overstockArt.com Announces Top 10 Tips to Prepare E-Retailers for the Holiday Rush

Wichita, KS, October 27, 2010 --(PR.com)-- With The National Retail Federation expecting e-commerce sales in the U.S. to rise by 15% this year, e-retailers of all sizes are getting ready for the quickly approaching holiday rush. Co-founder and CEO of the successful online gallery, overstockArt.com, David Sasson, knows that the best way to take advantage of the holiday sales spike is to put a plan into place in advance.

Being well-prepared for the robust holiday selling season has allowed overstockArt.com to experience better than expected holiday sales in recent years, especially during the 2009 holiday season. The company’s top-line growth rate for December 2009 alone totaled 75%. “Our success is indicative of our competitive advantages in the field,” said Sasson. “We focus on serving the two groups that provide us with the best returns - our customers and our employees. By effectively creating and implementing a holiday sales plan we are able to please our customers and employees and continue to grow aggressively and profitably.”

Sasson typically begins employing his holiday sales plan in August and September. Retailers that are off to a late start still have plenty they can do to maximize on the biggest sales season of the year. Sasson’s Top 10 holiday sales tips are:

1. Plan a code-freeze on website improvements in November and December.

2. Have a brain storming session with key individuals in your company. Discuss what worked and what didn’t work in previous holiday seasons. Discuss other ideas they might have from other experiences.

3. Plan for inventory availability. Either make sure vendors are committing to hold stock for you, or provide solid inventory forecasting plans to vendors so that you don’t run out of the bestselling products.

4. Make sure you have an escalation plan for marketing.

5. Operationally, make sure that your facility is ready for the increase in inventory coming in and in shipments going out. Make sure that you have the personnel and the systems ready to handle the increase in volume.

6. Establish shipping cut off dates early. This will help your organization to prepare.

7. Plan for the increase in phone orders and customer service questions. You can’t just hire additional reps in November and expect them to be knowledgeable in your business. Allow time for proper training.

8. The holiday is about gift giving so you must make sure you have an attractive, easy to use gift center.

9. Take a fresh look at your website. Take a quiet hour and visit your website as if you are customer coming to purchase a product. Make your best attempt to think like a customer so that you can find the pitfalls in your website.

10. Last but not least, we all dislike returns but they are a necessary part of most retail businesses. Doing an extended return policy will help your customers shop with confidence early since they will know that they’ll be able to return the product after the holidays as well. If you can offer free return shipping that will also encourage gift givers.

By employing a sales plan for overstockArt.com that incorporates the tips above, Sasson expects to see an increase in holiday sales again this year. He feels confident that other e-retailers who plan in advance can also achieve holiday sales success.

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