Web Development: Preparing E-Commerce Websites for Christmas

Though as a customer you may well roll your eyes when seeing Christmas displays already going up in stores even though it's only October, now is the prime time for e-commerce retailers to start preparing for the influx of seasonal shoppers. If you website and marketing strategies aren't up to scratch well in advance, you could easily find yourself losing out to the thousands of competitors online.

 In fact, the Christmas purchasing rush has already begun: data from Statista shows that more than 50% of UK consumers begin their Christmas shopping online in October. That said, there is still plenty you can do to prepare your e-commerce strategy for this year's festive season.

The best predictor for the future is the past and so it's well worth looking back to analytics from the previous year. All customers are of course different but analysing past trends in customer behaviour can make all the difference when it comes to creating and implementing your strategies.

 
Another excellent idea is to focus on personalising the customer journey: a recent McKinsey report revealed that a massive eight out of ten customers expect personalised experiences when purchasing from e-commerce websites. Research from Customer Communications also shows that 77% of consumers are willing to pay more for products sold by online stores who deliver personalised experiences. There are many ways to provide these personalised touches, from tailored offers and adaptive content to targeted product suggestions. 

Excellent customer service is of course necessary all year round but never more so than during the festive season when traffic levels spike. A live chat option can help in this regard, as can the implementation of a automated chatbot. It's also a good idea to take some time to update your FAQ page, which can then be shared through other channels such as social media. 

Christmas gifts are sometimes unwanted by the recipient and that means an increase in returns after the festive season is over. According to data from DivideBuy, if the returning process is easy then 92% of consumers will revisit and continue to purchase from online stores even after they have returned an item.

Research carried out by the European Payments Council reveals that up to half of customers will abandon their online shopping cart if they cannot pay via their preferred option. This means that it's crucial for your online store to offer a full range of payment options including PayPal, Apple Pay, Google Pay and Klarna along with traditional debit and credit cards. 

As Lancashire's leading e-commerce development company, Brickweb can help you with all of the above and much, much more so please browse our website to discover our comprehensive suite of e-commerce services and solutions. Why not find out how your current website is performing with a detailed, jargon-free website report? It takes just moments and is provided completely free of charge with our compliments. Get in touch with Brickweb today and look forward to a very merry Christmas!