The Ultimate Checklist to Make Your Online Store 2024 Holiday-Ready

Believe it or not, the holiday shopping season is right around the corner.

While it may be a bit early for roaring fireplaces, pumpkin pie, and jingle bells — it’s just the right time to prepare your ecommerce store for the upcoming sales rush. 

With US holiday ecommerce sales predicted to increase by 9.5% compared to last year, early preparation is key to maximizing profits and minimizing last-minute stress.

So, grab your Santa hat and get ready — because we’ve compiled a checklist of everything your online store needs to be holiday-ready before the shopping frenzy begins.

Are you ready for the 2024 holiday season?

The holidays are often the busiest time of year — especially for brands and retailers. That’s why we’re here to help make this traditionally booming sales period a little less chaotic for you.

As we creep closer to chillier days and gift-giving, here’s a checklist of key items to address that will ensure you enter the holiday season strong.

• Prepare for peak traffic.

• Offer an easy-to-use, seamless customer journey.

• Deliver a unified shopping experience across all touchpoints.

• Give the gift of exceptional shipping and fulfillment.

• Create holiday-centric marketing and promotional materials.

• Enhance your customer service.

• Be equipped to monitor performance.

1. Prepare for peak traffic.

As shoppers gear up for the holidays, expect a surge in traffic — especially during cyber week. Don’t risk losing out on crucial sales because your site can’t handle an influx of visitors.

Fortunately, BigCommerce delivers 99.99% uptime, including 100% uptime during cyber week for seven years running. Before the holiday shopping season officially kicks off, review your ecommerce platform’s performance stats so you can plan accordingly.

Here are a few other aspects to consider when preparing for increased traffic.

Ensure your inventory is well-stocked

With more traffic comes greater demand. Check in with your suppliers early to make sure you’re well-stocked, particularly for popular items.

Update and test third-party apps

To avoid disruptions during the busiest time of year, check your third-party integrations and ensure they’re up-to-date and ready to handle the traffic surge. While it might be tempting to implement a new app to streamline tasks or enhance the user experience, save it for after the holiday rush. New integrations can sometimes cause site issues or slow down performance.

2. Offer an easy-to-use, seamless customer journey.

A smooth user experience is crucial for attracting and retaining today’s shoppers. During the busy holiday season, consumers especially appreciate a fast, streamlined shopping experience that saves them time.

Here are a few key areas to optimize before the holiday rush begins.

Test site speed

In today’s competitive market, strong site performance is essential. Slow page load times can quickly drive consumers to shop with a competitor. Be sure to check your Google Core Web Vitals score to identify any areas for improvement. Small tweaks — like compressing images or cleaning up unused plugins — can significantly impact your site's speed and overall user experience.

Offer personalized experiences

Personalization makes shoppers feel valued and helps strengthen your relationship with them. As the holidays approach, fine-tune this strategy by offering personalized product recommendations and promotions. Tools like Klevu use AI to generate tailored product suggestions and strategically merchandise items based on user search history. When paired with technologies like Klaviyo, you can automatically send targeted email and SMS messages, creating a fully personalized and seamless shopping experience.

Not only does this make customers feel valued, but it also saves them time searching for products.

BigCommerce brand UntilGone has seen remarkable success after incorporating product recommendations into its transactional emails — resulting in a 200% increase in revenue.

Turn on abandoned cart notifications

Shoppers abandon their carts for various reasons — whether due to a lengthy checkout process or simply second-guessing their purchase. Whatever the reason, abandoned cart notifications can often bring them back. These reminders offer consumers a quick, convenient way to complete their unfinished purchases. In fact, abandoned cart notifications have an average conversion rate of 17.12%, meaning nearly two out of ten shoppers return to finish their transactions.

While it's a good idea to always have abandoned cart reminders enabled, activating them before the holiday traffic surge begins is especially important.

Optimize the checkout process from all angles

While abandoned cart notifications are effective, optimizing the checkout process can have an even greater impact on conversions. With 22% of shoppers abandoning their carts due to long or complicated checkouts, streamlining this experience is essential. This means enabling features like one-click checkout with Fastlane by PayPal, which stores a shopper’s shipping and payment information so they can easily purchase with the click of a button.

In addition to simplifying checkout, offer a range of payment options, such as Venmo, digital wallets, and credit cards, to accommodate different preferences. Due to ongoing economic uncertainty, Buy Now, Pay Later options will be especially popular this year. By providing flexible payment choices, you can boost customer confidence and capture more sales this holiday season.

Offer a strong return policy

A good return policy is always important, but it’s even more crucial before the holiday shopping season. A smooth, hassle-free return process gives shoppers the confidence to hit "buy." Consider enhancing your policy by offering an extended return window, free return shipping, or box-free drop-off at convenient locations. Making returns quick and easy can be a game-changer in boosting holiday sales.

3. Deliver a unified shopping experience across all touchpoints.

Today’s consumers expect a seamless shopping experience across all channels. To maximize sales this holiday season, ensure your brand delivers a unified experience across multiple selling and advertising platforms that cater to shopper preferences.

For your holiday marketing strategy, prioritize advertising through social media, where 74% of consumers look for purchase inspiration. Additionally, list your products on popular marketplaces — like Amazon, Etsy, and eBay — to reach shoppers who prefer browsing these platforms.

To simplify managing your different channels this holiday season, take advantage of BigCommerce’s native Channel Manager tool or partnership with Feedonomics.

4. Give the gift of exceptional shipping and fulfillment.

In addition to optimizing the checkout experience, show shoppers you care by offering seamless shipping and fulfillment this holiday season, along with added perks.

Be prepared for increased shipments

With more traffic comes more purchases, which means an increase in shipments. Ensure your business is ready for this surge by evaluating your shipping and fulfillment strategy before the holiday rush.

If you handle orders in-house, assess whether your team can manage the increased volume or if you need to make adjustments. Consider integrating tools like ShipStation and ShipperHQ, which can help minimize back-office tasks by automating the shipping and fulfillment process. If you need more support, explore outsourcing to a dropshipper.

Determine holiday shipping offers

This year, spread holiday cheer by offering limited-time shipping promotions. This could include discounted two-day shipping or free shipping on orders above a certain amount. Be sure to promote these offers across your website and marketing materials, as they can attract shoppers and make them more likely to purchase from you.

Offer themed packaging and a unique unboxing experience

Capture the magic of the holidays with festive, themed packaging and a memorable unboxing experience. Offering uniquely designed packaging and surprise details — like coupons or a free holiday-themed gift — creates an exciting and lasting impression.

Putting time and care into packaging and unboxing makes shoppers more likely to remember you during the next holiday season and return for future purchases.

5. Create holiday-centric marketing and promotional materials.

Show your customers you’re all in for the holidays with a festive, themed campaign. Implement holiday-themed design and messaging across all channels — from your website to social media. Consistency is key in creating a cohesive and memorable experience.

As part of your campaign, introduce special promotions and rewards to entice shoppers. Holiday-specific discounts create a sense of urgency, encouraging customers to make a purchase. Meanwhile, rewards programs incentivize repeat business, helping shoppers build stronger relationships with your brand.

6. Enhance your customer service.

Increased traffic usually leads to an increase in customer questions and concerns. Before the holiday season officially begins, make sure you have a dedicated support team on deck. 

To address basic requests, consider implementing AI chatbots to save your support team time. However, it's crucial to also have real agents available to address more complex issues and provide personalized support. This level of service can make a huge difference in quickly resolving problems and customer satisfaction, which can often foster brand loyalty. Make sure your support team is accessible across phone, email, and social media and able to respond promptly.

After each interaction, ask for customer feedback. This not only shows that you value their input but also helps you refine your customer service strategy for future success.

7. Be equipped to monitor performance.

To ensure your holiday campaign is successful, set clear KPIs that align with your business goals. Make sure analytics and tracking tools are integrated into your ecommerce site so you can monitor performance in real-time.

Tracking performance enables you to quickly address any issues that arise, helping you maximize sales throughout the season.

After the holidays, analyze your performance metrics to identify both successes and areas for improvement. With these insights, you can refine your strategy and prepare for an even more successful holiday campaign next year.

The final word

With the holiday season being one of the busiest and most critical times for ecommerce brands, early preparation is essential for maximizing sales.

As the holidays draw nearer, use the strategies outlined in this checklist to position your brand for success. With careful planning, not only can you meet customer expectations and boost revenue, but you’ll also build stronger relationships and set the stage for growth in the year ahead.

Looking for more 2024 holiday insights? Check out our Holiday Ecommerce Playbook for strategies designed to set your ecommerce brand up for success.