21 October 2000

Christmas Re-launch Season Arrives

As the first of the UK on-line pet retailers begin to gear up for Christmas with sparkling new promotions to replace the usual fare on their virtual shelves, the industry is viewing this as the season of make or break for many hard pressed dot.coms. Whilst it is still a little early for the onslaught of seasonal TV advertising campaigns, online merchants need to make their case between now and mid-November before traditional stores get into full swing, drowning out the pc and the internet. Even so, it is only the third Saturday in October but already the muli-storey car parks are heading towards capacity. And possibly the most important message that e-tailers need to get across if they are going to persuade cynical, cold pinched, shoppers in from the overcrowded, slush covered city centre streets, is that they can deliver the goods, the right goods, in good time. As an on-line shopper I also want my presents pre-wrapped and sent to the right place, not to me, Parcel Force already make enough money out of me without my having to pay them twice over. The first of the UK pet retail sites to remind us that Christmas is here is Petspyjamas which is in the process of setting up an Xmas specials web-page. Petspark have also made a move offering 'double Webrewards' points on Christmas gifts. But it is not just gifts departments that on-line pet retailers need to keep an eye on. When the queues at the local supermarket begin to wear shoppers down, it looks likely that a whole raft of new shoppers are going to take the plunge and buy on-line for the first time as - convenience outweighs fear of fraud and delivery charges. Grocery shopping over the internet is taking off fast, with figures from Tesco.com showing that it has signed up 750,000 customers and delivered its millionth order. And it is no longer just a pilot operation available from a few supermarkets; Tesco says it now covers 90% of the UK, a level not seen anywhere else in the world. As an on-line retailer you are going to have to make the most of this opportunity to net the newbies on their first run up the harbour wall. Make sure that your internet presence is up to scratch, have you got all of the key search engines covered, all of the shopping sites and portals? Where do you appear when you type 'pet shops' into altavista.com? (Try clicking it - we've preloaded the link to do the search for you) Yes.. the results are surprising aren't they. So the Christmas message to e-tailers so far this year is.. Leave your designers to squabble over where to hang the mistletoe in your seasonal re-launch. When you're not on-line checking your listings, spend your time reviewing your contract with your national carrier. Oh, and get those trestle tables up ready for the Christmas wrapping temps to get to work on those Kongs and stocking fillers. Copyright 2000 Steve O'Malley (UKPets). This article may be reproduced with permission of the author and correct attribution to the source.