Preparing for Peak: A Guide to the Holiday Season for Ecommerce Brands
As the holiday season approaches, ecommerce brands are gearing up for the surge in demand that can make or break your final quarter. The busy period from Black Friday to Christmas is a golden opportunity to maximise sales—but only if you're fully prepared.
While supermarkets are beginning to stock Quality Street once again (yes, even before Halloween!), ecommerce brands need to focus on something even more critical: getting their operations ready for peak season.
From the key dates you need to know to top tips for conquering peak, this guide will walk you through making sure your business thrives during the busiest time of year.
What is the Peak Season? Key Ecommerce Dates Explained
Peak season is the time of year when ecommerce brands often experience the highest increase in online orders. With major events such as Black Friday, and the lead-up to Christmas, ensuring that your brand is ready is essential.
Here are the key dates you need to keep in mind:
Black Friday - 29th November
Once a major event exclusive to the U.S., Black Friday has gained popularity in the UK and globally.
Occurring the day after Thanksgiving, retailers offer significant discounts and special deals to draw in customers and maximise sales.
Cyber Monday - 2nd December
Black Friday’s younger (and more tech-savvy) sister, Cyber Monday is a key date for online shops.
While both days focus on hot deals and boosted sales, Black Friday often takes place in both physical stores and online shops, while, as the name suggests, Cyber Monday puts online shopping in the spotlight.
Christmas Shopping
We all know there’s two types of people when it comes to Christmas shopping - the kind who get their Christmas gifts wrapped and ready with weeks to spare before the big day, and those who don’t.
The entire run-up to Christmas sees a steady increase in spending, with certain key dates generating the largest spending surges:
- 6th December (St Nicholas Day)
- 9th December (Green Monday)
- 21st December (Super Saturday)
- 23rd December (Monday before Christmas)
Christmas Last Posting Dates
The last set of key dates that are of utmost importance are the Christmas last posting dates for 2024.
Make sure you know all of the dates relevant to your chosen carriers, and communicate last order dates to your customers to avoid disappointment.
You can find more information about last posting dates on your carrier’s website:
* We will be updating this list as carriers publish their last posting dates.
Understanding these peak dates allows you to plan your promotions, stock, and shipping schedules to ensure you meet demand without missing a beat. By preparing now, you can set-up your ecommerce brand to thrive.
Why is the Peak Season Important for my Ecommerce Brand?
While families are beginning to plan holiday gatherings and discuss who’s cooking the turkey, ecommerce businesses face a different kind of preparation.
The holiday season brings an increase in consumer spending, which can lead to massive opportunities for growth—but also presents challenges in managing increased order volumes and potential shipping delays.
For your brand, the peak season offers more than just a chance to boost sales. It’s a time to capitalise on increased demand while laying the groundwork for long-term success. However, to fully take advantage of this period, you must also navigate the obstacles that come with a busier business cycle.
Key Opportunities for Growing Ecommerce Brands in Peak Season
- Increased spending: The holiday shopping spree is an ideal time to increase revenue. With more consumers actively seeking deals and gift ideas, your brand has an opportunity to capture the attention of both new and old customers and convert their interest into sales.
- Brand awareness: With more online shoppers on the hunt for the perfect gift, effective advertising and marketing can increase the eyes on your brands - while an exceptional delivery experience will seal the deal and turn those (browser) window shoppers into loyal customers.
- Future growth: A successful peak season is all the proof you need to see that your brand has the capacity and ability to scale. The increased revenue and new customer base that you acquire in this period can also serve as a foundation for sustained growth in the following year.
Key Challenges Growing Ecommerce Brands Face During Peak Season
- Increased order volumes: Handling a sudden surge in orders may strain your shipping and fulfilment operations. Ask yourself:
- Do you have the tech and shipping operations to reap the rewards of peak season?
- Can you handle the boost in sales?
- Are you equipped to scale up quickly?
- Shipping costs and delays: Shipping delays and rising costs can negatively impact customer satisfaction. Ask yourself:
- Do you have different shipping options at varying price points?
- Are you prepared to handle delays and communicate them to your customers?
- Are your delivery promises realistic?
- Delivery accuracy and fulfilment errors: Handling a higher volume of orders than usual leaves additional room for errors, such as inputting incorrect addresses. Ask yourself:
- How will you ensure that each order is accurately picked, packed and shipped?
- Are there processes that can be automated to reduce the risk of error?
- Can you handle and rectify any mistakes?
Effective preparation is key to turning these challenges into successes and making the most out of the abundant opportunities this peak season.
Getting your Ecommerce Brand Prepared for the Peak Season
Now you know when and why you need to get prepared, let’s dive into how you can ensure that your ecommerce business is set up for maximum impact and great success in the peak season.
Key Ecommerce Strategies for Peak Season
- Flexible delivery
While some customers may be looking to get their gifts wrapped and ready to go as soon as possible, others may value keeping the costs down.
By offering different delivery types, you can appeal to all of your potential customers:
- Faster shipping at an additional cost for those who want speedy delivery.
- Free delivery for those who are more money-conscious.
You could even drive up your Average Order Value (AOV) by setting minimum spend limits to qualify for cheaper delivery types.
- Sales & Discounts
Black Friday is synonymous with discounts and exclusive sales. Ensure that you’re staying competitive by planning your discounts in advance.
You can also try offering different types of discounts. For example:
- Tiered discounts based on order value, such as orders over £40 receive 20% off, to drive up your AOV.
- Exclusive deals for loyal customers to increase customer loyalty.
- Limited-time promotions to create a sense of urgency.
You can also start promoting your sales in advance through marketing activities, such as emails and social media.
- Be upfront about delivery
Uncertainty around delivery dates can put customers off of buying, especially when getting gifts before a certain date is essential.
By ensuring that you’re displaying an accurate delivery promise to your customers, and reliably hitting this promise, you can bet that more customers will buy from your online store.
You can also keep customers in the loop with automated email updates about when their order is shipped.
Best Practices for Ecommerce Brands During Peak Season
- Optimise your website
An easy-to-use website is key to maximising your orders. Ensure that your website is ready to handle the peak season traffic, clear to understand, and also optimised for both computer and mobile visitors.
Top tip: Use Zenstores Convert to display a clear and accurate delivery date on your website that customers are sure to see.
- Ensure your fulfilment processes are streamlined
There’s nothing worse than receiving an abundance of orders but not having the capacity to fulfil them. Make sure that you’ve streamlined your shipping and fulfilment processes and are ready to handle a surge in orders.
Top tip: With Zenstores, you can create automated workflows called Shipping Rules. Read more about them here.
- Secure your carrier services
It’s crucial to make sure that your carrier can handle the higher order volumes and meet delivery expectations over peak season. Compare services and look for competitive rates, good service, and the flexibility to choose the best shipping option for each order.
Top tip: With Zenstores' Swift, you can access discounted shipping rates from leading carriers, ensuring that you’re getting the best prices without sacrificing delivery reliability.
Leave it to the experts with Zenstores
You don’t have to navigate peak season alone. Consider partnering with a delivery experience platform to help your brand scale.
Join the thousands of ecommerce brands powering their fulfilment processes with Zenstores and curate delivery experiences that win more sales, supercharge your shipping and inspire customer loyalty.
Ready to smash peak season? Get started with Zenstores today!