Have you seen the headlines about the sales results from Black Friday? And Cyber Monday?
Although the numbers conflict based on which stores the analysts were counting, each of these reports all show Online ecommerce sales increases year over year surpassing Instore by quite a bit on Black Friday:
- Black Friday store spending edges up; online soars Online retail sales for Black Friday were up 35%; compared to only 3% at store level.
- November, Black Friday, Cyber Monday Same Store Sales Black Friday Same Store Sales (2009 to 2008) ChannelAdvisor over-all (3000 online ecommerce stores) - 18% Stand outs: Amazon - 73% eBay - -8%
- Black Friday E-Commerce Sales Jump 11% “Black Friday, better known as a shopping bonanza in brick-and-mortar retail stores, is increasingly becoming one of the landmark days in the online holiday shopping world,” comScore Chairman Gian Fulgoni said in a statement.
Cyber Monday:
Similarly, Cyber Monday 2009 was up over Cyber Monday 2008.
Coremetrics BenchmarkTM Cyber Monday Report 2009 “Cyber Monday continued the momentum set by Black Friday. Sales were up 24.1 percent compared to Black Friday 2009. Sales were up 13.7 percent compared to Cyber Monday 2008.”
November, Black Friday, Cyber Monday Same Store Sales Cyber Monday Same Store Sales (SSS 2009 to 2008): ChannelAdvisor over-all - 13%
Amazon - 70% and eBay - -7%
So where should you invest your marketing dollars? Fix your website. Even if you’re not selling at retail to consumers, but your company is b-b selling to other companies, online sales are here to stay. No one is looking in the big green Thomas Registry books anymore to find a supplier. No one is going to the Yellow Pages telephone directories anymore to find their vendors. And thank goodness. Their fees were pretty steep!
People go to Google or Bing or Yahoo. And they typically click on the results from the first page. Companies who are looking for goods and services are made up of people as well.
Now, they may ask their friends, right? But instead of picking up the phone or asking over coffee/beer at a trade association, they’ll send a direct tweet to a few select, trusted friends. “Who do you use?”
Or they will maybe shoot an email to their business friend. But you better believe, the answer coming back will have a www.???.com in it.
So, now is the time to fix your website. Update your SEO. Refresh your contact page. Spruce up your Twitter page (Google indexes it!)
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Try buying and selling on sellbits.com a great new site…
I would also add that while you are fixing your website, fix your online content. The words that you use reflect your values as well as your expertise. Offer stellar information. Do not fear offering free information, as this is a way for people to learn to trust you and the value of what you offer.
Cheers!
Kathleen
I think that the choice given to you online is much more that in store. Also along with it the fact is that the rules of return remain the same and what you shop a lot you shipping to gets free. so overall you got nothing to loose. Also you could use your credit card so you are not even shelling out your cash at the very moment.