Green

The holiday shopping season is the make-or-break period for many online retailers. Yes, stocking up on sought-after items and making sure you have a sound logistics system in place is important. However, it's also crucial to position your business for maximum profits by addressing new holiday shopping trends, optimizing your site for mobile viewing and targeting prospective customers with relevant, compelling messages and contact options. By combining extended sales opportunities with the right strategies, you can set yourself up for success in the new year.

By the time you’re reading this, the 2011 holiday season will be over. As such, you’re probably analyzing what worked and what didn’t during the critical fourth quarter and, believe it or not, beginning to plan for this year’s holidays. When making those plans, don’t forget to add the latest holiday shopping tradition to your marketing calendar: Green Tuesday.

Free Shipping Day saw a 61% increase in sales over the corresponding shopping day last year, as over 1,500 online merchants offered free shipping on December 17, 2010, according to research firm ComScore. Last week, holiday sales surpassed $5 billion, an increase of 14 percent versus the corresponding week last year, with four individual days exceeding $900 million, led by Green Monday (December 13) with $954 million, and Free Shipping Day (Friday, December 17) with $942 million in sales. ComScore said Cyber Monday remains the only billion-dollar day on record and is likely to become the heaviest spending day