Cyber Monday Sales Surge: Why Ecommerce is Winning

Cyber Monday Sales Surge: Why Ecommerce Is Winning

Cyber Monday sales have trumped Black Friday sales, highlighting the importance of having a professional ecommerce website.

Gone are the days of elbowing your way through swarms of shoppers while hunting for the best deals on Black Friday. Cyber Monday, the biggest online shopping day of the year, allows you to find amazing bargains and make purchases without leaving the comfort of your own home. Sales surged this Cyber Monday, while brick-and-mortar stores saw a decline in sales on Black Friday. According to IBM Digital Analytics Benchmark, online receipts rose 20.6% from Cyber Monday in 2012. comScore reported that Cyber Monday sales rose to $1.735 billion, a record for a single day.

Retailers catering to smartphone and tablet users benefitted greatly on Cyber Monday, as mobile traffic accounted for more than 30% of total site visits. In fact, more than 17% of shoppers placed their orders on their mobile devices. This is the first holiday season in which mobile devices have made such a significant mark on overall retail sales. IBM data shows that sales through mobile devices rose 55% from last year. Buying patterns reveal that tablets are more popular for making online purchases, while mobile phones are preferred for browsing. Many retailers also subsidize shipping over the holidays in order to encourage customers to make purchases online.

Meanwhile, physical retail stores have suffered their first spending decline on Black Friday weekend since 2009. ShopperTrak reported that traffic at stores on Black Friday fell 11.4% and revenue fell 13.2% compared with 2012. As online shopping continues to become easier, cheaper, and more efficient, a growing number of customers are turning to the web to get their shopping done. Traditional retailers will inevitably have to jump on the ecommerce bandwagon to stay relevant in consumers’ eyes.

Why You Need a Professional Ecommerce Website

It’s important to ramp up your online presence and ensure that your ecommerce website is equipped to serve as a lean, mean marketing machine during the holiday season and beyond. Ecommerce is a highly competitive field because all of your competitors are just a click away. If customers don’t like the way your site looks or works, all they have to do is go back to a search engine to find another site that sells similar products.

If you want to attract customers and increase sales, you need to ensure that your ecommerce website is as visually appealing and user-friendly as possible. It won’t matter if you offer great deals and amazing products if your website is unattractive or difficult to navigate. Here are some tips for improving your ecommerce website’s usability and performance as well as ensuring that the buying process is as quick and painless as possible:

• Security – Offer better shopping security to make shoppers feel confident when buying products on your ecommerce website. A trust certificate like VeriSign and an updated SSL certificate will build customer trust.
• Call-to-Action Buttons – Prominent call-to-action buttons improve your website’s usability and conversion rates. Carefully consider a button’s size, color, font, positioning, and wording to ensure that it stands out.
• Streamlined Checkout Process – One of the top areas where ecommerce stores lose business is in the checkout area. By simplifying your checkout procedure and condensing it into a single step, you can lower your ecommerce website’s shopping cart abandonment rate.  
• Allow Guest Users to Make Purchases – One thing customers hate is having to go through a long and tedious signup process just to make a purchase on your ecommerce website. By allowing guest users to make purchases without requiring them to register, you can increase sales and reduce cart abandonment.
• Visually Enticing Design - Aesthetics play an important role in the online shopping experience. A professional, well-thought-out ecommerce website design will help keep customers on your site longer and encourage shoppers to spread the word.

Need a Professional Ecommerce Website Design?

Drive sales and increase profitability by upgrading your online store with a professional ecommerce website design. Older ecommerce websites simply can’t compete with new ecommerce systems, which streamline administrative tasks and free you up to focus on running your business while offering a user-friendly experience for shoppers. Efelle Media’s ecommerce website design services may be just what you need to take your business to the next level in 2014. Call 206.384.4909 (toll-free: 866.396.7520) or fill out our online contact form to set up a free consultation with our ecommerce web design and online marketing experts!