Secure Credit Card Processing for E-commerce Businesses Will Be Essential Given the Top Trends for 2012 Holiday Shopping

What comes to your mind when you think of the Thanksgiving holiday…friends and family, turkey dinner, pumpkin pie, extended store hours and mobile shopping? Well how times have changed!

Overall holiday spending is expected to be bigger and better this year. Retailers are using bold, new strategies to capture new sales such as mobile apps alerting shoppers to unadvertised specials, private sales, price matches, earlier-than-ever Thanksgiving Day store openings, and guarantees on door-buster electronics to capture the biggest share of shopping dollars.

With mobile shopping on the rise and smartphone usage becoming more sophisticated, it’s now being used as a great shopping tool. In a recent study done by DealNews, 50 percent of consumers surveyed said they would in some capacity shop on a mobile phone or tablet this holiday season. The reasons behind this include price checking while shopping, searching for coupons, checking for deals at other stores, and making actual purchases.

Get ready! Here are some of the retail shopping trends you can expect throughout this holiday season:

1. Consumers Will Start Holiday Shopping Earlier
Every year, retailers look to kick-start the shopping season and get folks buying as early as possible. It’s now a well-accepted fact that holiday deals will start early, and shoppers will begin seeking deals out even before Black Friday arrives. Black November, anyone?

2. More Stores Will Offer Mobile Promotions
As we mentioned, mobile shopping is on the rise and as a result, many stores now offer dedicated shopping apps, Twitter feeds, and Facebook pages where followers are rewarded with exclusive discounts and coupon codes. It’s expected that the number of these promotions will rise this holiday season, with many retailers offering select discounts via their mobile and social platforms.

3. 4G Will Make Taking Products for a Test Drive Easier
Showrooming — the act of going to a brick-and-mortar store to test drive a product before purchasing it online for less — is on the rise. And thanks to speedy 4G technology, you can now compare those online prices much faster while you’re in-store.

4. Paying with Your Phone
Smartphones have quickly risen to the gadget hierarchy, replacing cameras, GPS units, and even portable gaming consoles. And now you can pay with your phone through Google Wallet, Square, and LevelUp apps designed to make payment transactions easier for consumers this Black Friday. You can just scan the screen of a smartphone and payment for goods is deducted from a linked bank account.

Be prepared as this holiday shopping season is expected to be bigger and better than years before!  The good news is that there will be deals to be found and many are just a click away. Just sit back and enjoy that turkey drumstick knowing that you’re getting the best of Black Friday and Cyber Monday delivered right to your screen, without even having to set foot inside a store.

Excited for Black Friday? Check out this infographic from DealNews and see how others plan to spend their Black Friday:

If you’re an online retailer, secure online credit card processing this season will be essential. Azox, Inc. offers e-payment solutions as well as online bill pay that is valuable for many businesses. This free white paper about Online Credit Card Processing and Bill Payment provides statistics and highlights key benefits to further emphasize the importance of these features for your e-commerce site.

by Azox, Inc. – Michigan Microsoft Dynamics GP Partner

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