You survived Black Friday weekend and now holiday shopping season is in full swing. However, the annual sales aren't necessarily over yet – particularly if you have an ecommerce component to your business. The Monday following Black Friday is Cyber Monday, the digital counterpart to Black Friday, and you can bet shoppers are swarming retail websites to hunt for the best deals.
While you should already have a Cyber Monday plan in action at this stage, there are a few points to consider as the week goes on.
Why is Cyber Monday vital?
If you aren't offering any special deals on your website today, you should take note and remember to incorporate online sales into your holiday plan next year. According to Inc. magazine, Dec. 1 is expected to bring in more than $2 billion in sales for retailers across the country. The amount of money Americans spend on this shopping holiday nearly doubled from 2006 to 2013, and its prevalence just keeps growing. Business2Community reported that consumers will spend about 50 percent of their time browsing deals and discounts online, compared to sifting through display tables at brick-and-mortar stores.
As post-Thanksgiving discounts and online shopping in general both become more popular as time goes on, it's not surprising that this will be the biggest Cyber Monday yet. And it's time for you to get your hands on some of that revenue. Cyber Monday is the perfect gift-buying day for people who can browse at work, those who spent the whole weekend entertaining family and people who don't have access to transportation.
How can you make it a success?
Because Cyber Monday is a date that lives online, your social media accounts are more important than ever. You should be crafting plenty of posts about the deals you're offering, including special coupon codes and photos of your hottest merchandise. This is a great time to spend the extra money for promoting your content on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram.
Finally, keep track of the tactics that work well and those that didn't help you reap the profits you expected. Before you know it, Cyber Monday 2015 will be here and it'll be extremely helpful to have a list of reflections that can guide your future holiday sale plans. Mobile sales are expected to keep climbing as time goes on, so if your website isn't already optimized for smaller devices, that should be first on your to-do list in the new year.
