It’s coming. The wonderful time of year when houses and stores are being decorated with lights and trees, the time when the weather is cold enough to drink hot chocolate, and the time when you start hearing Christmas music while you shop. The 2009 Holiday Season is right around the corner and you need to make sure your eCommerce site is prepared for it!
Do not fret. This blog post focuses on some basic tips to make sure your eCommerce site is prepared this holiday season.
Add some holiday cheer to your homepage
Set the mood for your visitor to shop for this holiday season. What better way to do it then on your homepage with some nice holiday graphics and images. You can even add a nice little holiday flare to your logo. Here is an example of Sears adding some holiday flare to their homepage.
Shipping deals and timeline
Customers love shipping deals. But what’s even more important than shipping deals is that the customer will get the item by Christmas. Post a holiday timeline for customers to view dates and when they can expect to have their package. Target has a good example by really emphasizing their shipping deals on their homepage.
Offer a "Have it gift wrapped" option
Have an option to have the gift already wrapped upon delivery. People actually pay for convenience. Don’t forget to show customers a preview of what the gift wrap might look like. They don’t want newspaper as wrapping paper.
Gift cards or certificates
Sometimes it’s tough deciding on what to get somebody for Christmas. Give potential buyers an option to buy a gift card or certificate. Giving the gift of choice is sometimes the favorite option to buyers. Starbucks does a real good job with their gift cards during the holiday season.
Don’t be a Grinch on returns
It’s important to have a page dedicated to your return policy and make sure it's very clear for your customers. But for the holiday season, it’s nice to extend return policies. Walmart has an entire page dedicated to their return policy which definitely helps customers.
Holiday give away or contest
Want to really get people in the holiday spirit? Give away free stuff! This helps your marketing initiatives as well. Kmart does a good job by having a Holiday Contest!