Preparing your eCommerce store for Christmas

After the excitement of Halloween has passed, Christmas comes straight to the fore. Decorations pop up everywhere, with multicoloured lights lining the streets or poised invitingly around shop windows. But how can our online stores join in?
If you have an eCommerce store, you might be wondering how best to prepare it for Christmas. In this article, we look at the best ways to stay competitive online amidst the chaos of the season.

Ramp up customer support

As more people flock to your website, prospective customers might have questions or specific enquiries about a gift. With 75% of shoppers in the UK now doing more online shopping than ever before, you might need to adjust your website to cater for a wider range of clients.

Why not add a live chat feature to assist your customers on-demand? If you prefer traditional marketing methods, a customer support line could be more useful.

Prepare your website

You might need to adjust your website to enable it to handle increased customer demand over the festive period. If you’re not feeling confident enough to get technical, you could consult an eCommerce agency to help you realise your visions for your website.

Create a logical shopping journey

Try optimising your pages with clearer links and a logical structure for your customers to follow. A website that looks sharp and loads quickly will massively improve customer experience, so it makes sense to invest time in your website before Christmas.

Personalise the shopping experience

With competitors trying out similar tactics for their eCommerce store this season, make yours stand out by offering a personalised customer journey. With almost 50 shops disappearing from our high streets every day, there has never been a better opportunity to make your business shine online.

Considering a marketing automation strategy could give your business a boost this Christmas. From empty shopping basket notifications to weekly update emails, keeping your customers in the loop could make the difference between hitting your goals or completely smashing those sales figures.

Keep your diary up to date

It’s important to remember the key dates, events and holidays this winter, even if they’re not celebrated in the UK. Bonfire Night closely follows Halloween, and there’s plenty of colourful marketing potential as people head to firework displays to get festive.

Thanksgiving is largely celebrated in the US, but it could be worth branching out to an international client base if it’s relevant to your brand. Don’t forget the rush for impulsive online sales on Black Friday and Cyber Monday – these one-off events could be a goldmine for profit.

Using these tips, your website will be tough to compete with – and you’ll be headed to make record online sales this Christmas.