eCommerce for the Holidays

The Target Corporation released a beta website this week called Target Awesome Shop. This website is just that –awesome – with its stunning images and ease of navigation. The website is run by Pinterest, displaying the most popular items of that day. This makes for an easy way to find the deals and best value.

An image-friendly, easy-to-navigate website is what people want this holiday season. Many customers are turning to the internet to research the products they are interested in, and more often than not, to purchase these products online if the option is available.  You may have to spend a little in shipping fees, it does save you the gas to the store and the stressful rushing around from shop to shop looking for that specific item.

While I prefer the great cardio burn from going to the mall, I cannot disagree with the tack the online component of Target stores is taking. ECommerce is becoming more popular for everyday shopping and it’s the visuals that are making this possible. Target may be a multi-million dollar business with many resources on hand, but that doesn’t mean there aren’t reasonable ways to share images to get people excited about your product or service.

Suggestions for making products gift-worthy online:

• Create a Pinterest account. Curate your products and create boards with themes. Display items to show why it would be worth it to buy two or three of your products rather than one (Ex. An image that shows just how useful the case is to hold those top of the line drawing pencils).
• Create an Instagram account. Use photos and video clips to show the product/service in use.
• Utilise Twitter and Facebook to create special online promotions (Ex. free shipping on a $25 item if you share this link on your page and get 150 likes).
• Post how-to videos on your website so people can easily see how the product works.
• Have easy, understandable landing pages for purchasing.

One thing to remember about the social websites is to make sure they link back to your website where the customer can purchase the product. Incorporate your URL in posts often and create hashtags that include your company name. It’s the season of giving so give customers a reason to give your product!

Image attribution: FutUndBiedl