The holiday season is here! 

Well, the shoppers are yet to flock to the shops, but as an eCommerce business owner, you need to start prepping for the holiday eCommerce rush months in advance. 

Why?

For one, the US holiday season had the fastest growth rate in over 20 years in 2021. And the trend is likely to continue. For 2022, the US retail holiday eCommerce sales are projected to grow by 15.5% to reach $230 billion.

And Black Friday, followed by Cyber Monday is when shoppers start opening their wallets and swiping their cards for the holiday season. And the trend continues till Christmas and New Year. 

But don’t holiday shoppers like spending their dollars physically at the stores?

Yes, but 1 in 5 of holiday sales last year were via the eCommerce channel. So you can definitely grab a mighty slice of the holiday sales pie.

Now some studies have shown that holiday spending starts as early as mid-October, so you might already be behind.

Don’t be disheartened though.

You can still catch up. With these 5 tips to prep your business website and eCommerce store.

Between 2021 to 2025, merchant losses from online payment frauds are set to exceed $206 billion.

So when you are gearing up for the holiday season, make sure your website’s online payment platform and process are secure.

Not keeping your website secure from cybercrime will lead to:

• Loss of revenue for you
• Loss of business reputation
• Loss of customer trust

To avoid that, you should:

• Use trusted payment platforms
• Check out the various ways to keep your website secure and implement the expert suggestions

Since the past 3 years, the share of smartphones, in the share of US holiday spending as well as digital visits has been on the rise. 

The following data revealed from InsiderIntelligence research bear testimony to the fact. 

Now, if you want your website to display perfectly on mobile devices, you need to make sure the design is mobile-friendly. 

And not just mobiles, you also need to consider responsiveness for different types, sizes, and operating systems of devices. 

To check how mobile responsive your eCommerce store is, you can run a free test using Google PageSpeed Insights. 

If the results tell you that your website is scoring low on mobile responsiveness, you should contact web designers who can make your site truly responsive. 

When building a website, most business owners select a hosting plan that meets their current or immediate needs. 

That means they are not planning for high volumes of traffic. And when the opportunity arises, their websites suffer from downtime which not just gives a poor impression in front of your audience, but also takes a bite out of your sales revenue. 

To avoid that, you should try to estimate how much traffic you will get during the holiday season and then make sure your website has the right hosting and server capacity to sustain as much traffic. 

Can I not plan for a website traffic hike, when it actually happens? 

Well, 64% of enterprises need over an hour to solve downtime. And while they are fixing the issues, orders are lost by the minute. Also, over 84% of businesses have costs that exceed $300,000 per hour. 

To avoid bearing those costs and suffering a loss of orders, it is best that you plan for traffic hikes in advance. 

US inflation rates are currently around double what it has been for the past 40 years. While the holiday season is a time when people are let loose on their wallets, inflation does bring down the available funds for shoppers. Now, if you do not want your sales to take a blow, you should try to entice holiday shoppers. 

How?

With proper digital marketing. 

• You need content that answers your audience’s queries and brings them into your sales funnel.
• You need search engine optimization to ensure visibility on search engines.
• You need social media marketing to create a buzz about your brand and also bring in leads from social channels. 

You can also leverage email marketing campaigns as well as paid ad campaigns to boost your sales during the holiday season.

But remember, digital marketing services may not show immediate results. So it is best to get the services beforehand so that your campaigns start showing the required results during the holiday season. 

While physical store owners start decorating their storefronts to lure in holiday shoppers, you also need to deck up your website.

One way is to revamp your entire website with the holiday theme. But that would mean that once the holiday buzz has died down, you will still need a revamp to get back to normal.

Another simpler, more dedicated solution is to create dedicated landing pages for your holiday sales and offers. These dedicated landing pages will help you lure in holiday shoppers without disturbing your website.

With that, you now know 5 master tips to prepare for the Holiday eCommerce sales this season. 

The next step that you should be taking immediately is to find experts who can help you prep your site. You need experts who can help you carry out digital marketing, create dedicated landing pages for your site, optimize it for mobile, secure your website, and help you deal with sudden traffic surges.

And guess what? You are in luck! All these experts are available under one roof at SynergyTop. With 8+ years of experience in the web world, we have a team of:

• Web designers and developers who can create fast-loading, mobile-optimized landing pages. 
• IT personnel who can help you prepare your website for traffic surges and keep it safe from cybercrime.
• Digital marketing experts who can help bring in qualified traction to your website not just during the holiday season, but all year round.

So don’t wait anymore. Connect with our experts today and get the holiday prepping started today.