5 Ways to Supercharge Seasonal Sales

The holiday season is almost upon us, and according to industry analysts, e-commerce sales are set to continue strong growth trends this year. eMarketer predicts that online holiday sales in the U.S. will increase by 15 percent to reach nearly $62 billion in November and December.

Is your e-commerce business ready to cash in on upcoming holiday sales opportunities? Here are five tips that can help you get ready:

1. Make sure your site accommodates mobile shoppers. Sales on mobile devices this holiday season are expected to surge, growing 16 percent during the 2013 season. eMarketer projects that by 2017, retail sales on mobile devices will top $100 billion. Make the most of this trend by ensuring your site meets the requirements for these shoppers. I recommend implementing a full responsive redesign. If that's not a near-term project, you can get started by adding new search landing page designs or email templates that leverage responsive design. These simple starting points can help you capture more shoppers during the holiday season and in years to come as mobile takes a greater slice of market share.

2. Understand your customer demographics and address their unique needs. Holiday shopping isn't just a Western phenomenon thanks to global digital sales platforms. If you're selling to a worldwide customer base, prepare for an uptick in sales across all regions and make sure you understand and accommodate local preferences, including preferred regional payment methods. Customer age groups also matter. For example, younger shoppers are more likely to use PayPal, whereas older customers in the U.S. typically use credit cards.

3. Put an effective merchandising strategy in place. Today's consumers expect a level of personalization and engagement online; they're used to sites recognizing them when they return and making offers based on past purchases. A merchandising strategy that includes relevant offers, bundling and dynamic customer engagement can result in higher sales and greater customer loyalty. Make sure your site is equipped to recognize returning visitors and convert new prospects into buyers with advanced merchandising capabilities.

4. Protect your site and your customers from fraud. Consumers won't buy unless they have a high level of confidence in your e-commerce site's security. With online identity theft on the rise worldwide, there's greater awareness of the risks of shopping online, so consumers will be looking for signs that they can trust you with their confidential account information. Have the protection you need to keep customers — and your business — safe. Access real-time fraud detection and risk management solutions to meet current and emerging threats.

5. Make the checkout process simple. According to a Baymard Institute study that compiled statistics from published research, the average documented online shopping cart abandonment rate is over 67 percent. Too often, however, high abandonment rates and low conversion rates don't get properly addressed. A thorough site optimization program starting deep in the site — i.e., at the checkout — can often greatly improve conversion rates and the bottom line.

It's up to you to make sure that consumers who are ready to purchase — and are no longer shopping — complete the transaction rather than abandon the cart. To do that, you'll need a simple, clean, customer-friendly checkout process. Here are a few steps to take when you declutter and optimize your checkout pages:

• Evaluate your analytics. Don't start fixing things without first trying to uncover drop-offs. Investigate any leaks to better understand what may be inhibiting your visitors from moving forward. For example, don't ask for unnecessary information, such as company name if only 1 percent of your visitors are business buyers.
• Tag your form fields. Determine if your form fields are the culprit for drop-offs, and then ask why that might be. Are they dropping off because they're worried your site isn't secure? Because they don't know how to enter their information? Or because there are errors on your site?
• Assess error messaging. If visitors fail to check out because they incorrectly fill in a field (e.g., the credit card field), make certain the error messaging is well explained and clearly visible when the page reloads. This will minimize users’ frustrations.
• Clearly define the path to checkout. Have one dominant call to action so the path to the "buy" button is as short and smooth as possible. All other calls to action — e.g., Continue Shopping, Apply Promotional Code, Add Complementary Product, etc. — should be secondary.

With tens of billions of dollars in online retail transactions on the line during the upcoming holiday season, online retailers all over the world are gearing up to ring in the holiday sales. Before the first wave of holiday shoppers hits your site, make sure you're ready to maximize sales and take advantage of this once-a-year opportunity.

Scott Heimes is the chief marketing officer of Digital River, an e-commerce outsourcing company.