It’s the first week of fall—but, as an ecommerce business owner, you’ve got to be thinking about the holidays already! We’ve got some great thoughts and ideas for you as you do some advance planning. Check out the articles we’ve been reading about online commerce this week.
Jack-o-Lanterns and Mistletoe
It’s become pretty hip to complain about seeing Santa in the mall and wreaths in the department stores when the leaves haven’t finished turning yet. This year, be prepared for more advance holiday marketing than ever. Katie Evans of Internet Retailer shares that 49% of retailers plan to launch holiday shopping campaigns and promotions before Halloween this year. She points out that in 2013, there are only 25 days between Black Friday and Christmas Day, compared to 31 last year, so retailers are giving shoppers a jump-start on holiday purchases. So you can expect tinsel and pine in the stores before pumpkin spice-flavored everything has given way to peppermint mocha … and your inbox will be full of holiday deals in no time, too. What are your plans for this shopping season? Are you going to offer your customers a special promotion, like free shipping? When do you plan to deck the e-halls with red and green?
Improve Your Order Tracking Usability
Speaking of the holidays, now is a great time to improve the usability of your order tracking tool. It’s basically the adult version of NORAD’s Santa Tracker in that it tells customers the latest about their shipments (delivery method, current location, expected arrival time, and any other pertinent information.) Linda Bustos of GetElastic offers four helpful tips for optimizing your tracking feature so that customers can find delivery information quickly and easily. Your customers will appreciate this—and so will you, because you’ll spend less time and energy on resolving questions and complaints about order statuses. So make sure your tracking tool is doing its job for you before the snow starts to fall!
The Latest Smartphone Stats
Here is one more thing to consider as this season of heavy shopping approaches. It probably doesn’t come as a huge shock that most ecommerce experts will tell you that you need to design responsively for mobile devices. But new studies from research firms Nielsen and Pew reveal just how prevalent web browsing via mobile device has become, highlighting the importance of making your mobile shopping experience the best it can be. Bill Siwicki of Internet Retailer summarizes some of the most important findings: 64% of mobile phone owners in the U.S. own a smartphone, and 63% of adults in the U.S. who own mobile phones use them to go online. So, if you’ve had any doubts about the value of responsive design, you can put them aside for good. Mobile commerce isn’t going anywhere—so make sure your user experience is just as enjoyable and convenient on an Android device or iPhone as it is on a desktop.
