According to Forrester http://blogs.forrester.com/ebusiness_strategy/2009/11/this-year-us-online-holiday-retail-sales-will-be-up-8.html, it is estimated that online retail sales will reach $44.7 billion this holiday season.  That is an 8% increase year over year.  The contributing factor is the increase in buyers doing more of their shopping online, as well as retailers focusing a larger portion of their marketing dollars on internet sales.  



Here are ways to promote your online sales without large marketing dollar:

• Offer a timely incentive (free shipping, discount, good until xx/09)
• Make sure to update your product titles, descriptions, store announcements/offerings, meta tags for the holiday (https://secure.silkfair.com/mysilk/store ).  Note:  Highlight your special offers
• Use your online blogs and forums (here and/or other blogs/forums) to engage your customers (https://secure.silkfair.com/mysilk/comm/blog or http://www.silkfair.com/forum/forum/14)
• Invite friends here to visit your online store specials (https://secure.silkfair.com/mysilk/comm/invite)
• Follow up email marketing campaign for complimentary products, make sure to add your online store links with your offer
• Leverage social media to engage your prospective customers, and promote sales
• Make sure products are in stock
• Create pre-packaged deals or discounts for bulk orders

Here are some sellers with current special offers on Silkfair:

• http://elegant.silkfair.com/ (25% off from original price + free shipping within US)
• http://oldantiqueprint.silkfair.com/ (free shipping)
• http://dirtybirdsoaps.silkfair.com/ (10% of every sale goes to The Humane Society of Pensacola, FL)
• http://hookyarninker.silkfair.com/ (All products shipped within the US will have free delivery confirmation)

If you want to let us know your holiday sales, add/comment here, update your blog (http://www.silkfair.com/blog), or post your sales on our forum (http://www.silkfair.com/forum) to promote your online store specials.

You can also fan/friend us at http://www.facebook.com/silkfair, http://twitter.com/silkfair, http://www.myspace.com/silkfair, and we can post your special sales.