A recent report indicated that credit card offers to U.S. consumers spiked in October, mainly due to improvements to the economy and consumer confidence. If history is any indication, an increase in credit card processing activity is likely to follow suit. If you have been hesitant in setting up your Internet merchant account or looking for online merchant services, now is the perfect time to get your feet wet in online sales. Indeed, as the economy improves, we are seeing a return to new businesses setting up Web stores.

Are you a traditional retailer looking to move your shop online?

Traditional point-of-sale retail stores have begun moving online at a tremendous pace. After all, the rent is cheap and the entire world is your customer! Think of it as an extension of your brick and mortar location. Broaden your consumer base to take advantage of higher sales and improve your profits.

Whether you are looking to expand your retail sales with an online solution or are going to run a full-scale Internet business, it’s important to begin with an integrated online payment processing solution. From merchant account set-up, shopping cart application and payment gateway, to any and all other web-based tools such as Verified by Visa, it is important to partner with payment processor providers who are familiar with the e-commerce industry.

Are you a US retailer looking to expand your bottom line? Look north!

Canadian e-commerce is a $60 billion + industry and growing rapidly each year. In Canada, the Internet reaches more adults each week than either magazines or newspapers. Among 18-34 year olds, the Internet has a higher reach than radio! As a matter of fact, Canadians lead the world in online banking, social networking and video viewing. Overall web sales were responsible for 20% of the growth in total retail sales last year. Canadians are spending more time each day online, researching and buying. You can add dual currency settlement to your product offering, that will allow your customers to select the currency of their choice.

Want a leg up on the competition? Include free shipping.

Because the effects of the downturn in the economy are still lingering, consumers are not yet in the full-throttle shopping mode, and Internet sales are no exception. However, one way to stay ahead of the competition is to offer perks such as free shipping. Comscore reported that e-commerce sales transaction that included free shipping increased from 31 percent in Q1 2008 to 42 percent in Q3 2009. A recent study that questioned online shoppers about their holiday shopping habits showed that over 33 percent of customers were planning to spend more online because of free shipping.

Are you advertising your business online? Now might be the best time to start.

If you are not yet running any sort of advertising online, you might be missing out on a huge chunk of potential customers. Online ad spending was up two percent in Q3 2009 and that figure is still rising. That means your competitors are out there, becoming increasingly visible. The major benefit to online advertising is that you control your spend better than traditional radio or televisions ads. For example, a business can buy pay-per-click ads that are only clicked upon by customers looking for the specific product being searched for. Ads can also be targeted to wireless / mobile devices, so it’s up to you how much to spend and where.