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Whether your customers are shopping for holiday meals, holiday gifts or a little of both, online grocery shopping could play a significant part in your holiday sales revenue.

US ecommerce sales increased 17.8% during the 2016 holiday season. And Cyber Monday online sales set a record $3.45 billion in sales, which was a 12% increase from 2015 to 2016.

We dive into grocery ecommerce buying trends and provide an ecommerce holiday checklist with tips to get your ecommerce ready for holiday shoppers.

Ecommerce Buying Trends

What are people buying and how prevalent is grocery shopping online?

Here are the top grocery Amazon’s 2016 holiday best-sellers:

• The Original Donut Shop 72-count Keurig K-Cups, regular, medium and extra bold

• San Francisco Bay OneCup, Fog Chaser 80 single-serve coffees

• KIND bars in the Nuts & Spices, Dark Chocolate Nuts & Sea Salt varieties

In general, the majority of online grocery shopping carts include:

• 1 produce item

• 1 bakery item

• meat/seafood/deli selection

Online grocery shopping isn’t going away.

• Total online grocery shopping sales are growing at a rate of 25% per year and the average basket order is $148.

• 33% consumers bought groceries online within the last year and 34% of consumers plan to buy groceries online within the next year.

• 23% of American households buy groceries online (in 2017).

Ecommerce Holiday Checklist

Here are our top 6 tips to ensure you are ready for the online holiday shopping season.

Pest Control

Check and double-check for bugs. Eradicate anything that slows down the shopping process. 22% of online shoppers said website errors/website crashes caused them to abandon their online shopping cart.

Responsive Ready

How easily can customers shop using either mobile or desktop from browsing to purchasing? During 2016 holiday ecommerce, mobile generated $1.07 billion in revenue, which was a34% increase from 2015.

User Friendly

A frictionless online checkout process was the #1 priority for online holiday shoppers in 2016.

Inventory Updates

Make it easy to find top-selling items. If there is a limited supply of a certain item, update regularly so customers know if the item is still available.

Customer Support

66% of customers switch brands because of bad customer service. Allocate staff to handle both front and back end user issues. Be clear about where e-shoppers can get help (technical issues and product information).

Spread the Cheer

Make it festive and fun to shop! Integrate holiday art and sound into the online shopping process.