I'm not sure what to blame such a poor showing on basic holiday ecommerce design on, but this year's November crop is flat, uninspiring and junky.

L. L. Bean usually sets the holiday standard. This year their November offering is marred by an obnoxious animated image that includes their great Free Shipping Offer. I HATE putting such a great free shipping offer on a roll because it is easy to miss in the 5 to 9 seconds most visitors give a webpage before moving on (granted this is BEAN so maybe 15 seconds). 

Bean has the tough job of competing with themselves and, in past holiday selling seasons, they define how to create great holiday look and feel. Holiday look and feel can be tough. I like Patagonia's approach - put up snow scenes AND a surfer on a massive wave (hey its Christmas in Hawaii too). 

The other faux pas that is unforgivable after all these years is Free Shipping obfuscation. Many leading retailers are going free shipping all orders and some are going the Zappos route and offering free returns too. Of the 37 websites reviewed only 6 earned A ratings on three criteria:

* Free Shipping.
* Holiday Look and Feel. 
* Holiday merchandising via categories such as For Him, Her, Kids. 

The other big miss is websites who think they are too cool for the holidays (AE.com, Restoration Hardware). Black on black at the holidays is expensively too cool and self absorbed. 

If you know smaller websites who know how to do the holidays right please share in comments or email Martin.Smith(at)Atlanticbt.com. 

Holiday Ecommerce
Good article on Holiday marketing strategies. Most Ecomerce retailers are putting finishing touches on their plans. I like the way this post organizes RETURN first. Always easier to sell MORE to people who already love you. I would add these tips for returning:

* Ask for advocacy.

* Gamify something.

* Curate something.

* Pad or Phone something.

Find a way to take some direction from your customers. When we ran out of sale inspiration we asked our best customers what we should put on sale when I was a Director of Ecommerce. We got great suggestions and sales. One great rule to ecommerce Internet marketing is when in doubt ASK.

This year I would make it a point to ASK for advocacy, create a game (or two or three) make sure you make your holiday gig MOBILE and curate something of THEIRS to your site.

Inbound Marketing
Some of the same advice, especially the mobile part, goes for inbound B2B marketing during 4Q. Create a cool User Generated Content (UGC) contest and curate content, ideas, comments and visuals from your visitors, customers, advocates and friends.

PPC
I wouldn't buy anything NEW during 4Q despite the incorrect belief that MORE can help if numbers start to dip. PPC is a TIMED and REPUTATION activity so double down on what is working but don't buy NEW until after 1.1.14.