In a report released today it was revealed that online shoppers spent just over $1 billion on Cyber Monday, the first time that figure has ever been eclipsed on the Internet’s equivalent to Black Friday. This should be a clear sign to businesses that consumers are more than willing to spend their holiday dollars while sitting in front of their computers rather than jumping in their car and bouncing from store to store in search of deals. With this growing trend to shop online businesses, now more than ever, need to ensure that their websites are capable of handling the demands of additional traffic. Failing to meet these demands will almost certainly result in lost sales as well as project a negative image of the business.
What businesses have to realize is that they have a small window in which to capture consumers. Unlike traditional brick-and-mortar stores in which shoppers can spend hours searching through aisles and racks a website has just a few minutes to capture the attention of the shopper before they move on to the next website. This means that when shoppers do come across a website it is imperative that it not only looks good but is operational.
