Posts Tagged ‘ecommerce’
December 3rd, 2009 | 
Author: 
Santa battles customer service problems.
Santa’s Problem
If more people are shopping online, and more companies are offering free delivery, is Santa going to be out of a job? Will UPS put his delivery service out of business? Will the reindeer get pushed to the back of the motor pool? Will this whole operation get gobbled up in a hostile takeover? Will Santa go high tech and fight back?
I don’t really care; Santa hasn’t brought me anything since I was ten. (He mumbled somethinig about me being on the naughty list.) But here’s what I DO care about: online retail sales numbers for the holiday season are projected to be up 5.4% over last year! Last year, online seasonal sales were DOWN 5.7%, so this is a huge improvement.
What does that extra 5% mean to the average small business? Well, it means we’re seeing some stirring again in consumer spending. That’s going to translate across to lots of small businesses, even those which aren’t in retail. Statistics show that people have been saving their money, instead of spending their money, for the first time in 20 years. Some experts think people are quickly tiring of living so frugally, and want to treat themselves for the holidays. So people are finally turning lose of some of that money.
What To Do
It’s critical right now to make sure your website is running on all cylinders. The navigation should be clear and concise, your calls to action should be in place, and it needs to be targeting your customers correctly. You also need to make use of your email advertising. Sending out specials and coupons in your email list, and driving those people back to your website, is one of the quickest places to see your advertising translate into sales.
Posted in Uncategorized | 
Tags: delivery, ecommerce, holiday sales, marketing, online sales, retail, santa, shopping, UPS | 
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