With Thanksgiving just a few days away and Christmas close behind, it is officially the holiday season. If you’ve been avoiding this moment and keeping your head in the sand, it’s time to take a look around and get your site ready for the onslaught of holiday shoppers. Read on for some of the best eCommerce preparation tips that we have gathered over the past few holiday seasons.

Black Friday and Cyber Monday eCommerce Trends 2015

Perhaps one of the best ways to prepare for the holiday season ahead is to look to the past. Last year’s Black Friday and Cyber Monday shopping trends can influence what you prioritize for your organization this year. With last year’s Cyber Monday totaling out at over $3 billion, you can expect a surge in online shoppers again this year. 

eCommerce Holiday Prep

Get your desktop and mobile sites ready for the seasonal rush by checking your site’s speed and load testing, among other things. Check out all the recommendations here.

Is Your Site Ready for the Holidays?

One way to see if your site is ready for the holidays is to follow this checklist.  These five questions may seem broad, but your answers will help pinpoint what work needs to be done to make sure that your company’s user experience, team, and more are ready for December.

12 Days of eCommerce Christmas

What does the classic Christmas carol, 12 Days of Christmas, have to do with preparing your site for the holidays? More than you’d think.

• In Part One, we talk about drumming up business and engaging with customers through inbound marketing and email campaigns.
• Part Two covers hosting options for your soon-to-be-bustling site, as well as ways to make sure your site speed stays top notch even with all those new visitors.
• Part Three highlights ways to help make a sale, including cross- and upsells, effective product descriptions and images, and customer-generated product reviews.
• And finally, Part Four revisits the power of emails for customers who have abandoned their carts, takes a look at sales tax, highlights the importance of customer loyalty, and shows how all of these things combine to results in a partridge in a pear tree.

Will it be Happy Holidays for Retailers this Year?

The sales tax experts at Avalara provide five to-dos for retailers to help ensure that seasonal business is booming, including tips like creating a seamless shopping experience and targeting both early birds and last-minute shoppers.

So, after reviewing these posts, is your site ready for the holidays? If not, it’s time to get moving on making the necessary updates and improvements.

Are you ahead of the curve and already thinking of a big eCommerce project to complete before next holiday season? Contact our team of certified developers for assistance.