The holiday season at the year’s end is no small thing. It’s a busy time for most people: shopping for family and friends, cooking, decorating, and attending countless events. It’s not about wrapping and buying presents if you own a business. This is about getting your online business ready for holiday shopping. This might be your first question:

• Is it worth spending the effort and time to prepare my eCommerce store in time for the holiday season

• What can I do to ensure my eCommerce store is ready to welcome holiday shoppers?

Let’s take a closer look at each question to find some resources and ideas for making sure that you are prepared.

Preparing for the holidays: Is it worth it?

Yes is the simple answer. Preparing your eCommerce store for the holiday season is worth the effort.

In the last 40 years, Cyber Monday and Black Friday have been major shopping days. Black Friday shopping was a national event in the late 1980s/early 1990s. Cyber Monday was created around 2005.

Online shopping has become a major source of holiday shopping. Black Friday has become a whole shopping weekend that includes Cyber Monday and Small Business Saturday. There is also a month of special shopping days throughout December.

We currently participate in the following:

• Black Friday The Friday After Thanksgiving.
• Small Business Saturday– Saturday after Thanksgiving
• Cyber Monday – Monday after Thanksgiving
• Cyber Week The entire week following Thanksgiving.
• Free Shipping Day — The date varies but is usually in mid-December.
• Super Saturday The last Saturday before Christmas.

Every year, eCommerce sales increase and so does the amount of money spent on it. Cyber Monday 2018 saw an unprecedented $7.9 Billion in online sales. The majority of this $2.83 trillion came from mobile device purchases, with $2.2 Billion coming from smartphone purchases. Black Friday and Small Business Saturday were also big days for online sales, with online revenues of $6.2 and $3.02 billion, respectively.

The numbers aren’t lying! You can claim your share of this huge pie by preparing your online store for holiday shopping.

Get ready for holiday shoppers

Preparing for the holidays involves more than just having enough inventory. There are also considerations for your website’s front and back ends.

Make sure your website is ready

• Make sure your shopping cart and website run smoothly. Verify that all pages are working correctly and fast. Your website should be able to handle higher volumes of customers than usual without your website going down. To ensure your website is ready to handle the increased traffic, you should consult your web designer in Miami or a platform hosting company. Don’t make major updates to your website during the holiday shopping season. These should be done either before or after the holiday shopping season.

• It’s important to focus on responsive design. The rise in mobile shopping has made it essential to have a responsive site. Customers expect to be able to shop wherever and whenever they want, even on their mobile devices. Your website should be easy to navigate and read on small screens so that customers can shop from their preferred mobile device.

• Make sure you have a clear and easy-to-understand return policy. It will save you time and help customers find it easily. It should be clear that you won’t accept returns. Google’s Tips for Return Policies are a great place to start if yours isn’t clear.

• Create gift guides for your website. This is a great way for customers to make informed decisions about what gift to buy. It can be broken down by price, age, interest, or any other creative topic that you can think of. Macy’s is a great example of gift ideas that you can offer to those who are difficult to shop for.

Your marketing plan should be planned early

• Make sure you have a solid marketing strategy in place before the holidays. Holiday promotions are a great time to attract new customers and retarget existing customers. Email campaigns are a great way of advertising your products and any specials you have during the holiday season.

• Your designers should start working on your graphics as soon as possible. You can’t begin this too soon, especially if you’re designing and photographing ad campaigns. Many companies start creating marketing ads in July and August, so they have plenty of time to revise and create.

• Social media is important. People regularly scroll through their Instagram accounts throughout the day. Using images of your products in action helps people visualize themselves and the person they are buying for. Shoppable posts can also be a great way for you to increase your online sales when people browse through Instagram.

• Google Shopping Ads can be used to help people find your products. Google Shopping Ads doesn’t require you to start as soon as possible. However, it is best to not start them more than a week before the holiday shopping season. It is best to start them at least a month before the holiday shopping season begins. This will give them enough time to get traction.

Remember the backend

• Your staffing requirements should be covered. Let your employees know in advance if there are blackout dates they can’t take off and what your staffing requirements will be during the holiday season. You can show your appreciation to employees by offering lunch to them on their busiest days or even bringing snacks to help them get through the busy seasons.

• Keep your inventory full. Have extra stock in case you run out. People will leave your online shop if they are faced with a time crunch and there is no stock.

Be prepared for additional shipping charges and cutoff dates

• Your shipping dates should be known and communicated to customers. Shipping companies are at their busiest season during the holidays. You want to ensure that you and your staff are informed about the shipping cutoff dates. Customers should also be aware. You can post them around your office to keep them in your mind. Make sure you also make them visible online for your customers. Make a holiday landing page to help customers find the dates easily. Also, make sure that your message is displayed in their shopping cart at checkout.

• Make sure you have enough packing and shipping supplies. Get in touch with your vendors to arrange extra delivery days for all shipping and packing materials you may need. Increase shipping costs? It is a great way to speed up the process of packing and shipping during your busiest shipping days.

• Consider other shipping options. You might consider using more than the standard shipping options during the holiday season. Consider offering next-day or 2-3 day shipping if you offer standard shipping. Customers are willing to pay more for faster shipping during holidays. Get in touch with your shipping company to discuss the best options for you and your customers.

Although it may seem like a lot to do, don’t be discouraged! Preparing for the holidays doesn’t have to be done in November. You and your staff can set a time frame and get started early. This will allow you to make sure that your marketing campaigns are ready for the holiday ads in November and October.

It will make shopping easier for both you and your staff, as well as your customers. You will be able to rest assured that your loved ones will receive their orders on time and they will continue to shop with us in the future.