Calm before the storm?

pre-holiday slumps

[ItsAllBallBearings]

So, this is the first year I will be 100% online during the holiday season. I've always had a brick/mortar to go along with it and therefore my attention and time was split between the two.

With that said, we had a very strong Sept and early Oct, but things seemed to have quieted down recently. I'm wondering if anyone else notices a slight slump right before the busy holiday season of Mid Nov through Dec? Or is it just one of those dips in the roller coaster ride?

NOTE: i'm not panicking or posting one of those "is anyone else slow" threads. I am just wondering if this is a legitimate theory for e-commerce?

TIA

[bekyed]

Yes it is.
We have been online for over 7 years and it tends to pick up around the middle of november for us, and then you get the xmas panick in December.
I guess it also depends what you are selling too.
Ours is a luxury.

Bek.

[hasanybodyseenjc]

Yeah, late Oct and early Nov tend to be slow, we've seen this for over three years. Get ready for the holidays though

[ItsAllBallBearings]

Thanks. Guess online is a bit different than brck/mortar in that regard since we always just had a steady ramp up to the holidays.

Maybe next year i'll offer a coupon for October to pump up sales.

Thanks again

[hellraiser1]

hi
how is your traffic during this time?
i ask because last year and the year before i noticed a great increase in traffic from oct 20th to nov 10 or so, but little people were buying. as far as shopping ppc sites were, i would spend the most money in early november for clicks that lead to no sales........BUT it seems as the people browsing now know to return when they actually "need" to buy their gifts. So, i guess this is the time to get as much exposure as possible so that people know that they can get what they want from you when christmas is closer.

[ItsAllBallBearings]

HR - good point, i checked and traffic is up. Not significantly, but still up, especially from the major SEs. And conversions are way down.