Holiday Selling Archives

Third-Quarter Ecommerce Results Bode Well for the 2012 Holiday Season

November 15, 2012 • Marcia Kaplan

The growth in online purchasing continues. In a survey of 1,989 online consumers conducted during the last week of October, digital-tracking firm comScore found that In Q3 2012, online sales grew 15 percent over the same period last year, compared with a two percent year-over-year growt...

Email Marketing

Email Marketing: Planning Your Holiday Calendar

November 12, 2012 • Armando Roggio

Email marketing is a powerful driver of holiday sales. But haphazardly sending emails is not the way to optimize campaigns. Taking just a few minutes to think about what an email will contain and when it will be sent should help to improve results. What follows is an example holiday em...

Conversion

4 Ideas for Cyber Monday Sales

October 30, 2012 • Armando Roggio

The Monday after Thanksgiving — Cyber Monday — could see more than $1.25 billion in online U.S. sales this year, as eager holiday shoppers look for special web pricing. Like it or not, since about 2005 online retailers have trained shoppers to bargain hunt the weekend after the Thanksg...

Google Ads

Primping Your Holiday Pay-per-click Promotions

September 28, 2012 • Scott Smigler

A passive approach to pay-per-click advertising often results in missed opportunities. But achieving optimal returns from your PPC campaigns isn’t complex. For holiday PPC promotions, maximizing profits means doing three things well. Create a calendar. Plan your holiday promotions wit...

Email Marketing

5 Holiday Email Marketing Tips

September 20, 2012 • Carolyn Nye

For ecommerce businesses, September is crucial for planning a successful holiday-sales season. For email marketing, starting the planning now will allow more time for last minute changes and time-sensitive promotions. Below, I'll offer five tips to make the most from your holiday email...

Email Marketing

Using Email to Promote Holiday Sales; Pros and Cons

March 15, 2012 • Carolyn Nye

With St. Patrick’s Day near, companies are scrambling to deliver emails to promote green-themed products, or events around the holiday. With all the buzz, it brings up a interesting question: When does it make sense for ecommerce merchants to embrace a holiday or event and incorporate i...

Conversion

U.S. Online Holiday Sales Reach $37 Billion, Set Record

January 6, 2012 • Armando Roggio

Deep discounts and free shipping fueled a record setting November-to-December holiday shopping season for online merchants in 2011 in the U.S., according to a new report. Cyber Monday also saw an extraordinary $1.25 billion in sales. "The 2011 online holiday shopping finished with slig...

Google Ads

Creating a Killer Post-Holiday PPC Strategy

January 5, 2012 • Scott Smigler

Now that the holiday shopping season is over, here are some New Year's pay-per-click advertising tips to help you continue the growth of your online revenue. Review Cost-Per-Acquisition Data on a Category Level It’s often a good practice for online retailers to organize their pay-per...

Customer Retention

7 Post-Holiday Revenue Generators

December 29, 2011 • Pamela Hazelton

For many online retailers, the month of January is a slow one. Between consumers paying off Christmas purchases and those taking time to relax, the remaining online shoppers are seeking good deals on accessories and hoping to take advantage of clearance sales. There are ways, however, ...

Conversion

Analyzing Cyber Monday Sales

December 2, 2011 • Marcia Kaplan

Black Friday and Cyber Monday were greatly anticipated by merchants and consumers and the results did not disappoint. Online sales on Cyber Monday reached $1.25 billion according to Internet tracking firm comScore, making it the biggest online spending day in history. Revenues increase...

Platforms & Apps

15 Mobile Apps for Holiday Shopping

November 17, 2011 • Sig Ueland

There are many mobile apps to assist consumers with holiday shopping. There are deals and rewards apps, price comparison apps, and to-do and shopping assistant apps. Here's a list of 15 mobile apps that assist consumers. Review these apps to see the mobile-shopping options your cus...

Checkout Tactics

10 Quick, Easy and (Almost) Free Ways to Close Sales During the Holiday Shopping Season

November 16, 2011 • Pamela Hazelton

The highly anticipated holiday shopping season is already upon us. Active online stores are seeing more traffic, and price comparison sites have been feeding more data than in previous months. The big boost in traffic starts around November 19, and then skyrockets right after Thanksgivi...

Fraud Prevention

3 Types of ‘Return Fraud’ to Monitor this Holiday Season

November 14, 2011 • Armando Roggio

Return fraud, which is expected to cost brick-and-mortar retailers $3.48 billion this holiday season, could also snag online merchants — significantly increasing costs and chargebacks. Return fraud takes several forms but three stand out as real concerns for ecommerce. They are: (1) wa...

Google Ads

Pay-Per-Click Ads: 5 Tips for Higher Clicks this Holiday Season

October 28, 2011 • Scott Smigler

Google’s paid-click revenue grew by an astounding 28 percent last quarter, thanks in part to a 5 percent rise in click prices. It’s likely that Google will set ad revenue records this fourth quarter also, due to the increase in holiday ad spending. To online retailers, Google’s surge i...

Conversion

5 Holiday Marketing Ideas to Boost Sales

October 13, 2011 • Armando Roggio

The holiday shopping season runs from the end of October to the end of the year, and it can represent as much as 20-to-40 percent of a retailer’s total annual ...

Conversion

Holiday Sales to Grow 2.8 Percent?

October 10, 2011 • Armando Roggio

The National Retail Federation has estimated that overall 2011 holiday sales — brick-and-mortar and online — will grow 2.8 percent reaching some $465.6 billion compared to $453 billion in 2010. The NRF uses a complex economic model that includes data from across the U.S. and world econ...

Self portrait of mixed race friends : african, american, asian, caucasian, young smiling bearded men and beautiful women in red christmas hat showing peace symbol to the camera, celebrating new year in the office

Google Ads

Ramping Up Holiday Pay-per-click Advertising

September 29, 2011 • Scott Smigler

The holidays are coming. For many online merchants, this means dramatically increased revenue and conversion rates. Start ramping up for holiday pay-per-click advertising now to ensure that you maximize your profits — and build momentum for 2012. Below I’ve provided six tips that shou...

Business

OverstockArt CEO Critiques Holiday Sales Performance

January 27, 2011 • PEC Staff

The holiday selling season is important for many online merchants. This includes David Sasson. He is the founder and CEO of OverstockArt.com, a retailer of reproduced oil paintings. The company saw a 25 percent increase in 2010 holiday sales, versus 2009. We spoke with Sasson to see wha...

Social Media

Social Media’s Effect on Holiday Sales

December 2, 2010 • Paul Chaney

Ecommerce is playing an increasingly important role in holiday sales. But how much of that growth can be attributed to social media? I asked Hitwise, the competitive intelligence service, how much traffic ecommerce sites received from social media. A spokesman for Hitwise responded vi...

Product Pages

8 Last Minute Holiday-Sales Boosters

November 18, 2010 • Pamela Hazelton

I'll be honest. The key elements for increasing traffic and sales this holiday season should have been put in place by October 15th. That doesn't mean, however, that all hope is lost for those who've procrastinated or otherwise failed to implement seasonal changes. Whether you didn’t g...

Google Ads

Pay-Per-Click Advertising: 12 Tips to Boost Holiday Performance

November 2, 2010 • Scott Smigler

A well optimized pay-per-click advertising campaign can lead to gigantic increases in both revenue and profits. Conversely, a campaign that is neglected can lead to missed opportunities or significant financial losses. To help you prepare for this holiday season, here are 12 tips that ...

Marketing & Advertising

5 SEO Reminders That Can Drive Holiday Traffic

September 23, 2010 • PEC Staff

As we head into the holiday season amid mixed economic signals, merchants are looking to maximize visibility while keeping expenses in check. In a recent Practical eCommerce webinar we reviewed some easy-to-implement SEO tips with Andreas Ryuta Stenzel, online marketing manager with TRU...

Conversion

Increase Holiday Profits with Drop Shipping, Better Inventory Management

September 9, 2010 • PEC Staff

Holiday sales are vital for most ecommerce merchants. But the selling process can be a management headache when a merchant is juggling many different suppliers, sales channels, and stocking requirements. Couple those challenges with trying to decide which products to promote, and what t...

Conversion

Ten Must-Do Items This Holiday Season

September 7, 2010 • PEC Staff

It’s September and the holiday season has already begun for merchants and shoppers. In a recent Practical eCommerce webinar entitled “Ten Ecommerce Strategies for Holiday Success,” Make-a-Store Chief Marketing Officer Derek Stringfellow offered 10 tips merchants can apply now for more s...

Conversion

Holiday Tips for 2010, Part 5

August 27, 2010 • PEC Staff

The 2010 holiday season is nearly here. With that in mind, we are publishing a few good holiday-selling tips, from experienced ecommerce professionals, each week. Our fifth, and final, installment is below. Anticipate Microsoft, Yahoo! PPC Integration "Build out and optimize your Mi...

Conversion

Holiday Tips for 2010, Part 4

August 20, 2010 • PEC Staff

The 2010 holiday season is nearly here. With that in mind, we are publishing a few good holiday-selling tips each week. Our fourth installment, provided by experienced ecommerce professionals, is below. Test for Usability Issues “Find usability issues by using new crowdsourcing servic...

Conversion

Nuts and Bolts of Holiday Selling

August 18, 2010 • PEC Staff

The factors that determine a successful holiday season are oftentimes not the creative or extravagant ones, but rather the nuts and bolts of addressing critical areas of your business. We've identified 10 such "nuts and bolts" strategies to contemplate in “Ten Ecommerce Strategies for ...

Conversion

Holiday Tips for 2010, Part 3

August 13, 2010 • PEC Staff

The 2010 holiday season is nearly here. With that in mind, Practical eCommerce is publishing a few good holiday-selling tips each week. Our third installment, provided by experienced ecommerce professionals, is below. Be Everywhere “Signup and post products in shopping comparison en...

Conversion

Holiday Tips for 2010, Part 2

August 6, 2010 • PEC Staff

The 2010 holiday season is nearly here. With that in mind, Practical eCommerce is publishing a few good holiday-selling tips each week. Our second installment, provided by experienced ecommerce professionals, is below. Plan Ahead for Holiday Rush “Make sure all of your website improve...

Conversion

10 Holiday Ecommerce Pitfalls

August 5, 2010 • Michael Stearns

Holiday sales are vitally important for most ecommerce businesses. And yet, in my years of helping hundreds of merchants, I've seen them frequently make the same mistakes that negatively impact a successful holiday sales season. Here's my list, updated for 2010, of common pitfalls to a...