Using Google Insights to Practice Intelligent Holiday E-Commerce Selling

If you haven't heard of Google Insights you're missing out. Big time. I'll try to define this powerful tool without getting too deep in the trenches. In short, Google Insights is a tool that gives you detailed information on search interest. It'll show you the "who, what, where, and when" people are searching, and it's easy as pie to use. 

Since the holiday season is just around the corner, I'll use seasonal examples to illustrate its function.  

Now I know it's not even Halloween yet, but 

We know, it’s not even October yet. It’s a surprise every year when the holiday ads start to roll out immediately after fall hits, and we haven’t even gotten our Halloween costumes. (Some of us haven’t finished back to school shopping, either.) But realistically, preparing your ecommerce solution for a successful holiday season needs to start as soon as possible. Q4 starts in October, so crunch time is sooner than you’d think. Even if most consumers aren’t doing their seasonal shopping yet, they may be browsing already, and it’s important for your brand to look its best. The world of ecommerce is growing all the time, and as technology surges forward and consumers grow less patient with the crowds and hassle of brick-and-mortar shopping, online retailers have the advantage. To make your business stand out from the crowd during the holidays, you need to make some key changes. After the numbers, we’ll discuss what some of these changes are, with the help of Matt Winn from Volusion.

How Will Consumers Buy Online This Year?
While 62 percent of shoppers who said they would change their holiday shopping habits also said they would be spending less money this season, nearly a third of shoppers surveyed said they would be depending on online browsing more than going to stores. Also nearly a third said they wouldn’t buy anything that wasn’t on sale or offered with free shipping. These numbers are higher in higher income brackets, and with families and women. (Free Shipping Day sales were up 61% in 2010 from the sales in 2009.) This means your ecommerce solution needs to be prepared to be competitive. Remember that you can choose optimal times during the shopping season to offer free shipping–it doesn’t have to be from now until the end of the year–and the way you present your deals has a big effect on how they will be perceived by your customers, both new and returning.

Last year, ZippyCart brought you some holiday preparation tips from Matt Winn at Volusion. The 101 tips we condensed into a few bullet points for you have been revamped for this year. Volusion’s got a new video offering you their top 5 tips to optimize your ecommerce solution and get the most out of the 2011 holiday season. After you’ve made a partial recovery from the consumer stats you’ve read, click on the video and let Matt walk you through the ways you can make this year a success for your business.

• 70% of U.S. shoppers won’t purchase via online shopping cart systems if the shipping costs more than $4.99
• 75% of ecommerce shoppers are planning to buy when they use a major search engine to find products online
• 60% of consumers purchased a gift card online in 2009