By now, you probably have your Black Friday/Cyber Monday plan down to a science: rigorously test your website months before those peak shopping days; regroup with IT team to assess the health of your website; and determine places where bottlenecks could occur. But have you even given a second thought to Green Monday?
Here are three things you need to know about Green Monday—the second Monday in December—to prepare for next year:
- Your Competitors Are Prepared: There’s no breathing easy following Black Friday and Cyber Monday as more and more consumers are taking advantage of this mega retail day, Green Monday. Accordingly, many companies offered similar deals on Green Monday this year as they did on Cyber Monday. Amazon, for example, offered 20 percent off a selection of Kindle e-readers and Kindle Fire tablets, while Walmart offered low prices on a selection of electronics and toys, including Zoomer the robotic dog, a BouncePro 14-foot trampoline, and KidKraft Mejestic Mansion. Everyone from the biggest named companies to the smallest of online retailers are getting more competitive in December.
- Sales Are Up: This year, Green Monday reached $1.4 billion in online spending, up 10 percent a year ago and representing the third-heaviest online spending day of the holiday season-to-date, according to data aggregated by comScore. Moreover, sales between Thanksgiving and Christmas were up as a whole indicating that the trend of shopping after Thanksgiving will only continue.
- Your Website is Still at Risk: While e-commerce companies used to take comfort in knowing that their peak days were Black Friday, Cyber Monday and Christmas Eve, today’s online shopping platforms have to ensure the uptime of their website throughout the year but especially when they know traffic will spike. There is a lot of money for these companies to leave on the table if their websites fail and therefore it’s imperative to keep a steady eye on uptime and availability during Green Monday.
Now is the perfect time to gear your e-retail platform up for the impending 2014 holiday season.
