7 things to tick off your merchant Christmas checklist

It’s the most wonderful time of the year, but it’s also the busiest if you run an online store. By now, everything should be set for your brand — holiday promotions, store inventory, even your fulfillment service in the Philippines — but it’s always good to double-check everything.

That’s why we’ve come up with seven things that are crucial for you to tick off your business’ holiday checklist:

Your marketing strategy

How you sell your brand is as important as the products or services you provide. You might have the best products, but no one will know unless you market them right. Now’s the time to double-check if your marketing strategy is still relevant, and if it translates well in the content you plan to put out.

Remember to also prioritize personalization — customers want to feel that your business truly cares for them. You can do this by putting customized notes on orders or providing different packaging options they can choose from. 

Your online store design

Help customers feel jolly and festive by revamping your online store’s look. You can do this by adding some holiday themes, colors, or elements to your website. You should also display your holiday promotions front and center. The more exciting they are, the better. Don’t be scared to get creative, but do remember to always stay on brand!

Your website’s user experience

One of the most important things to do is ensure that your website can handle increased traffic. Test your site speed if possible, as well as how your website responds to a high volume of visitors and transactions. A slow website, or one that just keeps crashing, discourages customers from buying your products.

You should also make sure that your third-party integrations work smoothly, and that the customer checkout process is seamless, easy, and secure. Having amazing promos and design elements is useless if customers can’t complete their purchases. 

Your holiday schedule

A big part of running a business is transparency. This means updating both your team and your customers on your holiday schedule. This helps your employees fix their personal plans, and gives your customers an idea of when your shop will be open.  

If you plan to be open all throughout the holidays, make sure you set meetings with your team to discuss how to go about it. Remember, your customers aren’t the only ones who have holiday plans. 

Your holiday activities and giveaways

One of the best parts about Christmas? The amount of holiday cheer you can give, be it through gifts or greetings. You can do this by hosting a virtual party with your team, preparing holiday cards and gifts for your partners, celebrating with customers through giveaways or promos, or even all of the above! Whatever your approach is, plan it ahead of time to avoid any last-minute problems. 

Your store inventory 

Do you have enough inventory for the upcoming holiday rush? If you don’t know the answer to that, now is the time to check. You can go about this by reviewing data from the past year or two and seeing how your holiday sales were then. You should also consider which items are more in-demand than others, especially for gifting.

By predicting the demand for the holidays, you won’t be blindsided by inventory shortages, which can negatively affect your overall sales.

Your logistics service

Your responsibility to your customers doesn’t end once they’ve completed their purchase; you also have to make sure their packages get to them safely. That’s why it’s important to partner with reliable courier services here in the Philippines. It’s also wise to partner with a company that can cut down your shipping time, which is something that can definitely make your customers happy. 

Need some help over the holidays? 

If you need a partner to help make E-commerce easy for you this Christmas, and even all throughout the year, then choose Payo! 

Payo is an E-commerce enabler that can solve different logistics challenges for you. No more worrying about Warehousing, Fulfillment, and Last Mile Management — we can take care of all that! Additionally, we only work with the best courier services in the Philippines, which ensures that your packages are in good hands. You can rely on us to ship your products smarter, faster, and cheaper. 

So what are you waiting for? Sign up today or message us at [email protected] to see the difference!