The holiday brings out the giver in everyone. It’s the time where people are shopping for holiday presents or simply therapeutic shopping to recover from finals. Whatever the reason may be, this is the busy season for retail and can be for some service industries as well. Online shopping has been increasing steadily over the years and that definitely will not change anytime soon. Last year ecommerce sales grew by 15%. There is a huge incentive to get ahead of competitors by having the most user-friendly website.

Firstly, to increase ecommerce sales over this holiday season there are a few steps a company can take. There are some simple steps such as having a clear call of action for holiday offers to making these offers available through different online platforms. Most common platforms for holiday offers are emails and the company’s website, but depending on the product or company Twitter, Pinterest or Facebook may be applicable as well. Most of us are on our phones more than our laptops, so it is important not to forget to make the website mobile friendly since more people are taking to their phones to buy presents in order to avoid the mall madness that is commonplace in December.

Another interesting idea mentioned by Jonathan Long in his article was the use of exit-intent pop-ups. Pop-ups used in this way may be beneficial because it makes another obstacle for the customer to go through before leaving the website. Another ploy some companies use is emailing customers about items they left in their virtual shopping carts or items the customers have been looking at. This is a good example of ways customized emails can generate sales.

Lastly, I found this great article that analyzes 50 ecommerce websites and talks about what each of them does well. The scope, industry and target market of the websites analyzed vary quite a bit, so there was something to learn for everyone. Commonalities included bright, minimalistic designs that are easy to navigate. There was a lot of leveraging of images to connect with users. It was also recommended to have an engaging section about the company and its story because it’s a great opportunity to really make a connection with users as they get to know the people behind the product or service.

Check out this article for more ideas!