It’s the Same, but Different…

With a slow economy and people busier than ever, many customers anticipate turning to online shopping for their holiday needs. According to WebPro News, 49% of consumers surveyed plan to do their shopping on the Internet; as opposed to the 44% who will fight the brick and mortar store crowds.

The article looks at why that is:

Reasons for shopping online include saving time (88%), locating hard-to-find products (84%), greater selection (83%) and avoiding crowds at the mall (83%). Saving money was still an important factor for 80 percent.

Don’t give your customers any reason to skip over your site and go to your competitor. Keep your business running smoothly while making sure you’re aware of the reasons people are coming to you:

Saving time: When people send an e-mail or call your company, they expect an answer to a question or concern almost immediately. Answer e-mails promptly and always be ready with responses to anything that may come up. If it is absolutely necessary to call the customer back, take their information and provide a time frame for response right then and there.

Customers cannot save time if they are kept on hold for longer than a few minutes. If you anticipate high hold times due to the holiday, update your greeting to indicate this and include your contact e-mail address for questions. Also state your normal business hours and have a voice mail set up in case a customer cannot wait and may want to call back at a more convenient time.

Locating hard-to-find products: Do you run a specialized business that very few other e-retailers run? For example, there are several jewelry sites out there, but do you specialize in diamond rings? Niche sites will get higher rankings in search engines and set themselves apart by offering products a general site may not. This goes back to saving time because customers do not want to sort through several pages of search results to get what they are looking for.

Greater selection: You should try to stock your business with as many brands and products as possible. You could even play around with the idea of having special orders where customers looking for something not listed on your site can still get it from you. Wouldn’t it be nicer to say “I can try to locate that item for you” than immediately saying “I can’t get you that”?

Avoiding crowds: Sure, an online site saves you the expense and time of setting up cash registers, a security system, and the need to have keys to the doors. However, some times of day will bring higher Internet use than others and you should be ready for that. Have all the proper measures in place to prevent a server crash and keep calls to the minimum time (while still providing great service, of course).

Saving money: Pretty self explanatory, but the holidays are the best time to keep shipping specials and product discounts coming out!

When you think about it, holiday shopping online is not much different than going to a retail store. The only difference is customers do not have to find a parking space and stand in long lines. However, you can offer your customers just as much of a product variety, great discounts, and friendly customer service. Christmas is officially less than two months away…don’t waste any more time gearing up.