Strategies to Maximize Your Online Holiday Sales

With the all-important fourth quarter holiday shopping season quickly approaching, a panel of retail experts doled out some pointers last week to help cross-channel merchants capitalize on the busy months ahead. Speaking at the eTail East conference in Baltimore, Lauren Freedman, president of the e-tailing group, a retail-focused research firm; Tom Davis, vice president of e-commerce at apparel retailer Kenneth Cole; and Udayan Bose, founder and CEO of NetElixir, an online customer acquisition management firm, discussed what retailers can do online to drive sales and maximize profits this holiday season.

Here's a listing of some of the best tips gleaned from the panel discussion at the fast-paced session:

* Be prepared, but at the same time be flexible, said Freedman. And give gifting high visibility on your website, she added.

* Examine your product assortment and focus on key drivers (i.e., your 20-30 best-sellers), Davis said. “You don't want to be left with a glut of useless inventory.”

* Don't be overly optimistic for your planning this holiday season, said Bose. He noted that the economy has already started to show signs of slowing down, as consumers have reined in spending after a strong Q1. With this in mind, Bose advised retailers to have a plan B in place and ready to go in the event that their initial forecasts aren't met.

* Kenneth Cole breaks down the online shopping season into two distinct seasons, Davis said: holiday season 1 (Nov. 1 through Dec. 24) and holiday season 2 (Dec. 25 through mid- to late January). Within those seasons, be ready to capitalize on busy online shopping days. Target the third weekend of December with a planned promotion, for example. For all of the hoopla surrounding Black Friday weekend, this weekend is bigger, Davis said. “Plan something for that weekend and you'll generate incremental sales,” he added.

* Echoing Davis’ sentiments, Freedman advised focusing on procrastinators this holiday season. Early sales and promotions can be interesting, she said, but ultimately they're not all that big of a factor. For example, try a free shipping day to capture last-minute shoppers before ground shipping ends, she said. And factor weather into your shipping plans.

To help capture those shoppers who screw up and miss last-shipping days, offer them the opportunity to send e-gifts. Here are some other ideas Freedman offered:

• monitor your site 24/7 during the holidays — you can't afford for it to go down during this busy time;
• send email alerts to consumers when products they've shown an interest in come back in stock; and
• send emails in January reminding consumers to “cash in their gift cards.”

* Use the weather to your advantage, said Davis. Recalling last December's blizzard that crippled much of the Northeast, Davis said these house-bound consumers made for a captive online audience. Kenneth Cole created timely offers to capitalize on this event, he said, generating added online revenue for those days. Timely offers work because people are living it at the time, Freedman added.

* Track what the busy online shopping days are going to be, then work this insight into your search budget, said Bose.

* If you haven't already, start building a “consideration set” of merchandise in preparation for the holidays, Davis said. Kenneth Cole sent an email promoting women's boots last week, for example. Davis admitted that the company doesn't expect to sell many women's boots right now, but the email is intended to drive up interest in women's boots for the holidays.

You can track which products are generating interest by the open and clickthrough rates of the emails, he added. Use the first 10 months of the year as a trial to see what works, then roll out your best-sellers for the last eight weeks of the year based on segments such as gender and product, Davis said. “You just have to hope that your data holds.”

* Have content-enriching product information on your site, Freedman said. Another way to prepare your site for the holidays: place your 800 number online. Your customer service must be ready to go, Freedman cautioned.

* Don't rely too much on your mobile site this holiday season, Davis said. Kenneth Cole just launched a mobile site five weeks ago, but he's not expecting it to be a revenue generator just yet. “I'm a big believer in mobile and feel that it's imperative that you're there, but don't expect big money at this point,” Davis said. In fact, he'd be excited if 3 percent to 4 percent of Kenneth Cole's Q4 business came from its mobile site.

Noting that mobile might not yet be ready for primetime, Freedman suggested retailers — particularly fashion retailers — investigate what Apple's iPad can offer them. Research from the e-tailing group shows that conversion rates are trending higher with this tool.

Keeping on the theme of mobile, Davis noted that retailers shouldn't judge the effectiveness of mobile solely on click to conversion. “Think beyond the transaction,” he said. Mobile can be effective as a social tool (e.g., taking photos of merchandise in brick-and-mortar stores), not just a transaction channel.

“Mobile penetration is great,” Bose said, “but the key is to understand how shoppers are using mobile. How are you influencing the minds of mass consumers?”

* Learn from last year's mistakes. Davis recounted at least two mistakes that Kenneth Cole made with its website last holiday season: one, it was too conservative with its inventory, leaving money on the table with out of stocks; and two, it was too blasé with its promotions around Black Friday and Cyber Monday. Those areas will be addressed this year, Davis promised.

* Keep consumers informed with stocking information on your product and shopping cart pages, Freedman recommended. And when you run out of stock, let consumers know right away with an email, she said.

* Keep an eye on the competition. Bose advised tracking the promotions your competition are running so that you can offer consumers deals that are unique and offer value. If your competitor runs the same promo you were planning on rolling out, have a plan B to turn to.