Many online retailers are currently beginning to experience the expected pre-Christmas rush, as we are all trying to buy gifts for family and friends. However it is important to stress that the Internet shopping spree is not likely to end with the start of the holidays - quite the opposite in fact.
Many e-commerce website owners who have been trading for a couple of years or more will confirm that the number of people visiting and buying from their websites goes up significantly on bank holidays, including Christmas.
The trend is pretty much the same as for high-street shops, which is fairly easy to understand. Days off are used by a lot of us to go shopping. With online retail booming a lot of us now decide to stay indoors and surf the web in search of products, which in the past we would have bought in actual shops.
It is therefore crucial that owners of e-commerce outlets pay as much attention after the 24th of December as they do now, during the run up to Christmas. Then many shoppers will not only have a lot of time on their hands, but also, most high-street outlets will be shut for at least a couple of days, making the web a place to go.
Firstly online retailers should make sure that they do not run out of stock just before the start of the holiday. The levels should ideally be high enough to withstand a spike in sales over the two-week holiday period.
Secondly, even if you are not able to send out any orders at Christmas, you can still make sure that they are ready to go out to the customer as soon as your delivery company is back at work.
Good preparation and anticipation can really pay off at such times and you could win or lose a lot of customers. You need to be ready to meet their demands; otherwise it is fair to assume that your competitors will reap the rewards.
You should have the same attitude towards any other bank holidays in countries in which you trade - these are the best times for any retailers - on or offline.
It could be tempting to just sit back and relax with everyone else, but you could lose out on many levels if you do that. Think about how busy the high-street gets on weekends - the same happens online, so be ready for it.