Retailers that maintain websites for online sales are preparing for the influx of internet shoppers that will flood their pages in the coming months to purchase items and gifts for the holidays. Many are taking steps now to reinforce their ecommerce sites so that the pages do not crash or experience outages, which could lead to a decrease in sales.

Businesses are using a variety of methods to enhance their customers' online experiences for the holidays, including redesigning their websites, updating security measures and increasing computer capacity, according to recent research from Rackspace Hosting. More than three-quarters of retailers surveyed are focusing on reducing website downtime, as they believe it can result in a drop in sales. Last year, 18 percent of respondents stated they had problems with site downtime, which cost businesses between hundreds of thousands and tens of millions in sales.

In addition to eliminating downtime, there are also a few other elements that retailers need to focus on when developing an ecommerce site. The Huffington Post writes that every retail page should include contact information for the business, simple and easy-to-use features and secure shopping capabilities so that customers are assured their transactions are being handled safely.