Preparing your online store for the holiday season
As consumers continue to flock to the internet to do their shopping, companies small and large face a pressing need to prepare their websites and ecommerce solutions in the weeks leading up to the holiday season. Retailers are expecting to see a massive rise in online shopping in 2020 due to COVID-19 restrictions on physical stores, which only reinforces the need to consider and improve your digital storefront before the season starts.
Plan Your Ecommerce Promotions in Advance
Even if you won’t be putting up holiday sales right away, you likely already know what items and price points you will use throughout the season. Planning ahead gives you time to take pictures, write product descriptions and do all the other things you need before posting the sales on your website. Plus, you can enter your sale prices ahead of time, scheduling your promotions to start and end at a specific time. It can actually be more challenging to do flash sales or create new offers on short-notice through your website than it would be in a physical store. If your ecommerce platform isn’t tied directly to your POS system, you should aim to keep an extra close eye on your stock, so you can inform customers about shortages before they buy the product rather than apologizing to them later.
Optimize Your Ecommerce Website Design
Optimizing your website design is an absolute must if you want to deliver a seamless and convenient experience to shoppers. Pages that load slowly and confusing design elements are among the leading reasons why users abandon websites before seriously browsing the product offerings. Ample optimization and testing are always recommended for business websites, even if you don’t have full-fledged ecommerce features.
It’s also worth noting that your website should be optimized for different browsers, not just the most popular one, as well as for mobile devices. In fact, many consumers primarily shop on their phones, so designing your entire site for mobile use or offering a mobile-version is a must. Backed by years of experience and countless successful sites, our team can help you consider all opportunities to streamline and optimize the online shopping experience for your customers.
Implement Discount Features
Many businesses leverage a multifaceted marketing strategy that is designed to both encourage new traffic and promote offers for users who have previously visited the website. Incorporating a discount code feature into your online store gives you an opportunity to partner with other websites, influencers and customers. Referral and new customer discounts can also help spread engagement and interest through social media channels and niche communities.
Make Checkout Easier
A staggering number of customers abandon their online purchase due to confusion or frustration during the checkout process—a real tragedy for the retailers who invest in marketing, presentation and products, but neglect their virtual checkout. This process should be as simple and error-tolerant as possible, so users don’t have to constantly double-check or redo their order.
Ideally, checkout should empower customers with numerous payment options and give them an opportunity to review their order without repetitious confirmation. We pride ourselves on having extensive knowledge and experience with ecommerce websites. From robust online shopping experiences to quick-view catalog options, we focus on building reliable website solutions for our customers. Even if you’re not ready for a full-fledged ecommerce website, our team can help you explore solutions that give your customers the freedom and flexibility to view and/or purchase your products before visiting your store in person.
Don’t Wait for the Holiday Rush to Get Your Ecommerce Website Ready
While we’re always happy to help our clients develop fast and effective website solutions throughout the year, we do encourage those in retail to ramp up their efforts before the holiday season hits. With 2020 promising to be a landmark year for online sales, it’s best not to waste a single day of it losing sales due to clunky design, loading delays or malfunctioning features. Contact us today and let our team help you brainstorm, design, implement and test solutions that entice customers and drive your sales.
