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This is a guest post by Resource Nation’s Shannon Suetos.
Most of us know the best shopping of the holiday season happens on the day after Thanksgiving, also known as Black Friday. Online shopping is now a norm, so people refer to the Monday after Thanksgiving as Cyber Monday. The theory: After Black Friday jump starts the holiday shopping season, people go online at work on Monday to continue shopping.
Like last year, Thanksgiving this year will fall later in the month. November 26th, to be exact–making Cyber Monday November 30th. Experts have found that when Thanksgiving comes later in the month, people tend to start shopping weeks before Cyber Monday.
If you own an e-commerce site, the signal is clear. Take advantage of that early online shopping. Start marketing for holiday shopping now.
Start by asking your web designer to make your site more festive. Change the color scheme to fun holiday colors. Get your shoppers in the holiday spirit early. If your site looks and feels like it’s time to holiday shop, your viewers are more likely to jump on board and start shopping.
Start promoting now. If people are online anyway, grab their attention. One way to do this is to offer something for free. Offers like free shipping or a small holiday gift will entice shoppers to buy. Hopefully, they will pay off your efforts when they do.
Investing in more online marketing strategies this time of year can benefit you as well. Many e-commerce and offline stores earn their bread and butter during the holiday season. If this applies to you, invest your money to get the most out of your holiday shoppers. Look over your site’s October-December shopping trends to help you target exactly how early to start marketing holiday sales.
Cybermonday.com is another tool you might want to utilize. This site makes deals with many online merchants to save shoppers money. Merchants, in turn, gain more exposure. To stand out on this site you need to offer shoppers a great deal. Gift package bundles are an example. You bundle together items that a shopper would naturally get–i.e. running shoes and a runner’s jacket–and make the price cheaper than if they buy each item separately.
Get creative! And have fun. The holiday season is supposed to be about giving. Think of how your site can help shoppers give the perfect gift.
Resource Nation provides free tools, tips, and purchasing advice for business owners and entrepreneurs in over 100Resource Nation provides free tools, tips, and purchasing advice for business owners and entrepreneurs in over 100 business categories ranging from phone systems to credit card processing. Whether it’s connecting businesses with local and national pre-screened vendors, or offering easy service comparisons on a VoIP service, Resource Nation empowers business decision makers by providing the information they need to make smart choices.
