How to Prepare Your eCommerce Store For the Holidays

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The holidays are right around the corner, which means plenty of hustle and bustle and an influx of orders (or so we hope). When you’re running an eCommerce store, the holidays are usually your biggest and most profitable time of year, but it won’t be if you’re not ready. The best eCommerce operations are well-prepared for the before and after effects of the holidays.

In this guide, we’ll show you how to get your eCommerce store ready for the incoming orders. We’ll cover everything from planning for extra orders and returns to planning for the return process and offering promotions. Let’s go!

Plan For Extra Orders

Of course, the most important thing to plan for is extra orders. You’ll likely get an influx of orders between October and the end of December, and if you’re not set up to handle them, you’re going to miss out on those precious sales. Those sales can carry your business through until early next year, pay off a debt, or even allow you to expand operations. That’s why it’s so critical to be ready for them and to protect the process.

Planning for extra orders may require some upfront cash, so you’ll want to keep your process documented each year so you have a metric to plan around. If your orders increased two-fold the previous year, plan for the same this year. It’s always better to sell out than to have excess inventory that sits on the shelf.

You can also offer special items in limited quantities. This helps hype up the items and your brand, and brings a certain level of exclusivity to the sales process. If coveted items are limited, they become more desirable. Keep your best-sellers for this—they’ll probably sell like hot-cakes. You can always create/order/ship more closer to the actual holidays.

Offer Sales Or Discounts

Holiday sales and discounts are one of the best ways to attract customers and clean out your shelves of inventory. The holiday season is the biggest season for retail shopping, and sales/discounts bring the customers in. People love to feel like they’re saving money on their holiday shopping—don’t you?

The great thing about discounts is that they don’t have to be too significant to make a difference. You can offer a buy one, get on half-off discount, or something as low as 15% off purchases of $60 or more. The bottom line is that you’re making the customer feel like they’re saving money, which drives more people to your site.

Promotional Shipping Offers Attract Customers

Don’t forget about shipping costs when you’re creating those discounts. If you want to drive customers to your eCommerce site, offering free or discounted shipping is the way to do it! People love free shipping (I know I do), which is part of why sites like Amazon are so popular. That free two-day shipping that a Prime account offers is a huge part of Amazon’s appeal. While you might not be able to match this offer, you can still offer discounts on certain amounts, or even free shipping if customers spend a certain amount on merchandise.

Be sure to include your promotional shipping or free shipping offers in your advertising, as well. If you don’t tell customers right away that they get free or discounted shipping, they might skip you for the competition! Brands like Black Buffalo offer free standard shipping within the US, which is why they’re the preferred brand for tobaccoless chew products. The quality makes a difference, too.

Make The Return Process Simple For Your Customers

Whether you’re selling CBD gummies like Verma Farms or tobaccoless chew, having a return/refund policy that makes sense to the customer is crucial to the success of your eCommerce store. If you’re selling edible and can’t offer returns except under certain conditions, be certain that this information is easy to find. You’ll save yourself a lot of trouble with customers if your policies are spelled out directly on your site.

It’s important to limit the number of exceptions you’ll take as well. While it’s important to please the customer, going too far and bending the rules for too many customers will set the precedent that you’ll do that for everyone—which can become a serious issue.

Follow-Up On The Customer Experience

Perhaps one of the most important tips we can offer is to follow up on your customers’ experiences. Offer surveys or ask for a quick review, so you can have a better understanding of what you need to change or improve next year. Looking back is the best way to find holes in the process or identify what draws customers to your brand.

In the world of digital communication, you must pay attention to all of your reviews. The bad ones can be addressed, and as long as it looks like you’re making an effort, your customers will appreciate it. People want to know the truth.

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