How to maximise your revenue and profit in the Christmas trading period

This article is brought to you by Retail Technology Review: How to maximise your revenue and profit in the Christmas trading period.

Michael Ross, director of eCommera, the provider of optimised ecommerce solutions, urges retailers to focus on the controllable inputs to their business, and to measure the trading data that will have most impact on profit; and provides his top tips.

• Ensure your trading team meet often enough to make a difference. If your competitor is out of stock on a popular line then make sure you can immediately capitalise on the opportunity.
• Don't be fooled by averages. A strong overall stock position can mask the fact that you're out of stock / out of key sizes / colours on those lines that are most popular. 
• Look at the outliers. Which products are not moving and why? Make sure they're actually visible in the search results and maybe review your sort order. 
• Beware the bounce rate. Make sure your marketing spend is not wasted because of broken links or inadequate product attributes. 
• Keep your promises. Make sure your operations team can meet your commitments and ensure you have a plan to compensate for the unforeseen eventuality.
• Are you missing a trick with overseas visitors? Is there an opportunity to increase business by offering more international delivery options?
• Plan ahead. Make sure you can concentrate on maximising your trading success without worrying about whether your site has the capacity to cope with the increased traffic.  
• Revenue is vanity and profit is sanity. Tie all your trading data together (using eCommera's  Intelligent Trader online decision making tool) to ensure you're making money on every order, not giving it all away in delivery promotions and marketing spend.