Is your business ready for Christmas?

By Michael Baxter on 11 October 2016 with tags Marketing, Upgrade

Bespoke CMS E-commerce Marketing Utopia Hosting Into CMS Upgrade Tech Consulting Tips

It’s October. It’s starting to warm up and the holidays are approaching fast. The time to get your website ready for Christmas is not the 1st December – it’s now.

Your mobile strategy, website, online marketing, SEO and so much more must be organised. The Christmas holidays might seem distant today, but for ecommerce merchants, there’s no time like the present to get prepared for the annual rush. The peak selling season can be a stressful time for online merchants who are scrambling to get products to customers as quickly as possible. That’s why it’s a good idea to take stock of your ecommerce operation now to make sure you’ll be prepared when the shopping season is in full swing.

Planning infrastructure needs, considering platform upgrades, testing your system for weaknesses – these activities are easier to conduct during a slower time than at the height of the cyber shopping season. Here are some tips to help you get started.

1. Evaluate your site

Most ecommerce stores start out small and then grow as the merchant builds a customer base. Have you outgrown your site? Now is a good time to take a critical look, evaluating your online store against competitors. Perhaps you need to consider booking it in for a free website WOF.

2. Check out your shopping cart

These days a basic shopping cart may not be enough to keep customers in your store. Consumers increasingly expect greater levels of personalisation and a streamlined check-out experience. If your shopping cart software fails to deliver, you could be losing sales. Does your cart display items, order status and extras like reviews, product ratings, images and discount offers?

4. Assess your payment options

Here are some common payment options available in New Zealand. Are you catering to all the possible ways your customers will want to pay over the holidays?

5. Keep your store safe

Hacking is on the rise, and consumers are edgy about trusting merchants with their vital account information. You should look at your website software and consider getting a website security update done.

6. Make sure your store can handle traffic spikes

Is your current website host up to the task of running your website? Utopia can assist in moving your website to a new web host if you are not happy with your current provider.

Even though it’s the busiest time of the year, ecommerce merchants often look forward to peak shopping time. It’s exciting to build relationships with new suppliers and customers while also renewing ties with existing contacts.

But before peak cyber shopping time gets here, it makes sense to prepare for the Christmas shopping stampede – and there’s no time like the present.

If you need assistance in any of the areas above please contact us at Utopia today.