The pundits are cautiously optimistic about this years holiday season. The Wall Street Journal is reporting that it will be a better holiday season though still not great. The accounting firm Deloitte issued a forecast saying it expects holiday sales be flat in 2009 well at least it is not down like last year.
The message over and over again is that people are looking for price, value and convenience. Deep discount big box stores such as Wal-Mart and low end stores such as Dollar Tree are doing well against higher end stores such as Macys and Sears in the U.S.1 However, during the holiday season, people tend to break out of their austerity mode at least a little bit so there is hope for some gains in sales. You should be ready to take advantage of that seasonal volume.

Shopping Security
Having a secure website eases customers fears about ordering from your site and it gives you an advantage over retailers who pay less attention to this important issue. This year, in addition to double checking your security measures, why not post a notice on your site explain to customers just how seriously you take their security and privacy concerns. In fact, it is probably a good idea to educate consumers about how you have secured your site as many people do not know about how online security works.

Comparison Shopping
The research is clearly showing that people like to compare products and read customer reviews. Add these features to your website to provide the kind of information that your customers are looking for.

Be clear about stock outs
It is infuriating to decide to buy something, put it in your cart, get all the way to checkout and then discover that it is not available. In fact, there are even some retailers who do not let their customers know about availability until after checkout is completed sometimes not until the shipment is sent from the warehouse with items missing. That is a good way to make a buyer crazy during the holiday season.

In Time for Christmas
Post clear notices on your site about deadlines for orders getting to the postmarked address before or on December 24th. This is critical information for gift buyers.

Wish List
Establish a wish list. This feature allows your customer to daydream on your site and make a wanted items list. It is perfect. You get insight into what people want and then you encourage your daydreamers to forward the site link to those who might buy for them, giving you a whole new team of marketers.

Make Checkout Easy
Establish breadcrumb navigation so that your customer can get back to any earlier part of the process.

Multiple Location Shipping
It is the holidays so people are buying for more than one household. Make it possible to ship to more than one location in one transaction then play up your advantage in your advertising it is a definite perk for your customers.

Returns
People are more likely to buy when they know they can return something they do not like easily.

The holiday season looks like it will at least be better than last year so be sure you are ready to sell.