For the past five years, Cyber Monday has been the biggest online spending day of the year, with Black Friday coming in a close second. Since 2006, global online sales on Cyber Monday have increased by 20% yearly on average, and in 2014 the sales record was broken – yet again – with $2.68 billion spent worldwide.

Any predictions for 2015? You can bet that it’s going to be another record-breaking year, and we’re here to help you get a piece of the action. So a few tips on how you can make personal history and break your own sales records:

Give Buyers a Discount Deadline

Decide on discounts, and make some only available for 24 hours on Cyber Monday, or for an hour on Black Friday, or until midnight. This will create a sense of urgency, encourage shopping and increase sales. A great example for the success of “limited-time shopping” is Groupon. They built their entire business around 24-hour discounts.

Consider Free Shipping

In a 2014 study, shoppers voted free shipping as their number one priority when buying online, beating out all other options at a staggering 81%. If you haven’t done so already, consider offering free shipping together with your Cyber Monday deals, and advertise your free shipping offers. A great way to tackle your shipping needs and at the same time gain credibility is through Fulfillment by Amazon.

Prepare for Global Sales

Don’t assume Cyber Monday and Black Friday are just about the American post-Thanksgiving holiday shoppers, rather also UK and other European Amazon marketplaces are part of the rush. On Cyber Monday 2014, more than 16 million units were ordered worldwide from Amazon sellers.

Send Themed Email

Start sending special discounts, gift certificates, special offers, coupons, etc. themed exclusively around Cyber Monday and Black Friday. However, be sure your emails will stand out. A good example of a successful email campaign was from Loft, with a short subject line that simply read “OMG!”, which will definitely pique a person’s interest. After opening the email, it simply read “This is Huge”, in really tiny letters. First, humor is always a good way to go. Second, such a statement will raise curiosity and bring people to click on the link to see what the fuss is all about.

Quality Service & Speed of Delivery

On Black Friday and Cyber Monday people are actively shopping, not just casually browsing. If they can’t find the answer right away, they’ll move on to another store. So be sure to put emphasis on your customer service during this period, maybe even bring in some additional help. And of course – make sure your merchandise actually arrives on time for the holidays! In 2013, Amazon offered $20 gift cards and refunds on shopping charges to customers after undergoing delivery problems. How can you be certain this won’t happen to you? Be prepared for last minute shoppers, and make sure to only promise delivery deadlines that you can meet.

For more information on how to plan, build and execute your entire marketplace seller strategy, download the Marketplace Sellers Guide.

Need fast, low-cost payments from international marketplaces like Amazon, Lazada, or Wish? Sign up for Payoneer – it’s free!

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“A picture is worth a thousand words” – or in the case of e-tailing, a thousand sales.

Back in the mid-90s, plenty of people were ready to write off Amazon and other online retailers on the basis that people simply wouldn’t buy without touching the merchandise first. Almost 20 years on, with global B2C ecommerce sales expected to increase 5.7% year over year, reaching $885.70 billion in 2015, we can safely say that consumers can live without examining the merchandise in person!

One of the major factors that help potential buyers to make that leap of faith is the product image. Below are a few crucial tips to ensure your product images convert better. For more information on how to plan, build and execute your entire marketplace seller strategy, download the Marketplace Sellers Guide.

Quality

Your main image must be super sharp. You may think that you don’t have too much room to shine as Amazon, for example, are pretty strict in their style guidelines – pure white background and the products filling 85%+ of the frame. You want your images to be rich and clear so that the buyer feels that they know the product intimately. There’s no greater turn-off for an interested buyer than a grainy product image. Amazon recommends that your images be 500×500 pixels. Make sure that you adhere to the photo guidelines created by the marketplace that you are selling on.

Size

Don’t get carried away by uploading huge images. A famous study by Amazon found that every 100ms delay in page load time led to a 1% loss in sales. Intuit similarly found that each 1 second improvement in page load times yielded a 3% increase in conversion. Online shoppers lack patience so don’t keep them waiting! If your images are too large, do a quick Google search for image resize tools and optimize your images accordingly.

Video

Among your “other view” images, consider introducing a video. There is no better way to showcase a product than displaying it from all angles and in actual use. The Oxo brand is a great example of how to bring products to life with engaging video.

Graphics

On Amazon, you have freedom to do cool stuff with your “other view” images. Most etailers let this opportunity pass by not taking advantage of the flexibility. Text and demonstrative graphics are allowed, so use them! Spigen’s iPhone 6 cases do this brilliantly, empowering their images to engage buyers with their key features and messages.

Backgrounds

If you take your own photos, you must have a decent camera and a tripod so you can shoot steady. In many cases you must have a white background but with Amazon your “other view” images can have any background so consider alternatives.

Multiple Angles

Most products have more than one dimension so make use of your other images to show the product from all angles. If your product is one that people typically hold or wear, include images of it in action. With multiple variations, make sure that every child item also has an image such as this Nike Polo Shirt and that they are identical in style.

Need fast, low-cost payments from international marketplaces like Amazon, Lazada, or Wish? Sign up for Payoneer – it’s free!

>>Sign Up Now!

The holiday season is already in full swing, but as an e-tailer it’s never too late to take advantage of hot items and best sellers. While preparing for Black Friday and Cyber Monday is important, and leveraging images is a great way to attract the attention of potential buyers, making sure to include these 5 items is a sure-fire way to increase your end-of-year sales:

1. Frozen

The name may be cold, but the merchandise is definitely hot. Ranging from toys and games to clothing and accessories, just about anything related to this fifth-highest grossing film of all time is sure to sell.

If you don’t have the proper license to sell Frozen merchandise, you can still ride the wave and benefit from the film’s amazing popularity. In fact, not everyone can afford official Frozen gear, and products with a similar winter theme sold at a lower price point are sure to gain the attention of global buyers.

2. Tablet Accessories

We all heard about the iPhone 6 and 6 Plus breaking global sales records, but Apple wasn’t the only one to benefit from their latest tech innovation. Also setting a new record this year was the sale of phone accessories, totaling
almost $250 million in just two weeks following the new iPhone launch!

With the introduction of the market’s latest “phablet”, the iPhone 6 Plus, and other top selling tablets, such as the Kindle Fire, Google Nexus, and Samsung Galaxy Tab, accessory sales for tablets this holiday season is on pace to shatter previous records. In fact, a recent study by Gartner estimated that tablet sales will surpass PC sales in 2015, resulting in two things: 1, proving the great Steve Jobs was right, and 2, putting more money in the pockets of e-tailers selling tablet accessories!

3. Art and Creativity Items

While electronics still come at the top of most holiday wish lists, there are many other categories of top selling items that you can focus on to sell big. In 2013 everyone was shocked when the #1 Home item was a deluxe art set. The growing popularity of sites like Etsy, which promote creativity and artistic expression, added to the increased use of crowdfunding sites like Kickstarter and Indiegogo, which fuel innovation, are causing parents around the world to invest in creative and artistic tools for their children. Look for this trend to continue throughout 2014, and leverage that trend by adding relevant items to your sales inventory.

4. Toys

Major retailers such as Toys R Us, Mattel, and Wal-Mart are seeing a decline in revenue from toys. In fact, in 2013 sales dropped 1%. That being said, overall toy sales in 2013 were still $22.1 billion, so there’s definitely still a large demand for toys, especially during the holiday season.

One of the main reasons retailers note this drop in sales is competitive pricing from online competition such as Amazon. As an e-tailer you can certainly take advantage of this and snag up some of that $22.1 billion.

This year Wal-Mart ran many case studies, including testing over 80 toys on children ages 18 months to 2 years, and came up with these 5 toy trends for the 2014 holiday season. Popular toys on the list included scooters and ride-on toys, Sew Cool’s “Spin Master” sewing machine, and classic brands that are making a comeback such as Barbie and Hot Wheels.

5. Wild Card: Wi-Fi Toys and Children’s Items

My wild card pick for top sellers this holiday season is “smart” toys and children’s items. While in years past technology may not have been a top interest for younger children, it’s not uncommon today to see a child using a smart
phone or tablet. In fact, not only are they using technology, but some studies show that kids are able to use smartphones before even learning to write their names and tie their shoes.

This increased use of technology by younger children, and huge popularity of toys and dolls, suggests that items succeeding in combining the two may lead to huge sales this holiday season. Interactive pets, robots, and drones/mini-drones are just some examples of popular items that fill this category (such as the Teksta robotic puppy that sold out completely during the 2013 holiday season).

The holiday season may be a few months away, but for professionals in the world of e-tailing it starts now. Preparing inventory, identifying the top selling items, leveraging social media, and preparing for Cyber Monday are just a few things that need to be planned out now in order to take advantage of the holiday rush.

Whether you’re an experienced e-tailer or just getting started, you’ll want to make sure to leverage every resource in order to optimize your earnings this year. To help you do that, we’re excited to announce the Essential Holiday Guide – 12 Top Tips for Online Sellers 2014!

Throughout the months of October and November we’ll be providing you with essential e-tailing tips that will guarantee to improve your business and help you take advantage of the many opportunities for e-tailers in 2014.

In the 2013 holiday season, an incredible $25.6 Billion of merchandise was sold on Amazon alone, and that’s not to mention the many other ecommerce giants around the world. With the addition of several newcomers to the ecommerce arena, 2014 is set to break global records in online sales.

Read more and view the first tip of 2014: “6 Ways to Make Your Product Images Sell More”