[FR] Christmas and e-commerce: how to cope with the festive rush?

For any online retailer, the end-of-year period is key. This is when many e-commerce sites achieve their best results. But it’s also a golden opportunity to build customer loyalty and boost sales throughout the year.

But making Christmas rhyme with e-commerce requires solid preparation, in terms of technique, marketing… and logistics!

The aim of this article is to help you increase the sales of your e-commerce shop, but also to satisfy your customers from A to Z thanks to an optimal brand experience.

What do your e-commerce customers expect at the end of the year?

Your customers’ expectations during the Christmas period are even higher than during the rest of the year.

They can be summed up in three key elements:

• An optimised customer experience. Your ordering and payment processes need to be smooth, which means you need to review the speed of your website and its ability to handle a large number of visitors at once.
• Security first and foremost. When they do their end-of-year shopping online, your customers expect to order from e-commerce brands that are concerned about the security of their data and have reliable commitments. You therefore need to reassure your customers about the legitimacy of your brand, by putting forward social proof (such as testimonials from satisfied customers), as well as promoting your company’s commitments.
• Optimum shipping speed. Some customers place last-minute orders for gifts and expect delivery to be on time. All the more reason for you to prepare your logistics processes to the letter, so that you’re ready for any eventuality.

How can you prepare your e-commerce website for the Christmas period?

First of all, as e-tailers, it’s essential to look after your shop window: your website.

Without necessarily redesigning your e-commerce site, make sure you optimise the user experience. Make sure that your site is responsive for smooth browsing on mobile phones, that it allows intuitive switching between product sheets and pages, and that it offers easy access to the shopping basket and checkout. These are all factors that will boost your conversion rate.

Don’t forget to offer your customers a variety of payment methods. There are various e-commerce tools that allow you to pay by credit card, PayPal or in several instalments on a sales site.

You should also set up a truly personalised browsing experience. Depending on whether your targets are existing customers who come back to order from you, or new customers, adapt the products you present to maximise the chances of conversions and increase your average basket. For example, you could offer recommendations for personalised or complementary products that are relevant to those in the shopping basket (cross-selling).

Finally, implement a cross-channel marketing strategy. Continue to feed your on-site strategy, via SEO for example (optimising pages for natural search engine referencing). But also deploy webmarketing actions on social networks, on marketplaces in which you are a partner, or via high-impact emailing.

And don’t hesitate to study your competitors’ sites so that you can incorporate their best practices into your own e-commerce site!

How can you prepare your e-commerce logistics for the holiday rush?

Having a well-oiled merchant site is not enough to make Christmas rhyme with e-commerce. Remember to apply these best practices to prepare your logistics processes for this key time of year.

Take care of your stock management

To sell effectively over the Christmas period, and to meet your customers’ expectations, your stocks need to be ready in advance.

Think in particular about :

• Anticipate the products that are going to be ordered en masse, to avoid stock-outs (and therefore delayed deliveries).
• Working with your suppliers so that they commit to delivering the right products at the right time.
• Prepare an emergency stock of some of your key products.

At the same time, make sure you link up your stock management tool (such as your WMS, or Warehouse Management System) to your CMS. Whether you have a Woocommerce, Shopify, Prestashop, Magento or any other e-commerce platform, the synchronisation between your actual stocks and your online shop must be done in real time.

Prepare your returns policy

For many of your customers, the ability to easily return ordered products is a selling point. That’s why it’s important to take care with your customer returns policy.

To do this:

• Offer free returns to boost your sales
• Increase the return time to avoid clogging up your supply chain with your returns
• Promote your returns policy on your website as a genuine additional selling point

Also consider packaging your parcels with return packaging. These are designed to withstand two shipments (the shipment on your part, and the return of the order). This will simplify the process for your customers, and ensure that returned products are in optimum condition.

Organise your warehouse to be more efficient

For the Christmas period of your e-commerce business more than ever, your warehouse needs to be organised to speed up the rate at which your operators prepare orders.

Think in particular about :

• Optimising the packing table or station, so that order pickers can work more efficiently. All the packaging utensils and products to be used should be arranged in such a way as to make this phase of your supply chain as quick as possible. To find out more, read our article on the subject.
• Install the right handling equipment. For example, consider equipping your warehouse with order-picking trolleys, which help operators to prepare parcels quickly and efficiently.
• Train your operators to prepare orders quickly.

Take care when unboxing your products

Unboxing your e-commerce products is a key moment for your customers at the end of the year. They need to be able to access the products they have ordered quickly, while at the same time enjoying the “wow effect” that will anchor your brand in their minds for a long time to come.

To achieve this, choose packaging that’s easy to open, such as tear-off strips or gummed strips. Add goodies and other personalised touches to your parcels to create that famous “wow effect” with customers.

To find out more, discover e-commerce gift packaging to delight your customers at the end of the year.

Using personalised packaging

Personalised packaging for your products is a lever that makes your brand visible when orders are received, so you can build customer loyalty over the festive period.

Think about personalising your packaging in your brand’s colours, with your logo prominently displayed on it, or a slogan dedicated to the festive season printed right on the cardboard.

And if you don’t have the time to design this personalised packaging, think about personalised padding (such as tissue paper adapted to your graphic charter) or personalised gift labels. These third-party elements take less time to design, and can make all the difference.

To find out more, read our article “Personalised e-commerce packaging: what if you boosted your customer experience?

How do you deal with a last-minute Christmas e-commerce order?

Even if you’ve prepared everything in advance, you’re bound to come across customers who still place orders at the last minute – and you need to satisfy them as best you can! Here’s how to go about it.

Offer suitable delivery methods

The delivery of your products largely determines the customer experience you offer your customers. So make sure you choose the right carriers to meet your customers’ demands for speedy delivery.

In particular, consider offering :

• Short delivery times, such as 24-hour or 48-hour delivery – at a higher cost if necessary.
• Several delivery methods: home delivery, but also delivery to a “Point Relais” or an automatic left-luggage office, to avoid the additional delays associated with individual delivery.

Postal packaging for small orders

Have you heard of postal packaging? This is packaging designed specifically to fit through a standard letterbox the first time the deliveryman passes. So they’re ideal for keeping delivery times to a minimum this Christmas for your e-commerce business!

In particular, consider packing your small products in padded pockets, postal cases or extra-flat boxes, rather than large cartons. The other advantage of this packaging method? It limits the amount of empty space in parcels, and therefore the environmental impact of your e-commerce business.

Focus on “time-saving” packaging for your e-commerce Christmas

One of the most effective logistics levers for dealing with urgent e-commerce orders at Christmas is time-saving packaging.

The idea? Use packaging that reduces order preparation time, such as :

• Instant assembly packaging, which can be assembled simply by pressing on the sides of the box
• Packaging with integrated cushioning, which eliminates the need for additional cushioning materials
• Packaging with integrated adhesive tape, so there’s no need to tape it down to secure it

Choose a packaging supplier committed to the success of your brand

Last but not least: surround yourself with suppliers who can help you get the most out of your e-commerce business this Christmas! Your packaging supplier must be committed to your success.

At RAJA, we are committed to delivering our packaging products quickly and efficiently. Our delivery is guaranteed within 24 to 48 hours anywhere in France, thanks to our four national distribution centres in the Paris region and our regional distribution centre for the South of the country.

We always have 12,000 products in stock, so you can choose the right packaging for your e-commerce Christmas. A guarantee of speed, but also of customer experience!