According to a recent article published by the Purdue News Service, consumers can expect over-the-top customer service this year despite the fact that a double digit increase in online sales is expected. Online sales are estimated to be $45 to $50 billion this holiday season, up from $34 billion in 2006. Web hosting provider reports – A record 126 million consumers are expected to shop online. Hopefully you and your web host anticipated the surge in volume and customer demands and are already exceeding the expectations of every person who visits your site.

Richard Feinberg, director for the Customer Driven Quality initiative at Purdue University, said online retailers have learned some valuable lessons from past holiday seasons and this year they are taking strict measures ensure things run smoothly. “Online retailers have suffered in the past few years with deal-breaking ordering problems so they have instituted measures to guarantee that consumers will not be frustrated with online ordering,” said Feinburg. “Online retailers have embraced customer relationship management.”

John Ritttenhouse with KPMG reported on his group’s National Shopping Behavior Survey. “Younger, more affluent shoppers (the most sought-after category of online customers), said that they are most likely to go where all of their needs are met, not necessarily because an item is on sale. Some 39% of consumers this holiday season report a willingness to change retailers based on which best meets their overall needs, underscoring the importance of having the right amount of the desired merchandise at the right time.”

Free shipping will be more important than ever before, and can make or break the sale for most consumers. In fact studies show that consumers perceive free shipping as a better deal than discounts. (From the merchant’s perspective, free shipping can encourage consumers to buy three items instead of one.) According to WebPro news sixty percent of retailers will offer free shipping upgrades, 53 percent will offer discounted shipping and 41 percent will offer shipping without conditions to increase sales. One of the main reasons for this trend is that studies show that high shipping costs are the number one cause of shopping cart abandonment.

“Free shipping offers drive online sales more than any other promotion which is why it remains popular with etailers,” said Scott Silvermen, executive director of Shop.org. “Unfortunately, free shipping is not ‘free’ for retailers, but merchants can minimize the financial impact of these promotions by carefully analyzing the conditions under which their customers receive free shipping.”

In addition to free shipping, etailers will use numerous other promotions to drive holiday sales. Ecommerce owners who are brilliant at the basics will win big this holiday season. It is critical to understand your customers. A recent survey explored why customers choose online shopping as opposed to brick and mortar shopping excursions.

Web hosting provider list findings of holiday shopper surveys:

The ability to shop any time of the day (58%)
Not wanting to deal with crowds (43%)
Convenience of shopping online (38%)
The ability to compare prices (36%)
Items easier to find online than in stores (29%).

According to Jupiter Research, aggressive use of percent-off discounts is expected from computer and electronic sellers, fueling the flame of an already hot category. “Online retailers have an opportunity to gain market share this year because of the resilience of online shoppers, in spite of a relatively soft off-line holiday market, said David Scatcksy, president of Jupiter Research. “Aggressive use of cross channel messages and special promotions will be key to capturing undecided customers.”

“As consumers become more comfortable with the web as a shopping resource and sales channel, they are naturally spending more of their holiday shopping budget online,” said Helen Malanai, Shopzilla’s Chief Shopping Expert. “If consumers continue to have a satisfying experience online, the channel will continue to grow for many holiday seasons to come.”