support and help features.
–Branch out: there are plenty of ways to increase your online presence for little or no money, particularly in the social networking arena. One example would be Sortprice.com’s Merchant Store application on Facebook. If you’re a Sortprice merchant, you can build a store for your products right on your Facebook profile FOR FREE. Tap into additional audiences by starting a Twitter feed or a Myspace page. The more people that know about you, the better!
–Consider your promotions: what promotions can you devise that will separate you from your competitors and ensure that shoppers keep coming back? This is a question that should be answered now. Think outside the box and offer coupons or special discounts for bulk orders. Free or discounted shipping during the holidays is always a popular choice as well. Regardless, set your promotional schedule in advance and make sure that ALL promotions are prominently displayed on your homepage.
–Advertising: while it’s great to have free or low-cost options to promote yourself, intelligent and targeted advertising is still a great way to get the word out about your store. But as we always say on this page, do your research and don’t pursue advertising options that will not pay off in the end. Consider a banner ad campaign starting as early as October to plant the seed in consumers’ minds about your site. If you have pages on social networking sites, take a look at their advertising packages as well. Even if you spend just a little on advertising now, the payoff at the end of the year could be great.While many businesses and industries struggle to stay afloat during this recent economic recession, e-commerce entities on the whole have continued to perform reasonably well. Online shopping numbers are still relatively strong, indicating that consumers are relying on the internet more and more to save money without sacrificing their normal shopping habits too much.
That being said, there is no business that is entirely immune from the negative effects of a lagging economy. If you’re a smaller or mid-sized online retailer especially, a recession means you must be more diligent with your day-to-day business activities and often forces you to make some difficult choices with regards to how to spend your money.
We spoke with several e-commerce industry leaders to get their take on how to not only survive, but thrive, during the recession. Here are some of their tips with regards to marketing, advertising and general business practices:
Plan Long Term: think years ahead, not months. Remember that business success is more of a marathon than a sprint, and planning ahead means never getting caught by surprise as a result of outside influences.
Market Wisely…and Diversify: if a particular marketing tool is not yielding results, ditch it! Focus on those marketing strategies that most effectively target the people you’re trying to reach and keep you under budget. And keep looking around for new marketing opportunities, such as those on social networking sites that are often free to use, like the Facebook Merchant Store application.
Don’t Stop Advertising: a very well known fast food chain (hint: it starts with an ‘M’) nearly tripled their advertising budget during the last recession while their competitors collectively cut back. The lesson? A difficult economic climate separates the weak from the strong, opening the door for you to flourish with smart, effective advertising and marketing campaigns.
Expand Your Product Line: more products mean more potential customers for you to target. Seek diverse new items to add to your product line that don’t negatively affect your own bottom line. Along those lines, it’s also wise to consider reducing inventories to cut down on overhead. It’s a slight risk, but if you can effectively project the turnaround time to replenish your inventory once the economy improves, it will help you save in the short term.
Automate: analyze your entire day-to-day operations and ask yourself which tasks could be carried out by a computer system, thus reducing the workload on you and your staff and saving you money.
Get Involved and Get Creative: take an even more active involvement in your operations, on everything from marketing to sales to shipping. Put a greater emphasis on customer service to make sure your customers keep coming back. Negotiate better deals with your wholesalers and offer specials, such as 10% off or free/reduced shipping. Only by getting involved and constantly seeking ways to improve can you ensure the future viability of your operations.
Got a tip of your own? Leave it below in the comments section!
Retail sales are still lagging some, but many experts believe more people than ever will shop online for the holidays in 2009, which is even more of a reason to solidify your marketing and sales decisions in advance of the most important time of the year. We’ve compiled a few tips that every online retailer can use to put themselves in the best position to succeed when the weather does turn cooler.
–Organize: first and foremost, take a look at where you’re at. Analyze what worked and what didn’t work in previous holiday shopping seasons. Where can you improve? Should you consider advertising this season? Are there effective marketing initiatives from the past that should be built upon? Be honest and objective and build a realistic plan of attack.
–Get your site ready: technical issues and/or a website crash in the days and weeks after Thanksgiving are akin to retail suicide. Make sure your site and accompanying technology is humming along well, capable of handling lots of visitors and processing multiple orders at a time. If you’ve had concerns about the platform you’re operating on, maybe now’s the time to upgrade. Aesthetically your site should be well organized and laid out, with easy access not only to products, but to customer support and help features.
–Branch out: there are plenty of ways to increase your online presence for little or no money, particularly in the social networking arena. One example would be Sortprice.com’s Merchant Store application on Facebook. If you’re a Sortprice merchant, you can build a store for your products right on your Facebook profile FOR FREE. Tap into additional audiences by starting a Twitter feed or a Myspace page. The more people that know about you, the better!
–Consider your promotions: what promotions can you devise that will separate you from your competitors and ensure that shoppers keep coming back? This is a question that should be answered now. Think outside the box and offer coupons or special discounts for bulk orders. Free or discounted shipping during the holidays is always a popular choice as well. Regardless, set your promotional schedule in advance and make sure that ALL promotions are prominently displayed on your homepage.
–Advertising: while it’s great to have free or low-cost options to promote yourself, intelligent and targeted advertising is still a great way to get the word out about your store. But as we always say on this page, do your research and don’t pursue advertising options that will not pay off in the end. Consider a banner ad campaign starting as early as October to plant the seed in consumers’ minds about your site. If you have pages on social networking sites, take a look at their advertising packages as well. Even if you spend just a little on advertising now, the payoff at the end of the year could be great.While many businesses and industries struggle to stay afloat during this recent economic recession, e-commerce entities on the whole have continued to perform reasonably well. Online shopping numbers are still relatively strong, indicating that consumers are relying on the internet more and more to save money without sacrificing their normal shopping habits too much.
That being said, there is no business that is entirely immune from the negative effects of a lagging economy. If you’re a smaller or mid-sized online retailer especially, a recession means you must be more diligent with your day-to-day business activities and often forces you to make some difficult choices with regards to how to spend your money.
We spoke with several e-commerce industry leaders to get their take on how to not only survive, but thrive, during the recession. Here are some of their tips with regards to marketing, advertising and general business practices:
Plan Long Term: think years ahead, not months. Remember that business success is more of a marathon than a sprint, and planning ahead means never getting caught by surprise as a result of outside influences.
Market Wisely…and Diversify: if a particular marketing tool is not yielding results, ditch it! Focus on those marketing strategies that most effectively target the people you’re trying to reach and keep you under budget. And keep looking around for new marketing opportunities, such as those on social networking sites that are often free to use, like the Facebook Merchant Store application.
Don’t Stop Advertising: a very well known fast food chain (hint: it starts with an ‘M’) nearly tripled their advertising budget during the last recession while their competitors collectively cut back. The lesson? A difficult economic climate separates the weak from the strong, opening the door for you to flourish with smart, effective advertising and marketing campaigns.
Expand Your Product Line: more products mean more potential customers for you to target. Seek diverse new items to add to your product line that don’t negatively affect your own bottom line. Along those lines, it’s also wise to consider reducing inventories to cut down on overhead. It’s a slight risk, but if you can effectively project the turnaround time to replenish your inventory once the economy improves, it will help you save in the short term.
Automate: analyze your entire day-to-day operations and ask yourself which tasks could be carried out by a computer system, thus reducing the workload on you and your staff and saving you money.
Get Involved and Get Creative: take an even more active involvement in your operations, on everything from marketing to sales to shipping. Put a greater emphasis on customer service to make sure your customers keep coming back. Negotiate better deals with your wholesalers and offer specials, such as 10% off or free/reduced shipping. Only by getting involved and constantly seeking ways to improve can you ensure the future viability of your operations.
Got a tip of your own? Leave it below in the comments section!
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