Global E-Commerce During the Holiday Season

For many Americans, the holiday shopping season officially starts about five minutes after Thanksgiving dinner has been cleaned up. It’s about this time that the annual holiday shopping bonanza Black Friday (and increasingly more on Thursday) starts and continues past Cyber Monday and right through to the end of the year.

Thanksgiving at the end of November may be an American holiday, but more and more global shoppers are utilizing the Internet to take advantage of these sales. While many of the major US e-commerce companies deck their halls with pictures of perfectly cooked turkeys and then beautifully wrapped presents, the people making the purchases may have no connection to any of these themes.

As the world becomes smaller and more connected, successful e-commerce companies realize this and position themselves to a global audience. As more shoppers are opening up to the idea of looking for bargains abroad, the opportunity is there for companies to reach out to these potential customers and bring in more business.

December still is the focal point of the online shopping year; however e-commerce businesses that pay attention to the global holidays should see that there are numerous other countries toward which they can market. Taking the time to recognize these can open your doors to millions of potential customers around the globe.

Muslims around the world are currently celebrating Eid al-Adha. With e-commerce sales in the Middle East seeing triple-digit growth over the past year, and countless brick-and-mortar stores offering deals to shoppers, e-commerce businesses are following suit by focusing on these consumers.

The Indian holiday of Diwali actually kicks off before Thanksgiving on November 3rd. A recent survey found that 83% of respondents said they were going to shop online for gifts this year. With at least 74 million Internet users, the potential audience is enormous.

January may seem like the time for New Year’s resolutions, but the Russian Orthodox Christmas falls on January 7th. With Internet accessibility seeing an incredible increase in Russia—causing consumers to buy more online—taking the time to design specific content for this audience could bring in tremendous rewards.

January will also be home to Chinese New Year in 2014. Chinese communities around the globe will be gearing up to celebrate on January 31st. With an estimated 193 million online shoppers spending an average of almost $1,000 USD online per year, the market is ripe for anyone who wants to pursue it.

These are just a sample of the global holidays of which retailers can take advantage by marketing to a targeted audience. While the end of the year may be the time to deck the halls in many parts of the world, there are large markets with huge customer bases that do not celebrate based on the Christian calendar. Any e-commerce business that takes the time to reach out to these markets opens the door to an extensive audience. Thoroughly research each holiday to ensure anything you put out would not be considered inappropriate or offensive to the audience, and make sure your site is set to handle those coming from all four corners of the earth.

via Business 2 Community http://www.business2community.com/online-marketing/global-e-commerce-holiday-season-0668991?utm_source=rss&utm_medium=rss&utm_campaign=global-e-commerce-holiday-season