Cyber Monday is the day retailers love and hate. They love the huge revenue potential, but hate the pressure to perform.
However, the phenomenon is now a well-established consumer holiday, so it's important to avoid a technical meltdown. And even if your site is stable and responsive, there are still ways to grow your sales on Cyber Monday.
Assuming you’ve got the basics in place, these seven practices can maximize sales in this critical period.
1. Be real time.
Trends and fashions develop fast during this intense shopping movement. The latest gift craze or must-have toy can change in a matter of hours. If you want to maximize sales, track activity in real time and respond in immediately with creative merchandising and offers. If you’re only reviewing analytics occasionally, you’re going to miss a trick. And if your competitors see the trends first, you could lose out badly.
2. Think about the weather.
Weather can have a huge impact on shopping habits at any time of year, but it's particularly important during the holiday season. Simple trends, such as increased reliance on online shopping during heavy snow, can be leveraged to drive sales. More subtly, a colder than normal holiday period will lead to increased demand for wintry gifts, which you can match through creative marketing and product presentation.
3. Think about location.
Offline stores have long taken it for granted that they serve local shoppers, not some imaginary national archetype. After all, a shopper in California might have a different gift list from one in New York, and you’ve got to recognize and respond to those demands. But the ability to serve different sites to users in different locations is a must if you want to increase your conversions over this competitive period.
4. Think about content.
Holiday shopping is one of the least focused retail missions of the year; shoppers roam virtual aisles in search of the ideal gift. Therefore, it's the time of year when retailers can influence a shopping mission through content and merchandizing. Preparing creative and colorful gift guides via video or text can help the confused shopper make his retail choices on your site, rather than your competitor's.
5. Manage abandonment.
With the lack of shopper focus, basket abandonment can be a real issue; indecisive shoppers put products in their virtual baskets before heading elsewhere, many times without completing the purchase. However, abandonment doesn’t necessarily mean a lost customer — follow up with registered users via email. On-screen messages might jog their memory, too, reminding them to come back and complete their shopping journey.
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PAK CYBER ARMY
