Thanksgiving should be a day to enjoy family, friends, and a bounty of good food. You can renew relationships, tune into the Macy’s Thanksgiving Day Parade or relax in front of a football game while your food digests. But for retailers, Thanksgiving may be a little less leisurely. This is not only because the day falls right before the shopping frenzy of Black Friday but also because more and more people are actually beginning their holiday shopping ventures on Thanksgiving Day itself. 

 

Retailers first began opening for business on Thanksgiving in 2013. WalMart, Macy’s, J.C. Penney, Target, Best Buy, and Kohl’s are among the stores that have jumped into the Thanksgiving Day fray. And while some people may not want to fight the shopping crowds on the Thanksgiving holiday, research shows that they are taking to the internet to make their purchases. Statista reports that in 2017, online Thanksgiving Day sales revenues amounted to 1.57 billion U.S. dollars, up from 1.28 billion in 2016. 

 

Fortunately, as an online seller, there are a number of things you can do in advance to get ready for Thanksgiving shoppers.   

 

Advertise your deals in advance. Establish a presence in customers’ minds by advertising your discounts in the weeks leading up to the holiday. You can do this through an email campaign or social media. Your campaign can guide customers’ shopping decisions and encourage them to shop with you first. 

 

Anticipate crowds. Expect an influx of people to buy your products on Thanksgiving Day and adjust your inventory accordingly. The last thing you want to do is run out of stock and make customers mad. You should also make sure that your product pages are fully optimized. This can help convert on-the-fence shoppers. 

 

Be mobile friendly. More shoppers than ever are making purchases on their tablets and phones. Make sure that your website is responsive and that your pages load quickly. Test it out on mobile devices.

 

Offer freebies. This may include a bonus product or free shipping. If the competition is offering free shipping and you aren’t, customers may jump ship.

 

Bring in abandoned carts. Many customers fill their online shopping carts, then abandon them. They may get cold feet or simply want to mill over their purchase before they seal the deal. Set up a system for sending emails to customers who have abandoned their carts. Invite them to come back and finish their purchases. 

 

If you prepare well in advance to convert Thanksgiving shoppers, you can enjoy your holiday while watching your online revenues soar. To learn more about growing your online business, attend Prosper Show’s Amazon seller event. You can network with top solution providers and hear from established leaders in the field of online selling.