TulipTools Internet Business Owners and Online Sellers Community

Quote: It’s not too soon for online merchants to start planning for the 2008 holiday season, and web measurement firm Hitwise says the just-completed holiday rush offers some valuable lessons.

Comparison shopping engines are worth the effort, Hitwise concludes in its newly released “Holiday 2007 Retail Recap Report.” Traffic to comparison sites was up 48% in December compared to last year...

The three top sources of traffic to retail sites during the 2007 holiday season were search engines 29%, other shopping sites 28% and e-mail 10%, Hitwise report. The report also notes the emergence of a significant new category—social networking sites and forums—which produced 4% of the traffic to retail sites...

Quote:Holiday season preparation strategies for online retailers fall into two general categories: long-term projects for upgrading infrastructure, site design, shopping features and customer service levels; and more short-term marketing, merchandising and customer service projects, which may be subsets of longer ones, that retailers should consider in the last few months leading to the holiday season and even throughout the season, experts say.

Among the relatively quick fixes and upgrades that can have the biggest effect on engaging and converting holiday shoppers, according to analysts and retailers, are:

Deploying product-comparison tools to help shoppers decide what to buy, especially in consumer electronics and other products with multiple specifications that consumers often like to compare. ...
Deploying a customer ratings and reviews application...
Planning a gift card program...

Quote:It's almost here, the season that consumer merchants and gift marketers wait all year for. So is your site up to snuff for the holidays?

To get the most from your e-commerce site, you must do three things:

    * Start now — August isn't too late, but it's getting down to the wire
    * Have a detailed tactical plan for each of the five phases of the holiday season
    * Monitor and react to changes in the market as the season unfolds

You know you need to start now, but where to start? Begin by creating a plan.

Your plan should divide the holiday season into five phases: 1) pre-holiday, 2) early holiday, 3) mid-holiday, 4) late holiday and 5) post-holiday....