Sawaram Suthar / 7 Mins Read
Updated: March 3, 2025
Are you eagerly waiting for the holiday season? If yes, here are some tips you should follow to keep your eCommerce website up and running when the holidays kick in.
Every shopper knows that the holiday season is the most significant and pivotal period for retailers worldwide. All the markets known to mankind light up right before the festivities take over, as holidays are the optimum time to buy and gift new things and fulfill everyone's dreams!
Even online retailing sees substantial growth in the final quarter of every year, as shoppers riot the websites and the apps to find and get the best deal possible. However, despite more excellent demand scopes, E-commerce websites must behave correctly –read: work their bottoms off—to lure in customers thanks to the competition.
With the global E-commerce market being 1.6 Trillion USD big, numerous players are out there to steal your clients and customers. To be exact, there are more than 110 000 online shops!
Last year alone, companies saw a 12% additional growth in sales thanks to people opening their wallets during the holidays. So, you must get your permutations and combinations before the holiday season begins.
Let's examine how you can prepare your E-commerce website or store for serious business during the holidays.
Remember, brick-and-mortar shops during the holidays—especially the popular ones—are always filled with people, enough sometimes to dissuade shoppers from entering. The same thing can occur on your website or app as well.
Users expect a smooth ride, and online shopping is becoming a popular platform for spending money. Hence, websites must ensure smooth traffic movement during rush hours. Remember some things when you get your website ready for the last quarter.
A slight delay in page loading can be very detrimental, as studies have shown that 57% of visitors leave a page when it takes 3 seconds to load. To avoid this, optimization and proper maintenance procedures must be implemented to get you through the vacation period.
Your website or online store’s interface is the sales executive that your users rely on. Your interface always has the onus to provide and present the right things correctly to all your online shoppers.
If you want your shoppers to have a good shopping experience with you, developing and operating a user-friendly website is vital. The process has to begin with a good design, making it easier for shoppers to hunt, select, and buy products from your website. To make the whole process easier and less tedious, you can primarily focus on a few things first.
To date, 28% of people in the United States have not yet used the Internet. However, this number is decreasing daily, and your website must be ready to accommodate them, too.
Online shopping means your clients have to do real business with you over the internet through your website. This actually makes shopping at online stores a very fearful practice for some.
With 1 in every ten now a victim of online fraud or crime, cybercrime has become a serious issue. E-commerce websites must have a robust mechanism and proper layout if they want their customers to shop without fear.
A TLS/SSL certificate is a priority for any website these days, as it gives customers high assurance. And during the holiday season, this assurance is quite vital. If possible, your websites should also have an EVSSL certification, as shoppers get extra trust when the green padlock lights up on your website’s address.
Since users must provide their credit card credentials, bank account details, and other vital information to shop, websites must ensure security to gain the users' trust. Also, they must tie up with renowned payment gateways so shoppers feel safe when they use their personal details to do business with you.
With 1.4 billion active Android users and 1 billion iOS users, ignoring any specific platform or device may be the stupidest thing your E-commerce website can ever do. With 3.6 billion internet users around the planet using the web world on various devices and platforms, you must tap everyone during the holiday.
Users can be active on various devices, with any operating system and in several screen sizes. Hence, the onus is on you to provide responsive screen support so that everyone can be catered to. Your website should work on large LED screens and small smartphones to make the most of the holiday sales. Don’t create a scenario where your phone users must select the full version instead of the mobile version page. So, make your website responsive and roll out an app for maximum mileage.
As per Criteo’s Mobile Commerce Report, users who surf on multiple devices and platforms are likely to complete a transaction 20% more than regular users.
Want to ensure that your customers opt for the best deals? Then try to grab your shopper’s attention profoundly. The highlighting should be done on specific pages, such as the homepage.
Since people look to buy gifts for their loved ones during the holiday season, it is always beneficial to highlight the best presents and some great deals on them. You could also give them gift-wrapping options or discounts on their gifts.
A photo book is a great gift option for loved ones that will be treasured for years. With so many online services available, creating a unique and personalized gift filled with cherished memories and special moments is easy.
Promote your best sellers using graphics and engaging content. Do anything to grab the users' attention.
78% of users have opted out of a transaction thanks to poor consumer service: American Express Survey
Shopping online means your users must rely heavily on your customer support team. The rush is always insane when the festivities are around the corner; people tend to shop more—as the stats have proven.
Thus, the pressure always stays on your team to provide the best support quickly. More visitors to your online store means more questions, complaints, and feedback. The tensions can rage when users want a quick resolution to their problem. Your customer support team must hold their nerve and guide your aggrieved users through and solve the problem.
Data from Forrester indicates that 55% of users in the U.S. stop their transactions when they can’t get a quick answer from a website.
Some tips that you can employ during the holidays to be more productive in the customer support program:
Also, if you believe you are short on staff or your existing team cannot cope with the holiday shopping rush, hire people!
Having a marketing roadmap before you plunge into holiday sales is vital! Whatever action you decide to take—or ignore—will impact your sales and your conversion rate.
Start by advertising what you can offer during the holidays and why people should select you. Communicate your message using newsletters, E-mails, social media, text messages, online adverts, and online banners.
Investing in a robust promotional campaign and planning on any media channel can bring your website closer to the customers. Use all forms of communication to lure your customers. You can even offer deals and throw in discounts as a marketing gimmick.
If possible, use the traits of content marketing to convey your message uniquely.
The festivals are coming up, and you want your regular users to shop from you again. However, on the flip side, you also want to tap new customers.
You have to work on the fine line here, and when it comes to renovating or rejuvenating your online store, the thread is even narrower. First, when the festivals are around the corner, you must wholeheartedly support the holiday season.
Put in things on the website like a Christmas Cap, use a new distinct holiday season logo, place a picture of Santa, or use snowflake animation here and there. Just blend in with the holiday spirit.
If you provide users with some festival spirit, they will feel more accommodated. But do not overdo it.
Any significant change to your identity, website ergonomics, brand, or even change of corporate colors just for one season may hit you hard. Your regular users will not like that you are changing or have changed—as it will cause inconvenience and disrupt their flow.
70% of consumer experience depends on how the user is treated by companies: Touch Agency
If you want to serve your customers best, you have to listen to them first. Your consumer support and service team must note down all the feedback and complaints that your users may have. This feedback can be for various reasons, but you must rectify those issues before the holiday extravaganza begins.
Since the last quarter will be the most pivotal time for your online shop, you must patch up all loose ends to provide the best customer experience to all users. If you face or try to solve a problem during the high sales period itself, you will add unnecessary extra pressure to your already burdened-up team.
Thus, implementing relevant feedback and suggestions before the season starts is vital for business. Also, if you take customers’ advice, you are improving yourself for your users. Besides, consumers feel valued if you use their suggestions, and they stick with you just because of that. In this age, being customer-centric has its perks.
People hesitate to buy from an online store for two main reasons: bad/ambiguous return policy and failure to deliver on time. These are some hurdles that companies must eradicate if they want to make the most of holiday sales.
For instance, 51% of shoppers look for free return shipping when they buy from online stores.
If your store does not provide this fundamental feature, you might lose out on potential shoppers. Just try to pacify your shoppers with a hassle-free exchange or return guarantee. The help will allow users to relax and shop with you with even more enthusiasm.
Also, on-time delivery may be challenging during the holiday season, as some logistic companies may not provide continuous and flawless service. Hence, double-check with your shippers before you give the customer with an estimated delivery time.
You do not want to short-less the customer.
So, gear up, say Ho-Ho, and prepare your online store for this year's upcoming holiday season. We are sure that these pointers will help you provide an even better service to all your shoppers than they got last year.
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Sawaram Suthar (Sam) is a Founding Director at Middleware. He has extensive experience in marketing, team building and operations. He is often seen working on various GTM practices and implementing the best ones to generate more demand. He has also founded a digital marketing blog - TheNextScoop.
