Christmas is the busiest time of the year for eCommerce businesses. And with not only the cold, cold snow, but also Coronavirus keeping people indoors this year, 2020 is going to be particularly fruitful year for the eCommerce industry.

It is imperative that you prepare for the winter shopping frenzy in advance if you want to make the most out of it.

According to Bazaarvoice research, despite the financial struggles people are experiencing due to the Coronavirus, 82% of the consumers intend to purchase holiday gifts, with 61% of them saying that they plan to spend about the same amount of money as they did last year. Pretty encouraging, considering this doesn’t account for consumer’s tendency to overspend. 

The same research has also shown that the pandemic didn’t slow eCommerce down, but revved it up! Globally, 49% of shoppers say that they are shopping online more than they did before Covid-19. Meanwhile, Salesforce predicts that up to 30% of global retail sales will be made through digital channels this holiday season.

So how can eCommerce businesses make sure that they are ready to take advantage of this unprecedented opportunity?

#1 Ho Ho Ho Hosting - Get Premium Hosting

Your hosting may be sufficient for the amount of traffic you are getting right now. But can it handle a sudden increase?

You should consider moving your website to a premium hosting provider that offers dedicated hosting, has 24/7 customer support, and can help you handle any traffic spike. And yes, it will probably cost significantly more than your current hosting, but you get what you pay for. Unconvinced? Think about the sales you will lose if your website goes down in the middle of December. 

It’s worth paying extra for premium hosting when you do the maths. 

#2 Get that Conversion Magic - Optimise Your eCommerce Store Conversions

How can you make the most out of that extra traffic?

Take time to learn about conversion rate optimisation and implement the best practices on your website. Also, if you have a Shopify store, you may want to consider switching to the Booster theme, which is the best converting Shopify theme in the world (it has doubled the conversion rates of over 15,000 stores).

#3 Stock up the Sleigh - Make Sure That You Have Enough Inventory

Look at your data from the previous years. How does a regular holiday season look like? 

Then ask yourself, with the pandemic having changed consumer beaviour, how much of an increase in sales can you expect this year? Try to find the balance between being understocked and at risk of running out of products and being overstocked and having too much cash tied up in inventory.

#4 The Holidays are Comin’, The Holidays are Comin’ (repeat until January) - Create a Winning Marketing Campaign

All these encouraging predictions about the upcoming Christmas season doesn’t mean that you can relax, sit back, and wait for the sales to start flooding in.

In fact, it’s probably safe to say that competition for the shoppers’ money will be more fierce than ever, so you better make sure that your marketing is on point. Analyse your data. See what works and what doesn’t. Then scale up the former and discard the latter.

#5 Don’t have a Nightmare Before Christmas - Consider Finding Finance

You may realise - to your horror - that you don’t have the budget to properly prepare for the upcoming Christmas season. 

You don’t want to miss out. So, you may want to take a look at the financing options available to you, then consider getting a business loan. This would allow you to make the most of the increased interest in online shopping.

Of course, when it comes to financing, it’s always important to only borrow what you need. 

You can book an appointment with us via email or phone if you would like us to talk you through the financing options that we offer to eCommerce entrepreneurs.

Conclusion

Christmas 2020 is going to be wild for small to medium businesses owners that run online stores. People want to buy their loved ones presents, but they are still worried about the Coronavirus, so going to a crowded shopping mall is less appealing than ever. It’s safe to say that a lot of them are going to look for that perfect gift online instead. Maybe your eCommerce store has what they want?

So make sure that you are prepared to take advantage of this unprecedented opportunity. 

And you need to hurry up. Christmas is less than 6 weeks away (at the time of posting this!)

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