Manage Your E-commerce Like a Boss This Holiday Season

The holidays are just around the corner, and people have already begun to cross off their holiday lists of gifts for loved ones and friends. You may be ready for the holiday rush to begin, but there's also a lot to do with e-commerce holiday management while it's all happening and after it's over.

How to Successfully Manage Your E-commerce Store During the Holiday Rush

There are still many steps that must happen to facilitate a great customer experience from start to finish. Here are a few e-commerce holiday tips for managing your store during the rush.  

Provide a Positive Shipping Experience

Make sure shipping and delivery run smoothly. That means orders must arrive on time, customers must receive the correct order, and ultimately, the customer must be happy with the purchase once it's received. There are a few ways to optimize your e-commerce shipping experience:

• Partner with more than one carrier, such as major shippers like UPS, or utilize 3PL and third-party fulfillment services.
• Provide live tracking so you and your customers can check the shipment's status.
• Update customers along the way so they know what to expect.

Deliver Stellar Customer Service

Customer service must always be on point, no matter how busy your online store gets during the rush. If you're managing your solo or you have a customer support team assisting you, there are a few key ways to stay on top of customer inquiries and concerns:

• Have updated contact information that's easy to find on your site
• Create an email inquiry form and utilize automation to let them know when to expect a response
• Set up a chatbot on your store's homepage; be sure it is continually monitored when active

Clearly Display Your Return Policy

Strategize and create a seamless return policy that's straightforward for customers. If the process is hassle-free for the customer, the chance of repeat business is much more likely. Here's what you can do:

• Be transparent and clearly state what you're able to accommodate (and what you're not)
• Provide all the information and steps necessary to complete the process
• Offer flexibility in how returns can be reimbursed, i.e., full refund, replacement, store credit.

How to Clean Up Your E-commerce Store After The Holiday Rush

After the holiday shopping frenzy winds down, you still have work to do to ensure everything runs smoothly throughout the process. Here are a few ways to clean up your online store:

Remove All Holiday Content

You don't want to end up with Black Friday sales or holiday messaging on your site after the new year, so remove any special content you've added. Don't forget to check the following:

• Your store's homepage graphic
• Banners announcing sales or ship times
• Social media or other channels

Perform an Inventory Audit

When an online store gets swamped, details can slip through the cracks, so an impromptu audit is beneficial after a holiday rush. Plus, you'll be able to:

• Determine balance versus capital
• Check for quantity discrepancies
• Determine best-selling products

Reevaluate Your Store

Once you have updated reporting, you can begin to study your overall analytics, which will help you figure out what worked best and what didn't. That way, you'll be prepared based on your experience when the next holiday rush comes around. A few questions you could ask yourself are:

• Was my store's pricing on point? Should I lower them or raise them?
• Should I reconsider product offerings?
• Did customer service, shipping, and other services run smoothly?

Need Help with Your Online Store this Holiday Season?

With everything from updating your website, managing order processing, providing customer service, or analyzing data, your workload will likely double during the holiday season. To stay on top of it all, consider hiring a freelancer. The talented freelance community at Fiverr can help with everything you need. In fact, there's an entire category dedicated to e-commerce business management.

But remember, the holiday rush is about to go into high gear, so be sure to find a freelancer in time to help you stay on your game now.

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