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As a result of the growing eCommerce demand from Denver shoppers, online retailers are expected to see a 35% growth in sales during the holidays. With such high increases in orders, it’s crucial that your business is ready to meet all of your customers’ needs. Here are five ways to prepare your online business for the holiday rush.
Improve Mobile Shopping Experience
Over 50% of Denver shoppers will make holiday purchases via their mobile devices. If your business is only focusing on the desktop version of your site, you are missing out on sales. Whether there are issues with loading pages or images, checking out as a guest, or delays due to high traffic volume, a bad shopping experience will ruin even the best holiday offer. In addition to checking these processes on your end, connect with your site host to ensure your server can handle an influx of customers without glitching. Most of all, don’t forget to have a back-up plan. If your store crashes mid-sale, plan ahead to have your site divert traffic to a back-up server until your main server is up and running. This will help eliminate shopping disruptions and keep the sales coming in.Â
Eliminate Shipping Delays
For most of 2020, eCommerce business owners and Denver shoppers have wrestled with shipping delays. Whether it was an error on the retailers’ end or a back up with the shipping carrier, late packages will put a damper on your peak season profits. Some retailers that also have brick and mortar pop-ups are working to alleviate these shipping delays by offering curbside pickup. Unfortunately, that leads to endless scheduling and potentially longer wait times for customers. If your business does not have in-person pickup options, setting strict order deadlines is your best bet for getting orders out on time. Top US carriers’ peak season deadlines have already been posted, and following these can ensure your orders arrive on time.
Related Articles: Holiday eCommerce Shipping Mistake Your Denver Business Should Avoid
Discount the Right Items
During holiday sales, your Denver shoppers are expecting your most popular items to be at their lowest prices of the year. However, some online retailers choose to also include unpopular items in their Black Friday and Cyber Monday sales. Although it may seem like a great idea to get rid of stagnant inventory, it could deter your customers from filling their shopping carts. The quality of your peak season sales is a huge factor in customers deciding whether to purchase from your business. If you only discount slow-moving items, Denver shoppers will assume top sellers never go on sale and will stop returning to your store.
Staff Customer Service Representatives
Positive customer service is a top priority during the holidays. Some Denver shoppers may know exactly what they want to purchase, but many others are looking for suggestions or may even have questions about sizing. Having dedicated customer service agents available to help answer these questions quickly will decrease cart abandonment and improve your customers’ shopping experience. Consider even adding an FAQ page or integrating a live chat to help shoppers find answers faster.
Promote Your Sale On The Right Channel
Promoting your holiday sales is half the battle in closing a deal. One simple way to make the most out of your budget is to talk about your sales on your best channels. This could be running ads on your most active social media channels, sending email blasts to your best email audiences, and using paid advertising options on Google. Whichever channel you choose to use, ensure that it’s filled with the right audience. You want to target those Denver shoppers that are most likely to make a purchase. If you waste all of your budget in the wrong place, you won’t see the best outcome for your holiday sales. Take some time and look back at what has worked for you this year and during past peak season.
 As you put the final touches on your holiday sales, be sure to look at the most important areas of your sales: shipping, customer experience, and returns. These next few weeks will be the busiest time of the year for your online store, and it’s imperative that you have a solid plan to successfully manage your holiday sales and the returns that follow afterward. If you need help with return management, take a look at our 2020 holiday return guide.
Ready to start planning for 2021? Contact our eCommerce logistics experts at Rakuten Super Logistics and see how we can help increase your profit and cut your shipping costs.
Contact us to see how Rakuten Super Logistics can transform your business.
Rakuten Super Logistics (RSL) is the leader in eCommerce order fulfillment services and freight brokerage. RSL offers national fulfillment services and a network of 15 US fulfillment centers located in Anaheim (CA), Atlanta (GA), Austin (TX), Chicago (IL), Denver (CO), Houston (TX), Las Vegas (NV), Olean (NY), Reno (NV), Salt Lake City (UT), and Scranton (PA). Their state-of-the-art technology allows for integration with popular shopping cart platforms and online marketplaces including Amazon, Big Commerce, Channel Advisor, eBay, Magento, ShipStation, Shopify, Volusion, Walmart Marketplace, and WooCommerce.Â
As a result of the growing eCommerce demand from Denver shoppers, online retailers are expected to see a 35% growth in sales during the holidays. With such high increases in orders, it’s crucial that your business is ready to meet all of your customers’ needs. Here are five ways to prepare your online business for the holiday rush.
Improve Mobile Shopping Experience
Over 50% of Denver shoppers will make holiday purchases via their mobile devices. If your business is only focusing on the desktop version of your site, you are missing out on sales. Whether there are issues with loading pages or images, checking out as a guest, or delays due to high traffic volume, a bad shopping experience will ruin even the best holiday offer. In addition to checking these processes on your end, connect with your site host to ensure your server can handle an influx of customers without glitching. Most of all, don’t forget to have a back-up plan. If your store crashes mid-sale, plan ahead to have your site divert traffic to a back-up server until your main server is up and running. This will help eliminate shopping disruptions and keep the sales coming in.Â
Eliminate Shipping Delays
For most of 2020, eCommerce business owners and Denver shoppers have wrestled with shipping delays. Whether it was an error on the retailers’ end or a back up with the shipping carrier, late packages will put a damper on your peak season profits. Some retailers that also have brick and mortar pop-ups are working to alleviate these shipping delays by offering curbside pickup. Unfortunately, that leads to endless scheduling and potentially longer wait times for customers. If your business does not have in-person pickup options, setting strict order deadlines is your best bet for getting orders out on time. Top US carriers’ peak season deadlines have already been posted, and following these can ensure your orders arrive on time.
Related Articles: Holiday eCommerce Shipping Mistake Your Denver Business Should Avoid
Discount the Right Items
During holiday sales, your Denver shoppers are expecting your most popular items to be at their lowest prices of the year. However, some online retailers choose to also include unpopular items in their Black Friday and Cyber Monday sales. Although it may seem like a great idea to get rid of stagnant inventory, it could deter your customers from filling their shopping carts. The quality of your peak season sales is a huge factor in customers deciding whether to purchase from your business. If you only discount slow-moving items, Denver shoppers will assume top sellers never go on sale and will stop returning to your store.
Staff Customer Service Representatives
Positive customer service is a top priority during the holidays. Some Denver shoppers may know exactly what they want to purchase, but many others are looking for suggestions or may even have questions about sizing. Having dedicated customer service agents available to help answer these questions quickly will decrease cart abandonment and improve your customers’ shopping experience. Consider even adding an FAQ page or integrating a live chat to help shoppers find answers faster.
Promote Your Sale On The Right Channel
Promoting your holiday sales is half the battle in closing a deal. One simple way to make the most out of your budget is to talk about your sales on your best channels. This could be running ads on your most active social media channels, sending email blasts to your best email audiences, and using paid advertising options on Google. Whichever channel you choose to use, ensure that it’s filled with the right audience. You want to target those Denver shoppers that are most likely to make a purchase. If you waste all of your budget in the wrong place, you won’t see the best outcome for your holiday sales. Take some time and look back at what has worked for you this year and during past peak season.
 As you put the final touches on your holiday sales, be sure to look at the most important areas of your sales: shipping, customer experience, and returns. These next few weeks will be the busiest time of the year for your online store, and it’s imperative that you have a solid plan to successfully manage your holiday sales and the returns that follow afterward. If you need help with return management, take a look at our 2020 holiday return guide.
Ready to start planning for 2021? Contact our eCommerce logistics experts at Rakuten Super Logistics and see how we can help increase your profit and cut your shipping costs.
Contact us to see how Rakuten Super Logistics can transform your business.
Rakuten Super Logistics (RSL) is the leader in eCommerce order fulfillment services and freight brokerage. RSL offers national fulfillment services and a network of 15 US fulfillment centers located in Anaheim (CA), Atlanta (GA), Austin (TX), Chicago (IL), Denver (CO), Houston (TX), Las Vegas (NV), Olean (NY), Reno (NV), Salt Lake City (UT), and Scranton (PA). Their state-of-the-art technology allows for integration with popular shopping cart platforms and online marketplaces including Amazon, Big Commerce, Channel Advisor, eBay, Magento, ShipStation, Shopify, Volusion, Walmart Marketplace, and WooCommerce.Â
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