Businesses urged to review their e-commerce strategy this Christmas
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It's time to review your festive e-commerce strategy.
Last year British shoppers spent £6.8bn online – 25% more than
the year before.
Large-scale, time-consuming strategies such as re-engineering
your e-commerce platform, launching a dedicated iPad app or selling
from within Facebook, via f-commerce, will now have to wait until
next Christmas.
But there is still time to focus on quick enhancements and
optimising your existing offering to improve festive fortunes.
Mobile online sales will be considerable in 2011 as
internet-enabled handheld devices allow customers to browse online
during previously empty time.
Local retailers without a native mobile application need not
feel as if they are missing out; more than two-thirds of mobile
users still prefer to shop via the web on their phone rather than
use a smartphone app.
And tweaking your site for mobile should not involve a lengthy
rebuild.
Careful use of new responsive techniques and using resizable
page elements can optimise it for shopping on smaller screens.
It's also worth cutting down on the use of flash for promotional
banners and making sure your navigation and buying process works
using just a keypad and touch gestures.
Tie in print marketing with online promotions.
Shortened, memorable links should point straight to relevant
landing pages and adding a scannable QR code shortens this step
further.
A seasonal redesign can be accomplished through a spruced-up
wallpaper, festive logo and targeted banners.
If you connect with your customers on social media, enhance your
identity there. Remember interaction is at the heart of successful
social media campaigns.
Whatever new features and promotions you launch, don't forget to
leave yourself adequate time to test your enhancements.
Make sure any promotional discounts work as expected – and
can't be abused.
Then go through your shopping cart process on as many different
devices as you can.
- Brant McNaughton can be contacted via email or by calling 01689
874395.
Wednesday, December 14 2011
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