Cyber Monday: The Last-Minute Checklist

Since 2005, when the concept was invented by Shop.org, Cyber Monday has been the second largest celebration of shopping madness in the U.S., taking place right after Black Friday. In 2012, all records of online spending in a single day were beaten on Cyber Monday, with sales reaching $1.46 billion, according to comScore. In fact, Cyber Monday sales have increased every year since its inception (even in 2009), and Adobe predicts that total online spending on Cyber Monday this year will reach $2.27 billion, surpassing Black Friday online sales by almost 50 percent.

Both Black Friday and Cyber Monday are extremely important for any online retailer. It can make or break your year, so it's essential to get ready to attract both new and previous customers to choose your store over your competitors. We're sure you've been preparing for the holiday rush, but some double-checking can never hurt. Although there's less than a week until Cyber Monday, you still have some time left to ensure that you get the most out of the largest online celebration this year. Let's go through the checklist to make sure you're ready.

1. Ensure you have enough stock. There's hardly anything more frustrating than having consumers being unable to fulfill their requests because you're out of stock and can't handle their orders until the desired date (usually it's Christmas, but it really depends on what you sell). Widen your product range and expand to new online marketplaces before the holiday season. Now it might be a little too late to do that, but the least you can do is stock up or, if you're drop-shipping, ensure that your suppliers have enough inventory reserved for you. Sure, there's only five days left, but most suppliers try to be as flexible as possible during this time of year as well, so you just might be lucky.