As Cyber Monday 2011 begins to fade into history, online retailers are evaluating how they did and some are asking, “What now?” While many merchants experienced a sales bump between Thanksgiving and Cyber Monday, the ones that were well-prepared with their promotional strategy came away with the biggest gains. As we plunge along into December, remember some of the following holiday strategies.

Take a breather, and let your customers come up for air as well.

The temptation to “get all you can while you can” can be severe. Several stores have sought to extend the hype of Cyber Monday into “Cyber Week,” taking their cues from a Wal-Mart promotion. This can come with disadvantages. I believe “buyer fatigue” can absolutely set in, and you don’t want your customers to become weary of seeing your latest offers filling up their inbox. Contrary to popular belief, you can offer too much of a good thing. The concept of “special offers” should be just that—special. I’m thinking of one online store in particular who has shifted over the past year into offering continuous mega-discounts on their products. This has effectively re-branded them as the cheapest in their industry. Remember, anybody can simply lower their prices. Effective brand-building that focuses on value and selection can stem the temptation to go discount crazy. There’s only one store that can claim to be the cheapest (and do you really want to be that store? Do you really want to be Wal-Mart?); everyone else has to focus on developing the persuasive selling power of their brand.

Save some for later.

If customers are convinced they’ve seen the very best offers from you already, there’s less incentive for them to come back for the scraps. Remember, there’s still a lot of time left to sell people stuff for Christmas. After you’ve let your customers come up for air, have a different and creative promotion waiting for them. We are launching a promotion called “The 12 Days of Christmas” with one client that has exclusive deals appearing over each of the twelve days listed, ending before expedited shipping is required.

Think you’re in a time-crunch? Consider your customers!

Shoppers are under a lot of pressure to get exactly what they need under the Christmas deadline. You can tap into that natural sense of urgency by putting countdowns on your site that show the amount of days they have left to purchase. I would encourage you to prominently display “shipping alert charts” that let customers know when they can expect to receive items if ordered by a certain date with a particular shipping method. These are both items we can quickly help you with at EY.


Deals pages work (Go easy on store-wide discounts!)

If you’re in the habit of simply offering a store-wide discount as your sole promotional strategy, that can backfire on you. The idea in itself is not necessarily bad, but you want to exercise that sort of promotion sparingly. If you offer everything off for 15% one day and 25% off days later, you’re risking a slew of upset customer calls wanting that extra 10% on what they already purchased. I know that doesn’t necessarily make sense, but your customers don’t always make sense, do they? Remember the concept of loss-leaders, whereby you place discounted items on your site in an effort to get customers to browse regularly-priced items. Well-promoted deals pages are perfect for this, and helps focus your customers once they’ve come to your store. (Find out how to get a FREE Deals Page!) Don’t slice your margins on everything too often.

The best days for Holiday selling don’t have to be behind you already. December can be a terrific month if you play your cards right. Be smart, creative, and savvy about how you sell to your customers, keeping in mind that every move you make determines how they perceive your brand. You want to make money in the short-term, but your business needs to be geared for long-term success.

EYStudios has your back in December. Let us know if we can help you in any way.

See you next time!