By Linnworks
Could you outlast a zombie apocalypse?
If your answer is yes, then navigating the peak season should be a walk in the park. When November and December roll around, eCommerce businesses can anticipate a tidal wave of website visitors, a surge in orders, and an unprecedented demand for products.
Even amidst the holiday hustle, customer expectations remain sky-high. Many demand fast deliveries, hassle-free returns, real-time shipping updates, and excellent customer service. The businesses that excel during this time are often those that master their logistics, from inventory management to delivery.
Here’s a guide to five crucial strategies for ensuring a prosperous peak season.
1. Dive Into Past Sales Data to Reconnect with Lost Customers
To maximise your peak season potential, consider two strategies: leverage data to enhance successful customer acquisition strategies and implement a plan to reconnect with lost customers.
Begin by scrutinising historical sales data to pinpoint which campaigns, keywords, and channels were most effective in attracting new customers. This allows you to allocate resources wisely to repeat or refine these successful strategies. You can utilise tools like Google Analytics and CRM systems to monitor customer behaviour trends. It is smart to optimise already high-performing campaigns and continuously A/B test different versions to enhance results.
2. Strengthen Inventory Management with Validation Steps
Streamlining your Warehouse Management Systems (WMS) and Inventory Management Systems (IMS) can help maintain operational efficiency during peak season.
With the increase in order volumes, errors can become more frequent. To help, you can implement validation steps in inventory management, such as scanning barcodes and shipping labels to ensure they match the correct orders. This technological safeguard helps identify and correct errors made by pickers or dispatchers.
The goal is to develop WMS and IMS strategies that minimise mistakes, enhance inventory visibility, and facilitate smooth transactions, leading to satisfied customers.
3. Optimise Paid Advertisements Before the Peak
Avoid the temptation to delay optimising your advertising efforts until the peak season. You may want to use slower periods wisely to prepare your marketing strategies for maximum impact.
Conduct an audit of your product feed and make necessary enhancements. You can ensure that all products have comprehensive attributes, implement Google Shopping Categories, and optimise feed versions for each advertising platform.
Pro Tip: Google favours detailed product titles that include brand, product name, type, and colour. In contrast, Meta prefers concise, engaging titles.
4. Enhance Shipping Processes for Peak Efficiency
A seamless dispatch process is vital during peak times. Collaborating with multiple delivery carriers can help prevent bottlenecks. If one carrier encounters issues, you can redirect traffic to another, ensuring a steady flow of orders.
Remember, carriers are also at their busiest, so prepare ahead by securing all necessary accounts well in advance.
5. Upgrade Your Tracking Systems
During peak season, there’s an increased need for accurate tracking information once orders leave your premises. With more orders, expect a rise in customer service inquiries. You can simplify the process for your customers by providing easy access to tracking information on your website and in order confirmation emails.
You can also save your team’s time by centralising tracking information across all delivery partners, eliminating the need to toggle between carrier portals. With consolidated tracking updates, you can offer proactive customer service by being promptly alerted to delivery issues, maintaining customer satisfaction, and earning rave reviews.
Embarking on these five steps will help in making your eCommerce business well-equipped to handle the peak season rush with confidence and efficiency.
About Linnworks
Linnworks is a Connected CommerceOps platform that gives online retailers the power to connect, automate and scale their eCommerce operation from a single source of truth.
Our solution brings three core attributes to the retailer: connectivity to a diverse number of marketplaces, automation to traditionally time-consuming ecommerce processes, and a centralised platform to manage listings, inventory, orders and shipments.
With over 4,000 customers and $15 billion GMV processed every year, Linnworks empowers small and medium ecommerce retailers to simplify their commerce ops, drive new revenue, exceed customer expectations and streamline logistics.
Published 04/10/2024
