Make The Most Out of Summer

Summer represents prime time to crank out the sales on bathing suits, beach chairs and outdoor grills. But the savviest retailers are already preparing for the all-important holiday shopping season as well. Many are making the most of their summer by starting to personalize website content, product, promotions and advertising—areas crucial to enhancing the online shopping experience and engaging more consumers.

Building on the positive sales growth eked out of 2009, many retailers are looking to transform more of their store floor into a personalized desktop shopping experience to capture consumers who are increasingly willing to spend their dollars online, especially during the 2010 holidays.

The National Retail Federation (NRF) predicts a 2.5 percent pick-up in sales for the coming year. The 2009 holiday online shopping season certainly gave e-tailers growing confidence for 2010. Online retail saw four times the growth of the overall sector for the full November-December 2009 holiday period, with total retail e-commerce sales of $29.1 billion. The 2009 season also saw the first-ever shopping day to break the $900 million barrier, with $913 million in online sales logged on “Green Tuesday,” December 15.

Retailers, such as 4 Wheel Parts and American Apparel have come to recognize the importance of having an online storefront that leverages technology to improve merchandising, usability and content relevancy. However, e-tailers need to hone and improve these key areas now, well ahead of the 2010 holiday season. Quick and easy to implement, IP Intelligence technology will not only be able to help you successfully reach and engage the almighty holiday shopper, but will also help extend your sales efforts into a 365-day season.

Personalizing your website is a cool—and profitable—way to spend the remaining “Dog Days” of summer.