ecommerce business owner preparing for the holidays

The Ultimate Guide To Your Ecommerce Holiday Planning 2021

And at last, we’re moving into the busiest time of the year – the holiday season.

We can all agree that this holiday will be a different story compared to last year where most of the people spend the holidays away from their loved ones (and even indoor shopping).

The rollout of the coronavirus vaccine has brought us far from where we were in the past months. Finally, we’re slowly coming back to the good old days of spending the holiday cheer with our loved ones.

And who could ever forget one of our all-time favorites- shopping!

Good News To Ecommerce Business Owners

Ecommerce business owners are to expect a more robust shopping cart in their online stores this year. While this is good news, it also has its own set of headaches. 

The holiday season is known to be a major revenue driver that requires a critical stretch from ecommerce business owners. With that being said, our team at Clearinity wants to make sure that you plan for this season well.

We’ve prepared an ultimate holiday guide to help you create an effective holiday strategy for your business. Get ready to define your business this season with these strategies!

What Do The Statistics Say?

As mentioned earlier, the rollout of COVID-19 vaccine has greatly impacted the way people are set to celebrate the holidays this year by gathering with friends and family.

A survey by Numerator shows that:

  • 71% of respondents choose to celebrate Thanksgiving normally
  • 72% of respondents choose to celebrate Thanksgiving normally

This data must prompt ecommerce business owners to consider giving an easy and flexible shopping experience for customers to suit their holiday needs.

Take advantage of the holiday season with flexibility and innovation in mind. There are endless possibilities to scale your business in these months!

9 Tips To Prepare Your Ecommerce Business This Holiday Season

Every year, ecommerce business owners like you rely on the massive revenue brought in by the holiday season.

Stay ahead of your competitors. Keep your business strong and solid this holiday by following these strategies.

Prepare For Traffic

Shoppers are always on the lookout for gifts they can buy for their loved ones during the Christmas season. In some cases, they even like buying gifts for themselves!

Thus, expect an increase in traffic in your online store. Aside from preparing your inventory, one way you can prevent experiencing any website outrage is by forecasting inventory based on your data last year.

How did your store do last year in terms of sales?

What was the status of your inventory?

How did you go about your marketing?

Bearing all these guide questions in mind will help you grasp the things you need to work on this coming holiday to prepare your store for the holiday rush.

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  1. Stock Your Inventory

Solve your increasing customer demand by increasing your inventory. The last thing you want is to cater to frustrated customers who receive out-of-stock or back-order notifications.

As early as now, make sure that you check in with your suppliers to guarantee you have the right amount of stock to cater to your clients. Checking on last year’s numbers and trends is a great place to start to help you forecast your inventory better!

  1. Evaluate Your Third-Party Integrations

Keep your third-party integrations up to date. This guarantees you that your system can accommodate loads of orders from your customers to give them a seamless buying experience.

Do not integrate apps or add-ons last minute as these integrations might disrupt the flow of your website.

  1. Optimize Your Website

Your goal is to create a hassle-free experience for all your customers. Improve your strategy on leading customers down your conversion funnel by optimizing your website. 

Here are some action items you can take to prepare your ecommerce website this holiday season:

  • Test your website speed to ensure your site is fast
  • Provide cart abandonment notifications
  • Showcase your holiday products
  • Fine-tune your site search to help customers look exactly what they’re looking for
  • Integrate your branding into your website design
  • Offer a smooth check out process to prevent customers from leaving before completing the purchase
  • Collect product reviews

Build your website strategy and guarantee a seamless checkout experience for your shoppers.

  1. Build A Strategic Holiday Promotions

Aside from optimizing your website, you must also prepare your campaigns and promotional strategies in line with the frenzy of the holiday rush.

While marketing is a long game, this is a vital strategy to make sure that your customers keep you top of mind while they plan to shop for the holidays.

Here are action plans you can integrate into your promotional strategy:

  • Consider offering gift cards to upsell your customers during check out. 
  • Offer seasonal services (example: gift-wrapping)
  • Keep your holiday-inspired content flowing on your website

Feel free to inform your customers about these through blog posts, video content, or even through your social media channels. 

  1. Leverage Your Paid Advertising

While your organic traffic is also valuable, launching paid advertisements can boost your brand on a larger scale.

Don’t hesitate to boost your content through Facebook and Instagram. You can even launch PPC advertising campaigns in Google. Keep an omnichannel approach to ensure you drive traffic across your channels.

  1. Set A Clear Path For Your Fulfillment And Shipping Options

Execute an excellent customer experience strategy. Set up a clear plan for your order shipment and fulfillment.

Expect that you will experience an increase in orders during the holiday season. Skip the worry of scrambling from the increasing sales traffic and decide on the shipping path you want to take as early as now.

Choose from these options:

  • Do your shipping and fulfillment in-house.
  • Reach out to a third-party logistics company provider (3PL) 
  • Handle your shipment and fulfillment by dropshipping

Whatever path you prefer, make sure you automate your process. You can manage your orders better when you see all the information you need in one dashboard.

  1. Expand Your Sales Channels

Do not limit your business from spreading holiday cheer through your ecommerce store only. There are a lot of other sales channels you can explore such as Amazon, Walmart Marketplace, and many more!

  1. Provide An Excellent Customer Support

Customer support is a make or break for the success of your ecommerce business. With that being said, it’s important that you put in place a 24/7 global support team to guarantee help is offered to customers. 

Secure a dedicated support team behind your ecommerce store. This helps you take care of your customers better, making sure information is readily made available within 24-48 hours should they have any questions or concerns about your products. 

  1. Offer A Clear Return Policy

One way to support an excellent customer experience is by having a flexible and convenient return policy for your customers. Whether it may be issues on a faulty product or as little as wrong sizes, your customers should feel that it’s convenient for them to return a product. 

Strict return policies may be a factor for your ecommerce business to lose sales.

The Bottomline

Preparing for the holiday season can be a daunting task. But taking full advantage of it can do wonders for your business. So what we’re trying to say here is- it’s pretty worth it!

Put a plan in place, execute it flawlessly, and we guarantee that you’ll be welcoming jolly shoppers with ease in no time. Aside from that, you will even get more revenue for your business!

Our team at Clearinity believes that by following this ultimate plan, you can achieve holiday readiness for your ecommerce business! 

Happy Holidays!