Free Shipping for Holidays

According to Internet Retailer, 92% of e-retailers are offering or plan to offer free shipping this holiday season (up from 85% last year).

This fall there is already a 10% increase in e-commerce traffic, leading the experts to believe that a healthy holiday shopping season is to come. I'll wait and see if that will be true. I think that many people are simply shopping early (I know I am) in an effort to spread out holiday expenses during this busy season.

74% of online consumers said that free shipping is the primary incentive to shop online (results of a holiday survey from consulting firm Accenture according to Internet Retailer). I know it's a driving factor for me. If I can get it to my door without extra costs, it saves me the time of driving to the store, as well as saving me gas money.

Look for e-retailers to begin promoting holiday offers as early as October 31; well before Thanksgiving! Heck, some of the big box stores have had Christmas decorations, toys and gifts out for weeks now.

Are you ready? If you're selling online, get your free shipping offer ready to roll.

Happy Holiday Sales :-D
Ciao for now, Paula

Propel Your Business

For the last week, I've been reading Launch, a new book by Michael Stelzner.

In it, Michael reminds us that our business is not about selling our products or services, it's connecting and building relationships with people.

He introduces something called the Elevation Principle and it goes like this:

Great Content + Other People - Marketing Messages = Growth

Michael encourages us to leave the "marketing message" out by creating opportunities for your business without selling or actively marketing.

You see, while technology is changing business at an alarmingly fast rate, people don't really change. They still want to trust a person and that trust leads to them doing business with you. Lay foundations for sustainable growth by deepening relationships with your customers.

"The book was crafted to help small business owners figure out how to respond to an ever changing world without performing the types of activities people hate to do (like selling)." -- Michael Stelzner


Read more about what this book is about and download Chapter 1 FREE.

Ciao for now, Paula