Attention online vendors! You may be feeling a little tired from the hectic Christmas e-commerce rush, but the second largest retailing event of the year is just around the corner and we know you wouldn’t laze around and let this cupidsend cash generating opportunity go without fruition. So are you prepared for the new rush?

According to common observation, most men tend to procrastinate Valentine’s Day shopping till the last moments. But being a vendor you can’t adopt a similar “delay” approach when it comes to taking measures to drive your Valentine’s Day sales. It’s highly probable that while you’re reading this article, your e-commerce competitors have already started strategizing to get the better of you this Valentine’s. But luckily, the water is still just knee-deep for you and thank us for saving you from potential drowning.

And here’s where the next big question pops up: What to do to boost your Valentine’s Day sales? The answer would be simple but manifold, based largely on common sense. All you have to do is make sure that your e-commerce website, or call it e-store if you prefer, is perfectly ready to meet the needs of the event and so of the global lovebirds. Get your graphic designer to make necessary (and temporary) design enhancements to give your site a Valentine’s Day look. Ask your copywriters to create new and effective calls to action that boost sales. Bring the event-related products - perhaps flowers, chocolates, perfumes, gadgets, lingerie, jewelry, cards, gift baskets etc. - to your home page. And last but not the least, double check your inventory to make sure that the items are in full supply.

So instead of putting up your feet for a well-deserved long break, get back on them and make some quick and effective moves to attract Valentine’s Day customers to your site. Here’s a brief and simple step-by-step “action plan” to help drive sales to your e-commerce website.

Step 1. De-Christmas-ize

Yes. Chances are that all those Christmas themes and Santa Claus stuff are still decorated on your site because the season rush left you too tired to care about neutralizing your site’s look and reverting it to the original. Well, now it’s time to change your e-store theme and ads.

Step 2. Appear Valentine-ish

Add hearts, cupids, and popular Valentine gift images to the new theme of the site. Adopting a Valentine theme now will send a nudge to your customers reminding them that the 14th of February is just around the corner and they should be prepared for shopping for their sweethearts.

Step 3. Replenish Valentine Merchandise

Make sure you have all the right sort of event-related items. Flower bouquets, perfumes, candy, plush toys, lingerie and other such top selling Valentine’s Day items. One thing to remember is that most of your customers will be male. So put yourself into their shoes and contemplate what you would buy for your significant other. Only for this event, hide the freezing weather and with it the modest, high necked, flannel Granny nightgowns behind the curtain and bring the hot and see-through to the front.

Step 4. Bestsellers on Homepage

If you’ve been in the e-commerce industry for some years now, you must know what the traditional bestselling Valentine’s Day merchandise is. Conventionally, flowers, jewelry and confectionary top the Valentine’s Day bestsellers.

But don’t worry if you’re not a florist, jeweler or confectioner. Just show some creativity and you can still leverage the lovers’ day hoopla. With the help of your graphic designer and copywriter, you can easily give a romantic tinge to whatever you sell online. Use of lots of red, pink and purple, and crafting romantic messages around your product line can really work wonders for your Valentine’s Day sales.

Step 5. Enhance Your E-commerce Usability

Make sure that your site delivers the best user experience possible. Webcredible, a UK based user experience research and design firm, analyzed the websites of 20 of the UK’s leading online Valentine’s Day retailers and devised 20 essential usability guidelines that all e-commerce websites should adhere to. The guidelines are listed below:

General

1. Search function is in the same place on every page and is highly visible
2. A link to both the basket and checkout is clearly visible on every page
3. Price is always clearly displayed next to any product
4. Users are given help in choosing products
5. Visited links to products change color

Search Results

6. Number of results and search term are clearly displayed at the top
7. Option to change the number of products displayed is provided
8. Sort and filter options are available

Browsing

9. Product categories are provided and clearly visible on the homepage
10. Orientation cues are provided
11. Navigation within a category is possible

Product Page

12. Highly visible ‘Add to Basket’ button provided
13. Product description and enlargeable image offered
14. Similar and complementary products available

Basket

15. Highly visible ‘Proceed to Checkout’ button at the top and bottom

Checkout

16. The same form is used for both logging in and registering
17. Highly visible progress indicator provided during checkout
18. Delivery costs are highlighted at the very beginning of the progress
19. Users are provided with sufficient help when an error is made
20. Summary page is used and clearly shows the purchase hasn’t been made

Enhancing your e-commerce site’s usability may not sound like a quick fix and you might need highly professional help for this. Traffic, a leading Online Media Solutions provider can not only help you enhance your site’s usability fast, but also build you your personal e-store if you don’t have one. With Traffic’s e-commerce implementation service you can have a great online store to be able to sell your products online and watch your business soar, and give your customers a highly improved user experience by getting the usability of your existing e-store enhanced.

So act wise and take the necessary steps without further ado if you really want to see your online sales shoot up this Valentine’s. We know you do want to.