Prepare for the Christmas season: Checklist for online shops

June. Slowly out again, maybe even on holiday…? Different rules apply this year. While summer is, in our experience, the slowest time for sales in e-commerce, circumstances this year have “pushed” many customers out of retail and into online shops. Corona has had a significant impact on online retail. What does this mean for Christmas 2020? And why should you deal with it now?

Why we are talking about Christmas NOW

With summer holidays still to come, it’s hard to think about the cold season already. So far, not even the first chocolate Santas have made their way into the supermarkets. And yet now is the right time for online retailers to prepare for the next shopping events. Even under normal circumstances, e-commerce sales and market shares are rising compared to retail. One in five already prefers to do their Christmas shopping online. And: this year it will be significantly more!

The situation in retail is still anything but relaxed. Hygiene and distance rules make shopping possible, but it is hardly possible to enjoy it. Even if changes come into force by autumn: The idea of a latent threat will linger in the minds of customers. Dense crowds in shopping streets before Christmas will be the exception. Added to this is the fact that in the meantime, shopper groups that were previously rather not online-savvy have been forced to “practice”. The result: Christmas business in 2020 will take place online.

More than ever, the right preparation for the Christmas business is essential.

Christmas shopping checklist

When preparing for Christmas business, many points need to be taken into account. On the one hand, stocks, capacities and delivery times. On the other hand, marketing measures, promotions and communication. A time-consuming preparation that should ideally start now! The following checklist contains the most important points and helps to plan the Christmas business already now.

1 Determine stock levels and trends

The summer slump is ideal for Inventory to carry out a stocktaking. Slow sellers and best sellers are identified. This allows you to deduce which products are offered at a special price during sales promotions such as the summer sales or Black Friday in order to create space in the warehouse – the products that sell little.
But before stocking up, it is advisable to know the current trends. In addition to the best sellers, it is important to know what will be given away for Christmas. It is important to identify the appropriate Christmas products for the individual Categories Christmas products offered in your own online shop.

2 Additional staff

The flood of parcels at Christmas poses problems for delivery services and online retailers alike. Based on previous experience and estimates, it is advisable to increase staff, depending on capacities. This also requires a short training period until all picking processes are routine and without time loss. But afterwards, employees and assistants can work together as a well-coordinated team in the Christmas workshop to prepare the gifts for dispatch. Make sure you find suitable staff in good time. That way, you can relax and rely on good people when it counts – and while others are still looking, you can already get started.

3 Selecting the parcel service

The Selection of the parcel service parcel service is another success factor for the online shop. Postage costs, delivery times and the reliability of the parcel service are important criteria when choosing a delivery company. At Christmas, for example, it is especially important that the presents arrive on time. No customer wants to stand in front of the tree on Christmas Eve without a present.
Every year, the volume of parcels increases. Last year, 330 million parcels were sent for the festive season in Germany alone. A major logistical challenge, especially when you consider that parcel services are still estimated to be short of thousands of delivery staff despite additional personnel. Many parcel services therefore stop accepting new customers in the season around Christmas. By coordinating with your current partner in good time, you can bring another parcel service on board so that your Christmas mail is delivered on time and ensures satisfied customers.

This year, the situation is even worse: while in recent years the order volume of parcel delivery companies has traditionally tended to flatten out in the summer months, the current situation this year has led to delivery companies already reporting parcel volumes in April, May and June that are usually the same as at Christmas time.
What this means for the coming Christmas business is not entirely foreseeable. What is clear is this:

Parcel delivery companies are not experiencing any “relaxation” during the summer months this year. From the Corona rush straight into the Christmas phase….

4 Individual packaging

Packaging is a big part of marketing: it has to fit the product and communicates the brand identity. Personalised packaging makes an impact: Throughout the supply chain, the package draws attention. Nowadays, almost every item can be personalised. Could it be a Christmas box that wishes the neighbour a Merry Christmas over the fence while still being delivered? There are many possibilities, but only one thing is not possible: packaging without recognition value! Personalised printing of packaging materials can take a whole eight weeks from order to delivery.
So placing an order early is worthwhile here, too. A tip regarding postage costs and avoiding packaging waste: depending on the size of the item and the quantity ordered, order boxes with the appropriate dimensions.

5 Adapt your website

The website or online shop is the shop window for customers and should be decorated for Christmas. With suitable campaigns, emotions can be aroused in the consumer and thus provide additional reach:

– Communication of delivery times: “To receive the order before 24 December, the item must be ordered by …”
– Free gifts above a certain order value
– Discount campaigns and vouchers
– Advent calendar
– Competitions

On the website, it is by far not only the marketing perspective that plays a role; the performance and selection options during the ordering process are essential. Fast loading times and stable access under heavy load also contribute significantly to sales. Connection interruptions during the ordering process are annoying for the customer and damage trust in the consumer relationship.
In addition, the following options should be offered during the checkout process:

– Different delivery address than billing address to send the gift directly.
– Multiple options for payment method and purchase of gift vouchers
– Wrapping service to deliver the gift beautifully packaged
– Express shipping for last minute orders to shorten delivery time
– Shipping confirmation and tracking code so the customer can track the shipment
– Gift tips and inspiration, e.g. “other users also bought” or “Christmas gift ideas for…”.

A little digression: what else you need to effectively prepareyour workplace for Christmas

6Returns after Christmas

Ideally, no items will be returned. However, this is wishful thinking. After Christmas Eve, online shop operators only have a short time to breathe. Then the flood of returns starts. Preparing for an increased number of returns helps with processing. The returned articles are checked in a quality control, and in case of an exchange, a new and quick delivery has to be initiated. Depending on how many vouchers were sold before Christmas, one should be prepared for a renewed order peak when redeeming them.

Timely preparation means less stress

The early bird catches the worm. This is more true than ever this year, given the special circumstances. What has already become visible during the last few weeks: Many orders are shifting from the big online generalists to smaller suppliers.

As recently as 2018, 72% of all gifts purchased online were bought through Amazon. Amazon was thus the front-runner among gift suppliers. In this respect, a significantly different picture will emerge this year:

While the online generalists have significantly longer delivery times than usual for some product groups, books, electronics and also household items – the classic Christmas gifts! – are already being ordered from other suppliers. Most of these suppliers have already optimised their webshops in recent weeks. For them, the Christmas business will be worthwhile. The same applies to everyone else:

Use the time now to coordinate, prepare and plan everything in an organised manner. If everything is completed early, you have the opportunity to put technical implementations to the test and there is still time for optimisation. For example: Buy shipping boxes now!

An important aspect of preparation is to include experience. If there have been difficulties with a parcel service in the past, look for an alternative. If there were too few Christmas boxes, order more. And if the packing service was not used as expected, you need less wrapping paperthis year… Yes, we should talk about Christmas now!