In amongst all the doom and gloom of the current financial crisis there is some good news for retailers as we head into the Christmas period.

Research suggests that e-commerce sales will not be too harshly affected by the credit crunch as consumers turn to online stores instead of their offline counterparts.

Consumers are showing no signs of reducing their online spend this Christmas and a recent report from Verdict Research predicted a 39.9% growth in online spend during the festive period.

E-commerce websites give retailers the ability to react quickly and effectively to any change in the market – new promotions and sale items can be quickly and easily edited within the site to respond successfully when needed.

Shopping comparison sites will benefit from the credit crunch as consumers look online for where to find the best priced products. Retailers should ensure that their website is offering competitive prices for those must have items this Christmas.

Along with meeting the needs of those bargain hunters surfing the web it is a good idea for retailers to explore bundling as a potential money spinner. Consumers will feel they are getting a good deal if relevant products are bundled together a discount price – this is a highly profitable way of selling your goods online.

To maximise the potential revenue of this continued online spend from consumers, retailers must ensure that their website is as easy to use as possible and customers are encouraged to proceed through the site to the checkout process. Customers need to have a pain free experience of shopping on your e-commerce site so that they feel they are avoiding the depressing world of the high street.

To find out how Motive can help you with your e-commerce strategy, please get in touch with our E–commerce Team.

Retailers are guilty of not properly preparing for Christmas with their online store like they do in the offline world. It is important that online vendors use the months leading up to Christmas to research and test all areas of their online campaigns as well as the website itself to ensure they maximise sales over the festive period.

There are several areas that retailers need to pay attention to. The search market is key to locate what words you need to be focussing on to capture your customers. Looking back on last years search data will help greatly to work out what worked and what didn’t. Look at what keywords you were focussing on last year and analyse the success of these words - retailers should be learning year on year for Christmas.

On the run up to Christmas, retailers should test out various adverts and offers to see which converts the best for them. Trial and error is the best way of discovering what is going to bring potential customers to your site.

Along with ensuring that search campaigns are fully optimised, retailers need to ensure that once they consumers have reached their site every step has been taken to keep them there.

Landing pages are very important in your Christmas strategy – any offers or discounts that you refer to in your Christmas campaigns need to be confirmed on your landing page. You need to continuously motivate your customers to continue through the website and ultimately make a purchase.

To find out how Motive can help with your online Christmas strategy, please speak to the experts.