Every holiday shopping season, eCommerce businesses of all shapes, sizes, and industries anticipate increasing sales. According to Adobe Analytics data, e-commerce sales for the previous holiday season increased by two years, reaching $188.2 billion, a 32 percent increase year over year. Because so many purchases are made online at this time of year, businesses are under a lot of pressure to get their names and products in front of customers. As an eCommerce business, it is critical to maximizing demand during the holiday season, and print on demand fulfillment is the key to success during this season.
STEPS FOR A SUCCESSFUL 2023 HOLIDAY SEASON WITH PRINT ON DEMAND FULFILLMENT
1. Get ready for incoming traffic.
Increased traffic to your online store during the holidays is exhausting, especially on peak shopping days. In addition, nothing is worse than a site outage during one of these critical times. One thing to do this is to ensure that your inventory is well-stocked. However, increased traffic necessitates increased inventory requirements. Check-in with suppliers now to ensure you’re adequately stocked, especially for likely gift items. It will help to avoid long wait times and frustrated customers finding out their must-have gift is out of stock or on back-order.
2. Make the customer experience as simple as possible.
Today’s holiday shopper wants to get what they need as quickly and easily as possible. That means your website must offer options tailored to their specific needs as well as a smooth path to checkout. In addition to dependability, you must ensure that your site is fast. According to one survey, 70% of consumers believe that page speed influences their decision to buy from an online retailer. Improve your storefront experience. Use your website design to bring your brand to life and create a unique visitor experience.
3. Update your merchandising strategy.
Display your holiday merchandise. Begin by deciding which print-on-demand products you will sell to your target audience this holiday season. Good merchandising persuades them to buy the product and, ideally, suggests opportunities for upselling and cross-selling. Next, think about how you’ll present these seasonal items on your website. For example, in your site navigation, you could include a holiday-specific category. Make shopping easier by gathering all of your gifts in one place.
4. Customize the customer experience.
Give your customers a one-of-a-kind experience. Personalization resulted in increased revenue for 90 percent of marketers. You can surface relevant print on demand products to inspire customers and encourage them to purchase. Moreover, analyze behavioral and contextual customer data and business-related data such as margin and inventory. Based on customer data, product recommendations result in a significant increase in conversion rates and a decrease in cart abandonment. You can also use previous browsing history insights to surface relevant content to shoppers. For instance, reminding them of the gift they browsed last time they visited or highlighting something related to previous purchase.
5. Optimize the checkout process.
When customers reach the checkout page, they’ve already decided they want to buy something. Optimizing your checkout page entails making the process simple so that the customer does not abandon the purchase. According to one survey, 21% of online shoppers in the United States abandon their shopping carts due to a lengthy and complicated checkout process. You can create a streamlined checkout experience by using a single checkout page, allowing guest checkout, and providing multiple payment and shipping options.
6. Decide how you will handle shipping and fulfillment.
To put a great customer experience strategy into action, you’ll need a clear plan for where to sell your products and how to ship and fulfill orders. Your online store isn’t the only place where you can spread holiday cheer. Think about expanding your sales channel. More importantly, connect these channels for a unified experience. You will most likely see an increase in orders during the holiday season. To prepare for the increased traffic, you’ll need a professional print on demand service provider who can handle shipping for you.
WRAPPING UP
Businesses and consumers are looking forward to the holiday season more than ever this year. Shoppers may shop in-store, online, and across all channels and marketplaces to find the perfect gift for everyone on their list. Creating a shopping experience that entices them and provides a straightforward path to purchase gives them a compelling reason to choose your store over the competition. Make it simple and quick for them to shop with you in whatever way they prefer. Take holiday preparations with a print on demand provider, and you’ll be well on your way to welcoming jolly shoppers with ease in no time.
OUTSOURCE SHIPPING AND FULFILLMENT WITH A TOP ECOMMERCE FULFILLMENT COMPANY
Working with a top eCommerce fulfillment company like Fulfillplex for shipping and fulfillment means that this aspect of your business will be handled by someone else. You will be able to benefit from bulk shipping discounts and advanced tracking technology. Using a print on demand expert also means that customers will receive their packages faster, and if they have any questions or concerns about the shipment, they can contact them. All of this frees you and your team to concentrate on other aspects of the business that require your attention. Contact us now to learn more.