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Online retailers: How to get
your site ready for holidays
By Jenny
C. McCune • Bankrate.com
 If
your small business depends on e-tailing to boost seasonal receipts,
don't be haunted by the ghosts of bad Christmases past.
Here's a checklist to help get your Internet
commerce operation ready for shoppers. To ensure a profitable online
holiday sales season, check it twice.
- Is your site naughty or
nice?
That is, is it easy to navigate and does it
work the way it's supposed to? Better to find out now than during
the holiday crunch. Try ordering something from your site to see
what's missing or how it can be improved.
- Is your pricing competitive?
"You need to give people a compelling reason
to shop from you," says Dan Janal, author of Dan Janal's Guide
to Marketing on the Internet. For many shoppers, that reason
is measured by dollars saved. Evaluate your pricing method as a
way to convince customers to patronize your site vs. another e-tailer
or a brick-and-mortar store.
- Will your company have
adequate stock to meet demand?
This is tricky, particularly if this is your
site's first holiday season. Even if you know how much you'll be
selling, it can be difficult to get the attention of your supplier.
"If you have an order in for 12 pieces and Wal-Mart has one for
12,000 pieces, you can imagine where the supplier's priority is,"
says Patricia Westbrook, a former vice president of marketing for
a business-to-business marketplace that linked retailers to consumer
goods manufacturers. Westbrook recommends that small e-tailers hook
up with B2B sites and suggests checking with manufacturers about
different options. Maybe the manufacturer won't have the exact model
or color that you want, but can give your business something similar.
It could make the difference between having items to sell or being
out of luck.
- Is your infrastructure
ready?
Your e-commerce site may be great at handling
orders now, but what about during the holiday rush? Ask your Web
designers and operators whether your site will be able to handle
increased volume. One way around the peaks and valleys of demand
is to outsource the operation of your site. Look for a company that
specializes in "Net sourcing," that is, one that supplies the servers,
the networking and the maintenance. The beauty of such a consolidated
service is that it can ratchet up or down due to order fluctuations,
like a faucet that you can turn off or on.
- Can people pay you for
their purchases?
Make sure that your site can handle credit card
transactions, the preferred way to pay on the Internet. Be prepared:
The online version of merchant accounts -- which allow you to accept
credit cards -- costs more than their offline counterparts.
- How's your customer service?
It may be put to the test during the holiday
season, when mistakes can happen in a hurry and customers are quick
to cast blame. Make sure that you have mechanisms in place so customers
can contact your company if they run into trouble.
- Is your fulfillment up
to the task?
Christmas is one of those purchase times when
it absolutely, positively needs to get there on or before Dec. 25.
Make sure that your company, not just your Web site, can handle
a large number of orders. Tap into temporary employment pools if
you need to. What's also important is to set up arrangements sooner
rather than later. Don't stroll into an employment agency a week
before Christmas and say that you need five people to box orders.
- What's the news on shipping?
Do you have shipping arrangements in place?
Fortunately, both United
Parcel Service and Federal
Express are anxious for your business. They'll help you set
up shipping on your site and will even help your company set up
a Web site in return for your business (and a low-cost fee to cover
the work that they're doing).
- Have you marketed your
site?
If you've checked off all the other items on
the list, you're ready to fulfill and ship orders. But are purchasers
prepared to come to you? Now's the perfect time to start getting
the word out about your site and its wares, Janal says. For example,
many magazines run gift-giving idea stories so make your pitch now.
Or, simply ask your current shoppers if they'd like to hear about
Christmas shopping at your site. Send those who do an e-mail. Just
don't bother the ones who say "no."
If your company handles these issues now, it
should be prepared to enjoy the season and some good holiday sales.
Jenny C.
McCune is a contributing editor based in Montana
--Updated: Oct. 28, 2002
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