The holidays are quickly approaching – and this year’s holiday shopping season will be a major one for online retailers. Most brands spend most of the year preparing for the final 2 months of the year; a large number of businesses earn a majority of their profits in the final quarter of the year. Perhaps your brand hasn’t been planning for holiday sales the entire year, but it’s not too late to start.

Specifically and as it pertains to 2020, there are major and unique dynamics that’ll be at play this shopping season. Knowing what to expect and how to prepare is crucial for optimizing profits and sales.

As such, let’s look at why you should preparing for the 2020 online holiday shopping season right now and what is likely to happen.

E-commerce Is Growing Rapidly

One of the biggest justifications for preparing for the 2020 holiday shopping season so early is the fact that e-commerce is growing rapidly with each passing year. Not only that, but the shopping season is becoming longer – and starting earlier – as time progresses. This means that brands must begin preparing earlier than in past years if they want to beat their competitors and earn the benefits of this growth.

With overall e-commerce holiday sales growing by double-digit percentages each year, it’s difficult to avoid the importance of starting soon and aggressively. By pinging links to ads for products and services as early as possible, you can sew up brand awareness and product awareness before your competitors get a chance.

The COVID Effect

Given this year’s pandemic, it is not surprising that more people are staying home. Additionally, more purchases are being made online. In the second quarter of 2020, e-commerce sales jumped 45 percent compared to one year prior. This is a huge amount of growth – and one that online retailers can take advantage of if they are prepared.

Given many predictions that a resurgence of COVID is unlikely to emerge in the fall, additional quarantining may help escalate online sales even more. It is quite possible that online holiday sales jump by 50% or more compared to the 2019 holiday shopping season.

Results Take Time and Preparation

Last but definitely not least, it is important to get started as soon as possible because it takes time to generate results. Especially for brands pinging links to search engines in the hopes of ranking for products and niches, you can’t expect to start in November and hope to have a shot at visibility.

While paid marketing efforts can be launched relatively late in the year, there is still a need to analyze, research and prepare your broader marketing efforts well in advance of the shopping season. As such, starting now (or ideally, even earlier in the year) with planning campaigns, creating content and generating valuable search engine/social media visibility is imperative.

Ultimately, it’s never too late to begin competing for holiday sales. However, the sooner you begin, the more of an impact you can have on boosting sales and cornering your share of the market. With major trends this year likely fueling a major increase in e-commerce holiday shopping, you don’t want to miss out on this juicy potential growth.