Following on from Tuesday’s top tips for Christmas sales, we bring you the second part of our 24-point checklist; helping retailers across the product spectrum prepare your online store for fantastic sales this holiday season!
Consider adding new payment options during the Christmas rush to help benefit conversions. If you only accept the traditional methods, such as PayPal, why not expand your options to Visa and American Express?
Make sure you communicate the payment methods clearly to your customers.
Plan your holiday shipping options thoughtfully. Offering a “next day” delivery service could pose the risk of the items not being delivered as promised, which will lead to unhappy customers.
Make sure customers are aware of your holiday shipping options and that there might delays in delivery due to excessive order volumes.
Offer an in-store pickup option if you have a retail store, or if you work with a partner that has physical location. This will save you and your customers time and money and will also make the heavy fulfilmet process less stressful for you.
Plan ahead the resources that will be needed to manage the increased volume of orders you will receive this holiday season. You may need to draft in some extra support to get all your orders picked and packed on time.
Consider providing gift wrapping and let your customers know about it, as it is a good value added service and a great way to bump up your brand awareness. If you can’t offer a full holiday packaging, you can at least add a festive twist to the label or tape you use when packing your orders.
Include a little card inside the shipping box when you send customers their order, wishing them a merry Christmas. This will give your customers a warm, fuzzy feeling and will encourage them to come back to you again!
If offering free shipping year-round is not plausible for your business, consider featuring it in your Christmas offering. Don’t forget to advertise your plan to offer free or discounted shipping during the holiday season.
If you can’t afford to provide shipment tracking all the time, customers will appreciate your effort to offer it during the holiday season. This will make the busiest shopping period less stressful for you and your customers. Who wants to wake up without a Christmas present, after all?
During the holiday season, you will be receiving tons of questions from eager Christmas shoppers. Plan your customer service resources carefully and make sure you provide quick response time and fantastic customer service experience to all customers, not only to impatient ones.
The increased number of orders during the holiday season most certainly means more returns. Offering an extended returns policy is a great way to capture buyers’ attention and will also differentiate you from your competitors. Make sure your Christmas returns policy is clearly communicated to customers.
Keeping a close eye on the competition can help you to stay ahead and gather great ideas for your own Christmas sales campaign. Consider your competitors’ unique proposition – product range, pricing and promotion.
Review last year’s Christmas numbers to get a better idea of what products and promotions worked well that time around, how many orders you received and processed, and how much inventory you should have in stock this year.
Let us develop a tailored solution for your business that will help you reach new international customers and grow your global sales.
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