Are you Ready for eDay?

'Tis the season when most retailers generate 20-40% of their annual eCommerce revenues and profits. Historically, analysts have touted "Cyber Monday," the Monday after Thanksgiving, as the highest traffic day for e-retailers. However, contrary to popular belief and based on actual 2005 data from its LIVEmark benchmarking service, Coremetrics advises its clients to expect their highest traffic day to actually be the following Monday, December 4, 2006. Coremetrics predicts that sales on this date, which it has coined "eDay," will be 19% higher than "Cyber Monday," and that 2006 overall holiday retail sales will increase 16% over last year's holiday season.

With December signaling the frenzied countdown to gift giving, Coremetrics suggests that online retailers take advantage of shoppers' behavior to drive the biggest return from their marketing efforts. Click here for useful tips for the holiday season.

To help e-tailers maximize bang for their buck this holiday shopping season, Coremetrics suggests the following tips:

Beginning on Cyber Monday, December 4, and continuing for two weeks (the week preceding and the week following eDay)

• Launch personalized email campaigns
• Increase paid search daily budgets and per-click bids
• Optimize shopping comparison site placements

One week after eDay, beginning December 11

• Continue the above activities
• Update messaging to create a sense of urgency
• Emphasize shopping prior to inventory limitations, high shipping costs or inability to deliver on time

Two weeks after eDay, beginning December 18

• Highlight the store finder, in-store pick up and in-store promotions to drive sales from last-minute shoppers
• Reduce your paid search daily budgets and click prices back to pre-holiday levels

Throughout the holiday season

• Promote top gifts by gender and price to help fulfill wishes for the hard-to-shop-for
• Highlight e-gift certificates, which make great last minute gifts for friends and family
• Engage in word of mouth holiday promotions and product reviews through social networks, consumer-generated reviews and blogs
• Ensure cross-channel consistency by marketing all products online—the web is key a research tool for holiday shopping