Omnichannel businesses face the challenge of meeting heightened customer expectations across different platforms during the Holiday rush. Ensuring seamless operations and exceptional customer experiences during the Holidays requires a strategic approach. Explore this blog for comprehensive recommendations to prepare for the upsurge during the Holiday season.
With the Holidays approaching, it has never been more important for omnichannel retailers or sellers to succeed. Omnichannel integration of the physical and eCommerce store and integration of online and mobile shopping gives the customers consistent services, either online or physical shopping, click-and-collect, or same-day delivery. As we approach the holiday season, it becomes paramount that you need to plan thoroughly to ensure that you can fulfill these increased requirements.
While it can’t be denied that the peak Holiday season is the best time for sales, it is also the worst time for operations. Thus, the golden rule for your omnichannel business is to start its preparation early. From effective inventory management and real-time stock availability across all touchpoints, you need to keep your eyes on every aspect, as small things make a big difference. Also, a strong marketing campaign that targets customers through several calls to action and timely follow-up calls can increase sales and customer retention. Another important aspect is the accurate and timely execution of the order fulfillment process since a delay or an error can upset your customers. As Andy Beal, known as ‘The Original Online Reputation Expert,’ says, “96% of your unhappy customers will not complain to you but tell their 15 other friends” about their experience with your brand. No one wants such a negative reaction, especially during the peak season.
Mastering the challenges that come with the holiday season means foreseeing the pain points and finding innovative approaches to the processes to ensure you get to create an outstanding experience for your customers, which will ring through the new year. So, let’s explore some comprehensive guidelines to help your omnichannel store overcome the hurdles of the festive days.
Prepare Your Omnichannel Business for the Holiday Rush
We understand that omnichannel operations are no longer just an option but mandatory to cater to your customers in this digital-first world. However, it can be daunting to be completely prepared for the Holiday rush when consumers are ready to switch brands for the slightest dissatisfaction. Here are some useful tips to help you prepare for the peak season logistics:
• Automation is the Key
You must prepare well to avoid operational chaos during the peak season. Consequently, embracing automation of your business processes is the key to thriving during this cut-throat competition. Any simple error or mistake might disrupt the workflow during these trying times. Also, as you need to increase your inventory and other supplies to cater to the upsurge, you need to automate operations. Additionally, to develop a seasonal pricing strategy, manual pricing will not help with the increased demand for products. AI-enabled automatic repricers will be of immense help in such times.
• Easy & Flawless User Experience
Your website or eCommerce store is your brand presence in the digital world. Needless to say, you must be very careful about the beauty, functionality, and ease of navigation of your website’s desktop and mobile versions to offer a unified shopping experience. Here are some of the factors you must ensure:
- Data security for online transaction
- Website/online store must be device and mobile-friendly
- Enable push notification and cart abandonment notification
- Search engine and social media optimization
- A cloud-native, scalable platform or solution
• Facilitate Chat
Today’s digitally savvy customers feel more comfortable finding their products or resolving their queries. So integrating a functional AI-enabled chat facility on your online store or website is the “need of the hour.” It will enable you to help your customers with their queries on your products or fulfillment schedule during these busy times. An accurate and prompt response would positively influence your customers’ purchase decisions.
• Mark Your Calendar
Ensure that you and your team mark all the important dates of the Holiday season so you can run your marketing campaigns efficiently and develop an effective fulfillment strategy. It is crucial for your marketing, sales, and logistics team to work cohesively to avoid any confusion or missed holiday shipping deadlines. Here are some of the significant dates of this year:
- Thanksgiving: November 28
- Black Friday: November 29
- Cyber Monday: December 2
- Christmas: December 25
- Boxing Day: December 26
• Frequent Inventory Audit
Conduct inventory audits more frequently to ensure your stock levels are optimum. Running out of stock in such a busy season might lead to an unpleasant customer experience that can result in a sales drop. Analyze your previous sales during the Holidays for accurate demand forecasting and efficient inventory management. Analyzing previous data combined with AI-enabled predictive analytics will help you detect your top-selling and less-ordered items before you stock your inventory for the season.
• Make Returns Easy
A significant volume of goods is often returned following the sales upsurge during the Holidays. You should have clear and seamless return policies to make your customers’ purchase decisions easy. So, you must put out your return policy upfront in all your digital channels to avoid confusion for your customers. After all, it has been observed that consumers avoid purchasing from a brand whose return policy is not simple and hassle-free. A study says that as high as 57% of consumers abandon a retailer due to a negative return experience.
• Efficiently Manage Technology Risk
You must mitigate all technology risks by including security testing and assessment, information security and privacy, confidentiality and integrity of information, and adequate technological resources to provide availability. The first step is to build confidence in your customers so they have trust in anything you provide. Doing so ensures that the consumers do not shift to your competitor.
Conclusion:
With festive shopping around the corner, the pressure on omnichannel players has never been greater. It means that customers expect integrated services when shopping in-store, online, and through mobile platforms. Consequently, it is imperative that you have to be well-prepared to deal with the increased traffic over the festive period.
The success of this peak season is determined by omnichannel Holiday strategies. Every detail is crucial – from ensuring that your store is adequately stocked and each item is properly tracked for every channel to how your website and mobile site load. Further, an effective marketing agenda that involves the customers and calls their attention through reminders of the product’s existence can increase sales and customer satisfaction.
The effectiveness of your fulfillment is as crucial as the quality of your product. A few days or wrong coordinates are enough to transform the happiest customers into the angriest.
So, to focus on your retail business during the Holidays, if you want to partner with a competent third-party logistics provider experienced in handling the seasonal rush, Connect with XPDEL.
About XPDEL:
XPDEL helps eCommerce brands accelerate their growth, empowering them with multichannel fulfillment, whether shipping directly to consumers, delivering to businesses, or selling through retail stores. We are founded and operated by veterans with experience from Amazon, FedEx, UPS, JDA, Walmart, Target, and other leading companies in eCommerce and Retail. Guided by these experts, we provide customer experiences that help you grow your business.
