The silly season is dangerously close! Are you ready? Here are a few articles that I thought would help you get in the right mindset to understand what it takes to win new customers and loyalty this holiday season.
The Amazon Buy Box – The Internet’s $80 Billion Button – For Amazon merchants, the Buy Box is the prize at the bottom of the Cracker Jacks box. While this article does a great job outlining what needs to be done to win the Buy Box, I challenge you to follow those same instructions on your OWN website. At nChannel, we want to help merchants BE Amazon and this article provides some great direction on how to do that. The heavy focus on customer experience can help you differentiate yourself on your own website just as well as it can on Amazon’s, but you don’t have to pay those pesky fees!
REI Revamping Online Store – I see three extremely important concepts in REI’s online strategy that are critical to any online seller’s success.
- They realize that it’s not enough to “be online.” They are treating their online store as a serious sales channel by making a strategic investment to ensure its success. They’ve developed and are executing a well-thought out plan to intentionally drive revenue at a faster pace than it’s competitors.
- They are heavily driving their brand into the website to win over outdoor enthusiasts. By highlighting their industry expertise through the website (which is the salesperson’s job in the store), they win over shoppers that would rather buy from a retailer that “gets it” versus general retailers like Walmart or Amazon.
- They are focusing on customer experience by offering rich product information and simplified browsing so customers can find exactly what they are looking for as fast as possible.
Shoppers will buy more holiday gifts online – While total retail sales this holiday season is still being debated, everyone agrees that online sales is still rising. Even if you have a physical store, shoppers are still turning to the web for research. To the merchant, that means some preparation is in order. Think about what it takes to be successful this holiday season:
- Do you have highly detailed product (attribute) information listed on your website to make searching easier?
- Do you have a full assortment available online?
- Can you process orders quickly and accurately?
- Can you provide timely status updates to your buyers?
- Can you keep your delivery promises?
- Can you keep your inventory updated in real-time on high-volume days like Cyber Monday?
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