How to prepare business for Christmas and why should think about it now
Why should you already think about Christmas and how to prepare your business for it?
Summer hasn’t begun yet, but you are probably planning ahead for your holidays. You count days until your vacations start and you finally will be able to get some rest. It’s very common that we all are planning pleasant activities. Do you know what you also should think ahead? Your business. It’s general statement, but in this article, we want to focus on preparing your business for Christmas season.
We present you checklist to prepare your online business for customers’ pre-holiday shopping fever.
1. Update your website and offers
Check that product and service descriptions are easy to understand. Make sure your website is working correctly and it’s ready to handle many visits and transactions. Also, it won’t hurt if you add a little bit of Christmas spirit to your website look. Try to be creative. It attracts attention which will affect better sales results.
2. Plan delivery options for your business during Christmas shopping
Give customers the best experience of your business. Make a plan of sending parcels, provide delivery status updated. Inform your clients to make Christmas orders earlier to avoid stress of last-minute shopping. You can also provide a date when it’s your last chance to order to make sure the package will arrive before Christmas.
3. Prepare your stock and warehouse stuff
Make product sales analysis and order products you need from suppliers. Plan as realistically as you can. Take advantage of your last years’ experience if it’s possible. In December sales will increase, that would be a pity if you won’t have enough products to process all orders. Don’t wait to hear the jingle bells ringing. Remember wholesales orders need time to be processed and shipped to your warehouse. Also in this case you will avoid buying overpriced products and arriving stock after the season ends.
Prepare your warehouse stuff for hard work. Packing and shipping parcels are time-consuming. In the Christmas season there are many more orders than any other time of the year. Make sure you have all essential things like boxes and packaging ready.
Keep in mind that it all won’t end on the 24th of December. Expect a lot of work in January. Many products will be exchanged or returned. Prepare for it to avoid frustration and enjoy your successful sales.
4. Optimise your Advertising
In general, customers don’t buy products which are not popular- even during the Christmas season. That’s because potential buyers should know about your offers. Remember that you are not the only seller in the market. Your competitions are also getting ready for this season and expect to sell as much as possible. That’s why you should put some effort and prepare a good marketing plan. Make sure your products are in positions and customers can easily find them using popular keywords. Check if everything is ready, do competition analysis and if there is need, correct for ads.
Use omnichannel strategy to optimise marketing. Simplify customer experience by working on your website, blog, selling platform and social media accounts. This way you will reach many more potential customers.
5. Cyber security update
Remember the high volume of data exchanged- online payments, emails, personal information. This time of year, cyber criminals are looking to take advantage of those information if they aren’t secured. Try to make your customer data as secured as possible. It will avoid any unpleasant situation and customers will be satisfied with your service. If they know they can safely shop on your website, they will come back to you.
6. Customer service
During pre- and post-Christmas season customer service will have to do a lot of work. Customers constantly will ask questions or need advice. Prepare your stuff to be ready to handle them. CS also will affect your sales results and customers’ satisfaction.
7. Remember about your employees
Last but not least, appreciate your employees after this season. They will do a lot of hard work. Make them feel satisfied about it and let Christmas break happily and in peace.
After you manage to handle all the above points, you can be calm about Christmas fever. As all those actions take time and you need to prepare a few months before, even though it’s not close to December we want to wish you all the best, successful sales and as many happy clients as possible!
If you need some specialists’ help check out HERE what we can do for you.
