REPORT FROMFRONT LINES

REPORT FROMFRONT LINES

2014 HOLIDAY SEASON2014 HOLIDAY SEASON

AND ECOMMERCE STRATEGIES FOR THE SMALL BUSINESS OUTLOOK

AND ECOMMERCE STRATEGIES FOR THE SMALL BUSINESS OUTLOOK

2014 HOLIDAY SEASON

IntroductionWith holiday décor already beginning to line the physical and digital shelves of retailers, it’s safe to say the 2014 holidays have arrived.

This holiday selling season is primed to be the largest in ecommerce history, with record-breaking sales expected in the coming months—in fact, Volusion projects a 9% growth in online sales for small- and medium-sized businesses (SMBs) this holiday period.

Because of the heightened opportunity the holidays offer to smaller retailers, we wanted to get inside the minds of ecommerce merchants standing on the front lines. How optimistic are they about the selling season? Are they prepared? What challenges do they face? And how do they plan to overcome those obstacles to succeed this holiday season?

Volusion surveyed hundreds of small business owners to answer these questions—and many more—within our exclusive holiday report. We hope you enjoy the findings as much as we enjoyed discovering them.

Table of Contents

04Methodology & Key Findings

09Small Online Retailers Face Big Challenges this Holiday Season

14SMBs Look Past Major Sales Holidays, View Season as Marathon Instead of Sprint

16Smaller Merchants Stick to Holiday Basics, Leverage Free Shipping and Traditional Discounts

18Conclusion

06SMBs Feel Positive, Recognize Importance of the Holiday Season

11SMBs Choice of Marketing Mix Affirms Top Challenge, Doesn’t Align with Objectives

07Majority of Online SMBs Designate Adequate Time for Holiday Preparations, Start with the Basics

13Mobile Matters this Holiday Season, and SMBs Know It

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Methodology

To create this report, we distributed an online survey to merchants using Volusion’s ecommerce platform. Respondents span a wide range of industries, including Apparel, Pet Products, Sporting Goods and many more. Returned surveys primarily came from across the United States, with additional responses received from Canada, the UK and Australia.

The survey was sent during the final two weeks of September 2014, consisting of 22 questions covering a variety of holiday-related ecommerce topics. A total of 800 completed surveys were received, and the responses were then analyzed and summarized into the findings detailed throughout this report.

Key Findings

If you’re pressed for time but would like an overview of how SMBs are approaching the holiday season, here are some key findings from the report:

• Smaller online retailers are enthusiastic about the upcoming season Overall, smaller online merchants are optimistic about the holidays, with 76% of respondents saying they’re “Somewhat Optimistic” to “Very Optimistic” that their business will generate more sales this season than in 2013.

• The majority of SMBs designate adequate time for holiday preparation: As of the end of September, 55% of respondents indicate they’re “Somewhat to Very Prepared” for the holidays, though a significant number (34%) indicates their preparations are just beginning. Even more promising, the majority of online retailers are building their strategies upon a solid foundation, starting their preparations by planning promotions and organizing their inventory. These two steps are the most effective methods to building a comprehensive, executable holiday campaign calendar.

• A positive mindset leads to more advanced preparations: A positive frame of mind leads to action for SMBs, as those who indicated they’re optimistic about the holiday season are far more prepared than their pessimistic counterparts.

• Small businesses face big challenges when competing online SMBs face unique challenges in achieving success this season, specifying their top three challenges as: 1) Defining the best marketing mix to reach new and existing customers, 2) Competing against larger retailers like Amazon®, and 3) Determining a pricing strategy that remains competitive but protects profit margins.

• SMBs’ selection of marketing channels are misaligned with their holiday objectives Although 92% of respondents indicate they’re looking to acquire new customers during the holidays, their choice of marketing channels doesn’t align with this objective, as they’ve indicated a larger emphasis on retention-focused marketing efforts like social media and email campaigns.

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• Mobile matters, and smaller retailers recognize it: The overall shift of browsing and purchasing products through mobile devices hasn’t gone unnoticed by SMBs, with 89% of them stating that mobile will be “Somewhat Important” to “Very Important” to their holiday success.

• SMBs see the holiday season as a marathon, not a sprint: Despite huge sales numbers on major selling days like Black Friday and Cyber Monday last year, smaller retailers are looking to generate sales throughout the holiday season, with the majority (52%) indicating that Black Friday is either “Somewhat” to “Not Very Important” for their overall success.

Ready for a deeper dive? Let’s get started!

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SMBs Feel Positive, Recognize Importance of Holiday Season

Analysts and ecommerce experts predict the ecommerce industry will show large gains for another consecutive year, with most projections ranging from 11-15% growth compared to 2013. These projections, however, forecast performance for the entire industry, including mega-retailers like Amazon and other well-known brands. Here at Volusion, we predict a strong, albeit slightly lower, growth rate of 9% for smaller online businesses, as these companies face unique challenges to succeed during the holidays.

Despite the obstacles they face, SMBs feel optimistic about the upcoming selling season. In fact, 76% of smaller retailers are at least somewhat optimistic that their online business will generate more sales than during the same time period in 2013, with 28% indicating they’re “Optimistic” and another 28% stating they’re “Very Optimistic” about the coming months.

This positive sentiment is reasonable from a macroeconomic level, as the US Census shows continued ecommerce growth in 2014, reporting 16% growth in Q2 2014 as compared to Q2 2013. Even more, ecommerce sales accounted for 6.4% of all retail sales that same quarter, an increase from 5.8% in Q1. Consumers are also comfortable spending more this holiday season, as the Consumer Confidence Index reached 84.6 in September 2014, the second highest number in over seven years.

In addition to feeling optimistic, smaller retailers recognize the importance of the holiday season in terms of their overall success for the year. Eighty-six percent of respondents see the holiday season as important for their 2014 profitability, with 38% indicating the season is “Very Important.” This feeling of urgency in making the holidays a success demonstrates at least one commonality with larger retailers—in order for to end the year on a high note, they need to capitalize on the holiday rush.

After learning that SMBs feel good about the holidays and see them as important, we then searched for a connection between these two attitudes. Are SMBs only feeling positive about the holidays, or does the need for them to succeed drive that sense of optimism? It turns out a strong correlation indeed exists between how important the holiday season is to small business owners and how optimistic they are about the coming season.

Holiday optimismHow optimistic are you in terms of the following statement: “My online business will generate more sales revenue this holiday season (October – December) than in the same period in 2013?”

Very Optimistic - (27.6%)

Optimistic - (28.0%)

Somewhat Optimistic - (20.8%)

Neutral - (15.5%)

Somewhat Pessimistic - (4.7%)

Pessimistic - (1.7%)

Very Pessimistic - (1.6%)

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Consider the following:

• 80% of respondents who say the holidays are of importance to their business for the year are also optimistic that they’ll generate more sales this season.

• Only 7% of the group deeming the holidays as important are pessimistic about their chances for holiday success.

As they say, attitude is everything, and based on how smaller online retailers are looking at this holiday season, the environment is ripe for success. But without a sound strategy and ample preparation leading into the holiday season, does this positivity mean anything in terms of results?

Majority of Online SMBs Designate Adequate Time for Holiday Preparations, Start with the Basics

Many small online shops often stage a one- or two-person production, unable to enjoy the luxuries of having larger, specialized teams. This means that each day involves managing activities needed to maintain store operations, not to mention the work that comes with prepping for the holidays. Because of this large workload, it’s understandable how a small business owner might begin holiday planning later than they should.

Despite their busy schedules, online SMBs indicate they begin their holiday preparations in a timely manner, with 55% stating they were “Somewhat to Very Prepared” at the end of September. An additional 34% said that they were “Starting to Prepare,” indicating that smaller merchants recognize the amount of time and effort it takes to plan for the busy selling season.

In terms of when those preparations begin, the majority of smaller shops begin preparing early, with 58% beginning in or before September (9% begin in July and 12% in August, indicating a significant group starts their holiday preparations farther in advance). October is the second most popular month to start holiday planning, as 31% of respondents kick off the season during that month.

Importance of the holiday selling seasonHow important is the holiday selling season for the success of your online business this year?

Very Important - (37.7%)

Important - (26.5%)

Somewhat Important - (22.1%)

Not Very Important - (10.2%)

Not at All Important - (3.5%)

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Naturally, the earlier the start, the larger the advantage for SMBs, as it affords them more time to plan, strategize and execute the various design, marketing and merchandising components needed for holiday success. However, that extra time won’t make a substantial impact if the preparations aren’t conducted in an order that leads to a lucrative selling season.

Fortunately, the overwhelming majority of small retailers, regardless of when they begin preparations, start their holiday strategy on the right foot by starting with the basics. Forty-one percent of those surveyed indicate they kick off holiday preparations by outlining their promotions and discounts, and another 33% start by organizing their merchandise and product inventory. These are the right moves for building larger holiday efforts, as those two areas serve as cornerstones for creating an overall campaign calendar. This calendar, in turn, allows for additional planning and resources to better meet campaign-specific deadlines.

Positive Sentiment Directly Impacts Level of Preparedness

The finding that smaller online retailers not only feel excited about the holidays, but are also adequately prepared for them serves as a positive point within our analysis. But to dig a bit deeper, we wanted to know, are the two concepts linked? In other words, does an excited, focused merchant have a more holiday-ready online store?

2Level of preparednessAs of today, how prepared is your online store for the holiday shopping season?

Very Prepared - (15.7%)

Somewhat Prepared - (39.0%)

Starting to Prepare - (33.7%)

Not at All Prepared - (11.6%)

When preparations beginWhen do you start preparing your online store for the holiday season?

July - (9.0%)

August - (11.6%)

September - (37.6%)

October - (30.8%)

November - (11.0%)

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The answer is a resounding “yes.” In fact, a strong correlation exists between the optimism of an online business owner and their level of preparedness. Fifty-eight percent of those who responded as “Somewhat” to “Very Optimistic” are also “Somewhat” to “Very Prepared” for the holiday season. Additionally, 35% of optimistic merchants state they’re starting to prepare as of the end of September.

On the other hand, only 8% of optimistic merchants are “Not at All Prepared” for the holidays, compared to 29% of pessimistic merchants that have yet to start holiday planning.

There’s also a solid connection between the perceived level of holiday importance and how prepared merchants are for the season. In the case of those who say the holidays are important to them, 59% are “Somewhat” to “Very Prepared,” with an additional 31% starting to prepare as of the end of September. The main difference between optimism levels and perceived importance came from more apathetic merchants, with 20% of those who don’t see the holidays as important, declaring themselves “Not at All Prepared.”

These compelling connections between attitudes and preparedness mean one thing: for small-to medium-sized business owners, mindset drives action.

To reinforce this takeaway, let’s now examine how attitudes impact specific timeframes for holiday preparations. Remember that as a whole, the majority of smaller online merchants begin their holiday planning in September and October. But when you add positive attitudes to the mix, things get interesting—65% of those respondents who state the holidays are of importance and 63% who show optimism begin their preparations in September or even earlier.

In other words, frame of mind plays an extremely important role for smaller retailers as they formulate their holiday strategies. And with this level of positivity and preparation in tow, SMBs are taking the proper steps to achieve record-breaking sales numbers this year.

But, as we’ll now discuss, there are some daunting challenges that could serve as potential party crashers to this heightened state of holiday cheer.

Small Online Retailers Face Big Challenges this Holiday Season

Time and budget always come at a premium for small- and medium-sized businesses, but when the holidays arrive, a set of unique challenges are introduced. Beyond maintaining daily operations, smaller merchants must ramp up their staffing to address increased traffic, ensure they have adequate inventory to meet demand and work to aggressively market and promote their business in a noisy digital space.

Based on the number of priorities and issues smaller merchants must juggle, we asked, “What do you foresee as the biggest challenge facing your online business this holiday season?”

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The top three challenges, starting with the most prominent, are:

1. Defining the best marketing mix to reach new and existing customers

2. Competing against larger retailers, like Amazon

3. Determining a pricing strategy that remains competitive but protects profit margins

These challenges are understandable and all deeply connected, as smaller retailers have very limited brand awareness, meaning they must compete with big-box retailers to claim share of voice and gain exposure to even enter the consideration set of new and existing customers. Pair this with the notion of having to be comparable to Amazon on price, and anyone can see how these issues present a challenge for small retailers.

Steps to Addressing Top Challenges for SMBs during the Holidays

So what can a small business owner do to overcome these challenges? Consider this advice:

Defining the best marketing mix:

• Start by establishing a marketing budget and allocate those funds accordingly. Balance goals for customer retention and acquisition, then designate resources into the marketing channels that best meet those objectives.

• Focus on customer segmentation to enhance marketing campaigns, working to encourage existing customers to make another purchase. This highly effective approach can most easily and affordably be achieved through personalized email marketing efforts.

• Identify top-performing marketing channels and only invest in those—cut low-performing campaigns (such as low-converting keyword groups for paid search) and allocate budget toward efforts that deliver the highest conversions.

Competing against larger retailers like Amazon:

• Embrace the small business mentality to make a big impact by personalizing the customer experience. Use simple tactics like sending personalized “thank you” emails or including handwritten notes in order packaging. Shoppers are often looking to support a cause, including helping small and local businesses, so make it easy for them to feel good about their purchase.

Top challenges facing SMBs during the holiday seasonWhat do you foresee as the biggest challenge facing your online business this holiday season?

Competing against larger retailers - (25.0%)

Providing shoppers a mobile-friendly site - (9.0%)

Right balance of coupons and discounts - (6.4%)

Defining the best marketing mix - (28.1%)

Determining a balanced pricing strategy - (14.9%)

Meeting Customer Service demands - (7.5%)

Other - (9.2%)

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• Begin email marketing campaigns early and communicate regularly, focusing on existing customers first. Starting earlier rather than later reintroduces the brand to existing customers and helps place it back into their consideration set. As the holidays draw closer, increase email frequency to include personalized discounts and product recommendations to increase sales conversions.

Determining a competitive, yet profitable pricing strategy:

• Examine profit margins on an individual, per-product basis to help determine where prices can or can’t be cut. If one line of products has a large profit margin, it makes more sense to reduce prices there as opposed to a line with much smaller profitability.

• Contact suppliers to see if there are any cost savings or discounts available, whether it’s with inventory or shipping providers.

• Focus on boosting average order value to increase the amount of money customers spend with each transaction, using tactics like offering free shipping at a certain dollar amount or offering product accessories and related products to spur impulse buys.

With such steep challenges facing small business owners, which marketing tactics will they use to overcome them? Based on what’s indicated as their chosen marketing mix, the holiday season could be an uphill battle.

SMBs Choice of Marketing Mix Affirms Top Challenge, Doesn’t Align with Objectives

Knowing that the top two challenges facing small- and medium-sized business owners are determining the right marketing mix and competing with big-box retailers, how SMBs invest their marketing resources is paramount to overcoming these obstacles. In a crowded, noisy retail environment, the right selection of digital marketing channels provides the best opportunity to make the holiday season successful.

In addition to asking about top challenges, we also asked SMBs for their primary objectives during the holiday season, both in terms of retaining existing customers and acquiring new ones.

Fifty-two percent of respondents state they’re equally focused between retention and acquisition, while 40% of respondents note their primary goal is acquisition. This means that 92% of smaller retailers will be working to acquire new customers as part of their holiday strategy.

Although the desire to attract new customers is understandable, because it costs 6-7 times more to acquire a customer than to retain one, the viability of this objective comes into question when considering the tight budgets for SMBs.

Even more concerning are the preferred marketing channels for SMBs this holiday season,

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particularly in terms of how they align with their larger goal of customer acquisition. We asked respondents to rank the five marketing tactics in which they plan to place the most emphasis for the holidays.

Here are the results, starting with the most preferred marketing channel and ending with the channel given the lowest priority:

1. Social Media Marketing

2. Search Engine Optimization (SEO)

3. Email Marketing

4. Shopping Feeds/Comparison Shopping Engines (CSEs)

5. Paid Search/Pay-per Click Advertising (PPC)

Although SEO is considered an acquisition channel, the other top choices of social media and email marketing are channels both primarily designed for retention. Even more telling is the lack of emphasis on PPC and CSEs, which are far more effective in attracting new customers from competing websites, including big-box retailers.

Of those respondents who said their primary marketing focus is customer acquisition, only 45% are placing more marketing efforts in acquisition-based channels like SEO, PPC and CSEs, whereas 52% are primarily placing their resources in the retention-based channels of social media and email.

Based on this prioritization of marketing channels, it becomes clear that the marketing mix for smaller online retailers doesn’t always align with their goal of acquiring new customers.

The Reasons Behind the Misaligned Marketing Mix

With such a strong push to acquire customers this holiday season, why are small business owners opting for a marketing mix that doesn’t align with their objectives?

Most utilized marketing channelsIn which of the following channels do you plan to place the most marketing efforts?

Search Engine Optimization (SEO) - (24.2%)

Pay-per-click (PPC) - (9.7%)

Email Marketing - (23.6%)

Social Media Marketing - (34.5%)

Shopping Feeds/Comparison Shopping Engines - (4.2%)

Other - (3.7%)

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“

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Consider these points:

• Small budgets: Acquisition-based channels are notably more expensive, creating a barrier to entry for merchants with limited marketing dollars. Without this budget, placing keyword bids via PPC advertising, for example, becomes difficult, if not impossible.

• Limited time and knowledge: Not only do small business owners have limited budgets, they also have limited human resources. This means they likely don’t have the time to learn or execute more complex, acquisition-based campaigns via PPC or CSEs on their own.

So how can smaller retailers overcome these barriers to better align their marketing mix with the goal of attracting new customers?

• Reallocate marketing dollars: Find ways to adjust budgets to provide more spend into outsourcing PPC and/or CSE efforts to a third-party expert, like a marketing firm or services provider. Doing so will free up energy for merchants to focus on other holiday needs.

• Take a DIY approach: If reallocating budget for outsourcing marketing efforts isn’t an option, take a do-it-yourself approach by learning the basics of these channels and deploying campaigns independently.

One important channel we have yet to address holds the power to impact the holiday shopping experience more than anything we’ve seen before, and this theme especially resonates for SMBs: mobile matters.

Mobile Matters this Holiday Season, and SMBs Know It

IBM reports that for the full ecommerce industry, mobile site traffic reached 38.2% of all traffic in March of 2014, and predicts that mobile will account for approximately 20% of all ecommerce sales in November 2014. More specific to smaller businesses, Volusion merchants saw an impressive increase of 23% in mobile sales during Q2 2014 alone

Similarly, the shift of mobile usage hasn’t gone unnoticed by smaller retailers leading up to the holidays. When asked how significant mobile will be, 89% of respondents stated mobile will be “Somewhat” to “Very Important” to the success of their holiday season.

It becomes clear that the marketing mix for smaller online retailers doesn’t always align with their goal of acquiring new customers.

Importance of mobile to SMBs’ holiday seasonHow important is mobile (website, commerce, traffic) in terms of impacting the success of your holiday selling season?

Very Important - (34.3%)

Important - (28.6%)

Somewhat Important - (25.7%)

Not Very Important - (9.9%)

Not at All Important - (1.5%)

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In addition to retailers emphatically agreeing on the importance of mobile over the coming months, they also have a deeper recognition and understanding of varying consumer behavior across devices. As research shows, smartphones are primarily used for browsing and product research, whereas tablets are mostly utilized for in-depth product research and purchases. Desktops and laptops continue to be the most popular for product purchases, with over 80% of all sales through the Volusion platform coming from those devices during the first half of 2014.

In terms of how online shoppers will engage via mobile, 76% of SMBs see consumers using their mobile device for browsing or product research, with only 20% predicting that purchasing will be the primary mobile activity.

To best optimize their websites for mobile and convert more traffic, SMBs are advised to:

• Ensure their site is mobile-optimized or utilizes responsive design

• Focus on brand and design consistency across sites and devices

• Leverage email marketing campaigns with mobile commerce in mind

• Utilize analytics to identify traffic/conversion patterns that help frame a sound mobile strategy

With a focus on mobile, small online retailers are primed to connect with more shoppers on more devices—but how prepared are they to connect with shoppers on major shopping holidays like Black Friday and Cyber Monday?

The answer might surprise you.

SMBs Look Past Major Sales Holidays, View Season as Marathon Instead of Sprint

While consumers and the larger ecommerce industry place significant emphasis on the major selling days of Black Friday and Cyber Monday, smaller retailers have an interestingly calmer opinion of these days of mega-discounts and frantic shopping.

SMBs vision of audience engagement via mobileWhat is the primary way you see your audience engaging with their mobile device in terms of shopping this holiday season?

Product Research - (26.7%)

Browsing - (49.1%)

Leveraging push notifications/deals - (3.4%)

Purchasing - (19.6%)

Bookmarking - (1.2%)

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Overall, survey respondents feel blasé about Black Friday. When asked how important Black Friday is to the success of their overall holiday season, 66% deemed the day after Thanksgiving as “Not at All” to “Somewhat Important.” SMBs are only slightly keener on Cyber Monday than Black Friday, with 42% indicating that the Monday after Thanksgiving weekend is “Important” or “Very Important” to their holiday season.

This finding was initially surprising, as there is so much attention and enthusiasm surrounding Thanksgiving weekend. But for smaller businesses, there are additional variables involved that dampen the hoopla of Black Friday and Cyber Monday, including the following:

• Despite a continuing shift from in-store to online shopping, for online pure-plays, Black Friday is still seen as more of a physical retail phenomenon, meaning the holiday doesn’t impact them as much.

• Smaller marketing budgets hinder SMBs from making an impact when competing for share of voice with larger competitors on major selling days, as they’ll be outspent and overlooked in light of major retailers’ marketing efforts.

• SMBs face an uphill battle entering price competitions on Black Friday and Cyber Monday, as mega-retailers knowingly provide deep discounts that smaller retailers simply can’t offer in order to remain profitable.

Very Important - (15.6%)

Important - (18.4%)

Somewhat Important - (26.3%)

Not Very Important - (25.3%)

Not at All Important - (14.4%)

The importance of Black Friday How important do you see Black Friday in terms of impacting the success of this holiday selling season?

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The importance of Cyber Monday How important do you see Cyber Monday in terms of impacting the success of this holiday selling season?

Very Important - (21.0%)

Important - (21.3%)

Somewhat Important - (25.2%)

Not Very Important - (20.3%)

Not at All Important - (12.1%)

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For smaller online shops looking to capitalize on major shopping holidays like Black Friday and Cyber Monday, there are still several opportunities to make an impact, including:

• Focus heavily on driving repeat purchases by emailing existing customers, providing them with highly personalized discounts and promotions. It’s also encouraged to offer flash sales and limited time offers to encourage impulse buys on these big selling days.

• Look beyond Black Friday and Cyber Monday by extending promotions and marketing efforts earlier into Thanksgiving week, including campaigns specific to Thanksgiving Day. One idea is to offer exclusive “sneak preview” deals for Black Friday to keep current customers away from competitors.

• Offer additional value to avoid competing solely on price. For example, free gift wrapping or an extended warranty for certain items can help mitigate the impact of shoppers comparing the price tag of your products with those on another website.

The key insight derived from this finding is that Black Friday and Cyber Monday aren’t seen as “mission critical” to the holiday success of SMBs, and these retailers are savvy enough to look past the clamor and focus on the bigger picture of the holiday season. Smaller businesses are focused on running the holiday race as if it’s a marathon instead of a sprint – after all, slow and steady does win the race.

Smaller Merchants Stick to Holiday Basics, Leverage Free Shipping and Traditional Discounts

Just like they’re not placing too much emphasis on Black Friday and Cyber Monday, seasoned online retailers aren’t looking to get overly complicated with their holiday offers, instead opting to utilize basic, proven discounts and promotions.

Those who sold during the 2013 holiday season were asked which types of discounts served as most effective, with 48% responding that “limited time sales and discounts” drove the highest results, and “free shipping” coming in second at 39%. These same merchants were then asked which offers were least effective, with 40% saying that “free gift wrapping” was much less useful.

Naturally, even the highest converting coupons don’t mean much if online shoppers can’t make it to the checkout page, and smaller retailers are aware of this notion. In terms of optimizing conversions and improving the overall shopping experience, smaller merchants are again focusing on core tactics, including providing a clean design, simplifying the checkout process and offering shipping discounts.

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When asked what the most important strategy will be to ensure that customers complete their online purchases, 26% said they would focus on streamlining the checkout process, with shipping discounts ranking a close second at 23%.

Personalization is another tactic reported to help close more online sales, and although it’s not as prominent as free shipping or checkout optimization, 17% of respondents said they would retarget customers with personalized email campaigns, and another 15% plan to offer personalized promotions or discounts to attract customers back to their websites.

Online SMBs also understand the importance of instilling a sense of trust and security with shoppers, especially in light of several high-profile cyber security cases this year. To address potential security concerns and encourage additional conversions, online business owners are taking the “appearance is everything” approach, with 60% focusing on providing a professional-looking site design to instill trust and confidence this holiday season.

Overall, smaller online retailers are resisting gimmicky marketing and merchandising strategies, instead investing their precious time and dollars into the core essentials that build a successful ecommerce site.

Strategies to improve customer conversions What is the most important strategy you will implement to ensure customers complete their online purchases this holiday season?

11Streamlining the checkout process - (25.5%)

Retargeting shoppers with personalized emails - (17.5%)

Offering shipping discounts - (23.1%)

Providing personalized deals and offers - (15.1%)

Offering 24/7 customer assistance - (6.1%)

Clearly stated and flexible return policy - (8.9%)

Other - (3.9%)

Trust and confidenceWhat is the top strategy you will implement to instill trust and confidence with online shoppers this holiday shopping season?

Professional presence via web design - (59.4%)

Display security seals on ecommerce site - (22.5%)

Showcase real-time contact info - (13.4%)

Provide a clear privacy statement - (4.7%)

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Conclusion

As online SMBs embark upon the holiday selling season, there’s much opportunity available, including excellent conditions for continued ecommerce growth. Despite the challenges faced in determining the right marketing mix to compete with larger retailers, by sticking to the basics and focusing on customer experience, smaller retailers feel empowered to capitalize on this year’s growth potential, and are avidly preparing to make it happen.

Time will tell how the holidays will perform for small and medium business owners, but based on what we’ve heard from the front lines, signs look bright and cheery for retailers to achieve record-breaking success.

About Volusion

Volusion is the leading provider of ecommerce solutions and services for small and medium businesses. Used by over 40,000 merchants, the Volusion platform offers a complete shopping cart and fully-hosted website, along with effective marketing and merchandising tools for one affordable monthly rate. To learn more about Volusion and sign up for a free trial of its award-winning ecommerce platform, visit volusion.com.

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