Christmas is one of the most important times of the year for many online retailers.  December 2013 saw UK shoppers spend a record £11 billion online – a year-on-year rise of £18% . So considering as a nation the Brits spent £91bn online in 2013  and are anticipated to spend £107bn in 2014 , Christmas 2014 looks set to be another profitable period for e-commerce.

If you haven’t already started planning for the Christmas period, then now is the time to get organised. You don’t want to risk losing out on those lucrative seasonal sales just because you haven’t planned ahead.

What will consumers be doing?

Trends indicate more and more people will be shopping online this Christmas.  November and December are still likely to be the key shopping months, but don’t forget a significant number of consumers start shopping in September and October.

• In the UK 61% of people said that they completed more than half of all their Christmas shopping online during 2013
• Online sales in 2013 grew by a staggering 19.2% compared to 2012.
• In 2013 the majority of consumers (49%) planned to do their Christmas shopping in the months nearing Christmas – particularly in November or beginning of December, 27% and 22% respectively.
• 30% of consumers expect to start holiday shopping before Halloween
•  22% of women had already started their Christmas shopping by September or October in 2013
• 28% of women  ‘do their Christmas shopping early to avoid stress’.

Why and what should you be planning now?

So, if time has slipped away from you (as it often does when you are managing your own business), don’t worry it’s not too late to start planning your Christmas activities. Although early bird shopping may have commenced, the busiest sales period is still to come.

Don’t underestimate just how useful an exercise planning is. Putting time aside now to work out all your seasonal activity will save you both time and stress in the long run. A plan helps you keep on track and alleviates the need for any last-minute, poorly executed and panicked promotions. It also serves to inform other members of staff of what is happening and when – keeping all of you singing from the same songbook.

Promotions – put together a schedule of planned activity

Decide on what christmas promotions you intend to do and then put together a schedule of activity. For example supposing you want a special offer to go out in time for this year’s Black Friday and cyber Monday (28th November and 1st December respectively) then schedule in the day your activity needs to go out and work backwards from there. You can then calculate when you need to have all your preparatory work completed.

Get started now on planning your promotions:

Seasonal offers

Offers are a great way to pull customers in over the Christmas shopping period. By our very nature we love a bargain, so think about planning some special yuletide promotions such as:

• By one get one half price
• 3 for 2
• Free delivery
• Early bird incentives – such as 15% off

Tip: If you’re not 100% sure what offers you going to do then you can always do a teaser for customers. For example, Check out Argos. They have already set up a separate webpage for their Black Friday and Cyber Monday deals for customers – without stating the exact details of what their offers will be.

Email, social media, advertising, blogs

Whatever offers you decide upon, then you need to schedule when you want  your promotional activity to hit. How are you going to tell everybody about all the great products and offers you have if you don’t shout about them from the rooftops in time? So plan in when you are going to send out your promotional emails, publish your festive blogs, launch your promotions on your websites and social media networks and if and when you are going to advertise.

Sales platforms – what are you going to need to tweak

Getting  customers into the right mindset can really help your sales conversions. So think about how you can ‘Christmas up” your sales platforms.

Website: Making your website Christmas friendly is essential. Inspire customers as much as you can by showcasing products that you think will make perfect gifts. Make it easy for customers to find things – try categorising headings such as; stocking fillers, gifts for children, gifts for her, gifts for food lover or gifts for under £15. For ideas on how to get your website ready for the festive season check out some online businesses that do Christmas well like notonthehighstreet.com.

Facebook store: If you haven’t already got one set up, then now is the time to  create a Facebook shop and give yourself an additional sales channel for your products in time for Christmas. With 1.23bn monthly active users, a Facebook store offers a cost-effective channel for small businesses and start-ups to sell directly to an engaged audience in an environment in which potential customers are actually interacting in the here and now.

Multi device friendly: Mobile and tablets play an increasingly important part in a consumer’s purchasing journey. 

“Mobile phones and tablet computers are now used for nearly 6% of all retail sales as Brits embrace shopping from the sofa, the train and under the duvet” The Guardian 2014

December 2013 saw online sales via mobile devices double from the previous year to £3 billion.  With the trend likely to continue, if your website is not already multi-device friendly then now is the time to get it sorted.

Landing pages: Don’t forget to plan in appropriate and relevant Christmas landing pages. If you’re sending out specific yuletide offers and promotions, make sure your message is carried right through and reflected on the landing page. Your landing page has a significant impact on your conversion rate so make sure you don’t just send customers through to a bog standard home page. Make sure it reflects the content of your Christmas promotions – otherwise all your hard work and planning could be wasted. 

Stock levels and resources

If you’ve identified products from last year that sold particularly well or have products you are confident are going to prove popular, make sure that you’ve got enough stock in to fulfil any Christmas orders. This way you can rest assured that any seasonal lifts will be catered for. Equally if you feel you are likely to experience a large increase in orders then decide whether you will need any extra help to manage the fulfilment and despatch. If you think you will struggle then have a plan in place to get more hands on board when you’ll need them – whether that means pre-warning family and friends that they may need to be roped in to help or hiring in temporary seasonal staff. Essentially be  prepared!

‘Here’s one I prepared earlier’

Finally, if you know that the Christmas period will be hectic, have a think about what you can do now to get yourself a bit ahead. This will save you a great deal of time and stress during those really busy periods. For example:

If you have a regular blog write extra articles now, in advance. They are then sitting ready to published when you need them.  The same goes for emails and newsletters. There is no reason why you can’t them prepared in advance when you have a quieter moment.

Just by thinking ahead and planning in advance you can avoid any nasty surprises and keep your stress levels lower. And if you really have no time at all then think about some seasonal outsourcing – it may well be worth it in the long run!

Further reading for some more Christmas tips:

• 7 tips to boost your online sales this Christmas
• 12 days of Christmas: essential tips to help small businesses survive Christmas
• How small businesses can benefit from post Christmas sales.

We’d love to hear your thoughts and experiences on this subject, so please do leave a comment.