The holiday season is starting now! You’ll want to make sure to leverage every resource in order to maximize your earnings this year. To help you do that, you can check the 12 Top Tips for Online Sellers 2014 below:

#1. 6 Tips to Increase Sales Using Product Images

Back in the mid-90s, plenty of people were ready to write-off Amazon and other online retailers on the basis that people simply wouldn’t buy without touching the merchandise first. Almost 20 years on, with global B2C ecommerce sales expected to reach $1.5 trillion this year, we can safely say that consumers can live without having a good stroke or pinch! One of the major factors that help potential buyers to make that leap of faith is the product image. Read more

#2. Holiday Calendar 101 – Dates and Themes You Need to Know

Having a holiday sales strategy is important for online sellers, however developing a more in-depth strategy that focuses on each unique holiday can result in much higher sales numbers.

The holiday shopping season, beginning in late October and lasting until early January, is composed of three major holidays: Halloween, Thanksgiving and Christmas. In addition to the “big 3”, a few e-commerce related days have gained popularity over the years, including: Boxing Day (December 26), Free Shipping Day (December 18) and Super Saturday (December 20). Read more

#3. 5 Ways to Make History on Cyber Monday & Black Friday 

For the past four years, Cyber Monday has been the biggest online spending day of the year, with Black Friday coming in a close second. Since 2006, global online sales on Cyber Monday have increased by 20% yearly on average, and in 2013 the sales record was broken – yet again – with $2.29 billion spent worldwide (check out a cool infographic with more data on the right). Read more

#4. 5 Hot Products You should Not Miss Out on Selling This Holiday Season

The holiday season is already in full swing, but as an e-tailer it’s never too late to take advantage of hot items and best sellers. While preparing for Black Friday and Cyber Monday is important, and leveraging images is a great way to attract the attention of potential buyers, making sure to include these 5 items is a sure-fire way to increase your end-of-year sales: Frozen, Tablet Accessories, Art and Creativity Items, Toys, Wild Card. Read more

#5. Top Marketplaces Should be Selling On These Holidays That aren’t Amazon

Where are you selling your products this holiday season? If your answer is “only on Amazon”, you are missing out on a huge revenue opportunity. Amazon may rule the online selling kingdom, but branching out to niche marketplaces or those with less competition, can help you win big this holiday season. 

Check out our top 4 international marketplaces to sell on this holiday season: Wish, Etsy, Zulily, Ebay… Read more

# 6. 5 Tips to Boost Your Online Sales with Social Media

Social Media offers an opportunity to gain new customers, engage existing customers, and increase your knowledgebase about what customers are looking for to better service their needs. According to a report from Aberdeen Group, 55% of sellers and retailers successfully expanded their customer base and promoted their business with the help of Social Media. With the holiday season upon us, there’s no better time than now to use all your resources and fully leverage your business through Social Media. Check out our top 5 tips for mastering social media this holiday season:

• Identify Your Primary Social Media Networks
• Grow and Nurture Your Community
• Identify Your Influencers

… read more

#7. Amazon Tip: 5 Essential Factors in Winning the Buy Box

If you’re selling on Amazon you’re in great company. Last year, more than 2 million marketplace sellers sold more than a billion items, worth tens of billions of dollars. The sales competition on Amazon is fierce, with the same product often sold by multiple merchants. In every sale, only one seller wins and the major factor determining who makes the sale is the Buy Box. Read more

#8. Top 5 Facebook Ad Tools for E-tailers During the Holiday Season

In 2013, consumers spent an average of $730 on holiday shopping, making the holiday season the most important time of the year for many retailers. Today’s consumers are savvy comparison shoppers- with mobile apps, social media and online review sites at their fingertips. E-tailers are increasingly turning to Facebook to take advantage of the social network’s 1billion+ active users, engagement and targeting. Read more.

#9. Top 7 Tips “Fulfillment by Amazon” Can Increase Your Holiday Sales

Amazon offers a service called “Fulfillment By Amazon (FBA)”, where it handles third-party sellers’ back-end operations, including storage, fulfillment, and customer service. Sellers simply ship their inventory to Amazon, which then manages the entire fulfillment process once an item is purchased, giving sellers the space to concentrate on improving their bottom line.

Here are 7 benefits of FBA that can increase your sales this holiday season:

• Products in Amazon FBA have access to Amazon Prime members: 
• Your products are more likely to win the Buy Box
• Exclusive access to last-minute holiday shoppers
• … Read more

#10. Top 6 Important Measurements for Keeping Your Online Store Active

While there are many tips and strategies for online selling, making money as an etailer isn’t an overnight project. Time and hard work are required to succeed, but if you’re willing to invest you can certainly make it happen. One of the worst outcomes, however, is to reach your sales goals only to have your store shut down.

For Amazon sellers, an easy way to keep your store active is by maintaining a positive Account Health indicator. Maintaining a positive account health is essential to keeping your Amazon store active, and is dependent on 6 measurements:

1. 1Order Defect Rate – Amazon Target: <1%
2. Cancellation Rate – Amazon Target: <2.5%
3. …read more

#11. 8 Tips to Delight Your Customers with Packaging that Stands Out of the Crowd

It ends up in the trash within 60 seconds, so how important can it really be? As an online seller, you’re primarily concerned by what to sell and how to sell more, not leaving you much time to think about the brown cardboard box and bubble wrap that you’re going to send it in. But don’t make this mistake.

8 Packaging Ideas to Wow Your Customers:

• Think Green
• Second Life Packaging
• Jass Up the Generic
• … read more

#12. Top 10 Tips to Boost Post-Holiday Sales

Many people know that Cyber Monday and Black Friday are the largest online sales days of the year. But the last week of December and January can be a slow time for online sellers. Well, it doesn’t have to be…especially if you can leverage holiday sales.

So what can ecommerce sellers do to keep customers buying after Christmas is over? Check out our top 10 tips for boosting your sales AFTER the holiday madness:

1. Be Aware of the Competition
2. Save Some Best Sellers to Attract Buyers
3. … Read more