Believe it or not, the holidays are just around the corner! With 88% of consumers planning to shop online for gifts, it’s bound to be the busiest season yet. But don’t press the panic button just yet – here’s how to avoid burnout this holiday season.
1. Plan Ahead as Much as Possible
While you won’t be able to predict everything that you’ll face this holiday season, you’ll thank yourself later for doing some legwork now. Here are some ideas for what to tackle while you still have time.
- If you do marketing for your store, go ahead and make your campaign plans through the end of the year.
- If your inbox is becoming unwieldy, now is the time to get it in order.
- Make a list of potential roadblocks and come up with solutions. For example, if you are worried about potential shipping delays, you may want to incentivize early shopping through discounts or free gifts with purchase. Especially since many consumers are shopping earlier this holiday season, it’s a good idea to start your promotions early to reduce the risk of delays and capture more sales.
2. Prioritize tasks for when the going gets tough
As a business owner, you may feel like you have 100 things to accomplish in a day. Making a daily to-do list based on priorities – and sticking to it – will not only save your sanity but also make you a more efficient business owner. As you make your list ask yourself what must get done that day versus what can wait. You may find you have less to do in one day than you originally thought.
3. Set customer expectations
Some things are out of your control this holiday season, especially when it comes to shipping. In Q2 of this year, the average daily package volume for UPS was 92% of last year’s Q4 holiday peak, so we can only imagine how this holiday season will look. How to keep your customers happy? Address these issues upfront on your homepage. Include shipping delay messaging during checkout and in confirmation emails. Create an FAQ page on your website to address common customer issues out of your control. Your customers will be happier, and so will you.
4. Automate As Much as Possible
5. Rely on Gooten
You built your store to sell, so let Gooten take care of the rest. We help you source the right products at the right price for your growing eCommerce business. Once your customer purchases a product, we will fulfill, produce, and ship their order through the Gooten Network. We are your dedicated business partner through the ups and downs of this holiday season.
