How to Prepare for E-commerce Peak Season?..

What is peak season and how can it affect your business?

The e-commerce peak season is upon us! If you’re an online retailer, now is the time to make sure you're prepared for the influx of holiday shoppers. But what exactly is it, and why does it happen at the end of the year? Let’s see. Towards the end of the year, we don’t only have Christmas sales, but Halloween, Black Friday, Cyber Monday, Hanukkah, and New Year’s Eve. Not to mention many other occasions that see consumers rush to place orders. It’s no wonder then that 44% of retail businesses take a quarter of yearly sales in the peak period - and 40% take more than half.  Additionally, consumers are moving more and more to the online space. Whether it’s hunting for presents or decorations, it seems that 15% of retailers predict that online orders will account for a quarter of their peak season sales. Having a peak management plan in place is starting to seem like the way to go.  As we know, more consumers means more traffic, which could have an impact on your customer service and experience. Luckily, we’ve put together some tips on how to prepare for e-commerce peak season.

What should you keep in mind when planning?

How are consumers buying?

While desktops are still the most popular way to buy online, there is a growing trend for people to use their mobile phones and tablets. In fact, last year mobile devices accounted for 22% of all e-commerce traffic and 10% of sales on Cyber Monday, the biggest online shopping day of the year.

This is important to consider when planning for e-commerce peak season, as the kinds of channels you have available not only for consumers to order through, but to contact you by, will determine how well they rate the overall experience with your business.

What are consumers buying, and when?

Clothes, books and toys are always popular items during the e-commerce peak season, but this year there is likely to be a big increase in the number of people buying experiences such as tickets and memberships as presents. This also means that consumers are likely to start buying sooner rather than later. As an example, e-commerce giant Amazon announced that in the lead up to Christmas last year, their peak day for customer orders was December 15th with over 18 million items being shipped worldwide. This was a 60% increase from 2013’s peak shopping day.

Let’s get our shopping list together.

“Where’s my package?”

Some of the most common issues consumers face during e-commerce peak season are extended delivery times, tight returns deadlines, and trouble with shipping or tracking packages. It’s a busy time for us all, so it’s important to be prepared for any shipping or customer service issues that may arise. One way to do this is to offer customers the option to pick up their orders in-store. This can help to avoid any shipping delays, and it also gives customers the chance to see your products in person before they make a purchase. Another way to address shipping issues is to offer customers the option to pay for expedited shipping. This will ensure that their orders arrive on time, even if there are delays with standard shipping. In terms of customer service, it’s important to have enough staff on hand to handle the increased volume of inquiries. You may also want to consider using an automated customer service solution, such as a chatbot, to help with any basic inquiries. You may also see an increase in returns, which is what we’ll cover next.  

How to preempt e-commerce returns during peak season?

E-commerce returns are at an all-time high and are only expected to increase in the coming years. In fact, e-commerce return rates are estimated to be as high as 30%. That’s why it’s important for e-commerce businesses to have a returns strategy in place..