As we all know, Christmas is the time of family gatherings, celebrations, eating and… shopping. And even though there’s still over a month till December 25, it’s high time you got ready for the flood of customers. A recent survey conducted by Liveperson shows that  the majority of shoppers will do their shopping in November, while 29% will do it already in October! And what’s even better, they’re feeling more optimistic this year, which may result in higher sales. How can your e-shop benefit from the Christmas shopping spree?

The times of traditional shopping will soon belong in the past. According to the survey, 63% of shoppers will buy presents online. What does that mean for you? Well, if you don’t have an online shop, set it up as soon as possible. If you do, make sure to provide your customers with all possible information and photos – after all, we all like to know what we’re paying for. What’s interesting, it is estimated that 65% of shoppers will use tablets instead of computers, so if you’ve been postponing making a tablet version of your site for later, maybe it’s wise to do it already now?

Each year social media is playing a bigger and bigger role in the e-commerce world. Nowadays, 70% of shoppers read reviews on Twitter, 75% use Facebook discounts and almost the same number is looking for inspiration on Pinterest. Conclusions? Get your business out there to the social media world! Interact with your clients on Twitter and Facebook, offer them special deals and advertise your products – especially if you sell clothing, electronics, toys or games, as these are the most popular gifts.

A slightly less common way of shopping that clients will rely on is mobile commerce. So just like in the case of table-customised websites, make sure that your e-shop fits even small screens of all popular phones. Implementing m-payments might be a little bit more troublesome especially that only one fourth of m-shoppers will actually buy something using their phones. However, assuming that these numbers are on the increase every year, sooner or later you’ll have to do it to be a competitive option for the clients, so why not do it already now?

To view the full infographic with more fun facts about holiday shopping, click here:

Mr Banks

Mr. Banks is actually a fictional character, but does some real work. This makes him PayLane's fictional employee of the year :)