5 Factors That Impact E-Commerce Sales This Holiday Season

Lutheran Brothers in Detroit, Michigan, understands the issues that e-commerce sellers face, not only around the holidays, but year-round. They want to explain 5 factors that impact e-commerce sales this holiday season.

If you have found your sales on a downward trajectory, you’re not alone. We realize that is a small comfort, but as warehouse professionals, we know there are a myriad of factors that are impacting your online sales.

5 Factors That Impact E-Commerce Sales This Holiday Season

There may still be time to course correct – if not for this holiday season, then for the new year’s sales you’re looking to generate.

1. Shipping rates are the number one expense many businesses face. Shoppers to your site may abandon their shopping cart and leave their purchases sitting if they see what they consider to be expensive shipping rates. Make sure you’re taking time to compare your rates with your competitors and research using different fulfillment centers or warehouse options for your order shipping.
2. Not offering the “guest checkout” option. Not everyone wants to set up an account to make a purchase from your e-commerce site. Offer the option to set up an account and another to let the shopper bypass that requirement. You may find fewer abandoned carts if you provide this.
3. How do your prices compare to other e-commerce or brick-and-mortar? You need to continually check pricing to thrive and compete. Convenience and home shipping might not account for what a shopper considers over-priced goods – no matter the convenience. If there’s no way you can lower your prices (and you may not want to be the “cheapest game in town”), you need to offer customer service that is better than your customers will ever find elsewhere.
4. How quickly does your website load, and how quickly does it change between pages? A slow load time (more than 4 seconds!) will cause shoppers to abandon their carts or not even browse your site. You also need to ensure your site is mobile-friendly and that a customer can easily order from their phone.
5. Pop-up offers can negatively impact a shopper’s experience. Unless you have an offer that is so incredible a shopper will move past annoyance and into shopping mode, avoid them. This is especially true if a pop-up offer pops up every time they switch pages or attempt to add an item to their cart. Solid banners are more effective and less of an annoyance to a shopper.

If you’re finding there are a lot of abandoned carts on your site, it might be worth it to reach out to those customers and ask why they didn’t complete the sale. You may want to sweeten the pot by offering an incentive to answer your email.

Relationship-building is as important as shopper experience and where you house your freight for shipping.

When you’re looking for secure, easy-to-access, quality, experienced storage professionals, contact Lutheran Brothers.

If you are looking for clean, secure and economical warehouse space to lease and operate your business in with your own personnel, look no further than Lutheran Brothers in Detroit, Michigan.