High street retailers have relied on the Christmas period for a large portion of their yearly revenue ever since commercialism got its hands on the Christian celebration. However, in this digital age we are living in, the online shopping space is also very competitive and websites look to make a large amount their custom in December and January. But which websites stand the greatest chance of turning a healthy product this Xmas?
Supermarket Websites. As a number of the smaller offline companies have suffered from the recession and had to close their doors, their share of the markets have been captured largely by online supermarket sites, who have claimed 25% more of the toys and games market this year alone. Many experts have warned that these ’super-sites’ will eventually completely monopolise the markets as they eat up and put out of business the smaller independent sites. However, you cannot fault their business model and they are set to do very well this year.
Affiliates. As the number of online retailers has increased over the last decade, so has the prevalence of online affiliate sites. These sites tend to advertise the products of larger successful internet sites such as IWOOT, and the larger sites then pay the affiliates commission on each lead they receive. As these affiliate sites are often owned by skilled internet marketers, they frequently get large traffic numbers and can therefore make large profits themselves, especially over busy holiday periods.
Specialised Sites. Whilst the large supermarket sites will certainly be grossing more than ever this year, more niche sites will also do well as customer loyalty and specialised product shopping is more important online these days. Sites such as I Want One of Those, who sell gadgets and boys toys, will do very well this year as they have a loyal following of customers and can offer more specialised items that the bigger sites simply cannot.