By the ZippyCart Shopping Carts Content Team
It may sound funny to think that online retailers would start to prepare now for the holiday shopping season, but it is crucial to get a head start if merchants want to be ready for the rush. If online retailers begin efforts now and have a solid plan of attack for the holidays, then they can fix and prevent potential problems with online storefronts or shopping carts before it’s too late. Web traffic has a huge spike when the fourth quarter approaches as so many people choose to do their holiday shopping online. This is why it is vital to capitalize on the influx of visitors by offering them an easy and secure shopping experience with smart marketing tactics to get them excited about purchasing from your online store.
One of the first things you need to do is make sure your online store and shopping cart can support your marketing plans. If you do not have the right capacity to quickly and accurately process large quantities of orders then you could miss out on a lot of sales. Another key thing you can do now is work on your SEO strategy which could help increase your traffic in 3-4 months when the holiday season is in full effect. The first thing most visitors see when they visit your site is the homepage so you want to prepare the promotions you want to push and graphics to go with them now so that you can have a better shot to turn those visitors into paying customers. You will also want to look into adding wish lists soon so that visitors can start to save their finds they want and buy later in the year. One last tip is to research your shipping set up and make sure you offer free shipping when possible and a variety of shipping options so you can secure more customers.
Amy is the co-founder of ZippyCart. She went to school for film in Cleveland, Ohio and ended up working in the field of viral video marketing, which eventually led her to her real profession: SEO. When she's not writing for ZippyCart, she can be found out and about Seattle, WA.
