Posted by Jim Berkowitz

Is your company ready for the online holiday rush?  Here is a summary of several issues to consider that appeared in a recent article by Cindy Waxer for InsideCRM, Ho-Ho-Hold on to Your Customers:

With the number of online retail sales expected to grow to a whopping $271.6 billion by the year 2011, companies simply can’t afford to fall out of favor with their Web shoppers. Here’s what businesses need to bear in mind as they strive to keep their customers happy during the holiday crunch:

Manage your inventory. “Adequate inventory is something e-tailers can have difficulties with if they experience a spike in demand,” warned Michelle Warren, a senior research analyst with Info-Tech Research Group.

Keep tabs on your technology. Unanticipated spikes in online traffic can send an e-tailer’s servers crashing — and Web shoppers running elsewhere. For this reason, Warren advised to “consider working with your solution provider to ensure that you have the right amount of technology in place.”

Reach out to consumers. With an increasing number of retailers taking their wares to the Web, companies must reach out to consumers as the holiday season approaches. Marketing initiatives from email blasts to direct-mail campaigns remind shoppers of a company’s online presence and can help drive traffic to a Web site.

Enhance customer support. With more online transactions taking place, more questions and concerns from consumers are likely to arise. E-tailers can prepare themselves by bolstering their customer-support channels. A seasonally-augmented contact center for example, can ensure customers’ queries are addressed within a reasonable amount of time.

Hold off on experimenting. If there’s one thing experts can’t seem to agree on, it’s whether or not companies should introduce brand-new CRM capabilities during the holiday rush. “That’s a big debate,” Warren said. “There’s a whole line of thinking that Christmas is the ideal time to test out new technology, but there’s another line of thought that says test it out when it’s not so busy.” Warren recommended companies err on the side of caution and hold off on deploying that new “live chat” feature, for example, until customer demands have tapered off. If, however, the temptation is too hard to resist, be sure to thoroughly investigate the difficulties that can arise.

Prepare for returns. Christmas festivities are only the beginning of the holiday crunch for today’s e-tailers. After all those orders have been placed and packages shipped, e-tailers should be prepared for a steady flow of product returns.

With the right precautionary measures and technologies in place, e-tailers can secure a permanent spot on Web shoppers’ “nice” — rather than “naughty” — lists.

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This entry was posted on Wednesday, December 17th, 2008 at 9:31 am and is filed under Uncategorized. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.

About the Author: Jim Berkowitz is a seasoned executive with more than 30 years of professional services and project management experience related to Customer Relationship Management (CRM) and Financial Management (Accounting & ERP) software solutions for small, mid-sized and Fortune 500 companies. As a Sales Force Automation and CRM Consultant, Jim has assisted more then 100 companies with the design and implementation of custom CRM solutions.Mr. Berkowitz is the founder and President of CRM Mastery, Inc.; a company dedicated to serving small and mid-sized enterprises (SMEs) by offering affordable tools and guidance to help them plan for and succeed with their CRM initiatives.