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When it comes to getting your website ready for the holiday shopping season, it’s important to start early. To get your store ready and boost online sales, set up your store before the holidays, brainstorm unique products to add, and stress-test your website.
For more tips on holiday ecommerce sales, check out our complete Holiday Selling Guide.
1. Set up your store early
Whether you're planning to get your store online for the first time, revamping your site, or adding new products, there’s one big reason you should get your work done well ahead of BFCM weekend, or even before Halloween: ranking in search results.
It takes search engines time to discover your pages to display them in search. The sooner you start your online store, the more time there is for search engines to find and rank your site, and the more time customers will have time to browse and buy.
If you already have a store on a different platform, you can connect your existing products to your website. Squarespace websites have an option to import all your goods over from certain marketplaces so users can find you no matter where they’re online shopping. If you have a store on another platform, you can link out to it from your Squarespace website.
Not only will visitors to your site be able to browse through all your product pages in one place, but search engines will be able to find your products so that online shoppers who don’t know you yet are more likely to find them.
2. Think beyond standard merchandise
According to an Insider Intelligence survey, almost one third of shoppers used a gift card to make a purchase this year. Selling gift cards in your store ensures you don’t miss out on those potential customers, and your current customers can pay forward their love for your store.
When thinking about your seasonal products, consider non-physical products, too.
Sell video content. If you have clips of you teaching a class or giving a demonstration, it’s easy to monetize them and create a passive income stream for your business. After all, plenty of people begin thinking about self-improvement in the New Year.
Paywall exclusive content. People can either pay a one-time fee to get behind the paywall or sign up for a monthly subscription—for themselves or as a gift.
Create and sell custom merch. Use a print on demand service to have inventory, manufacturing, and shipping done for you. All you need to do is upload an image and choose the items you want to sell, then connect the listings to your online store.
Sell gift certificates. If you sell appointment-based services or do projects for clients, like a beauty consultant or event planner, offer gift certificates for your services.
Some small businesses sell items that people reorder often, like cosmetics. Consider setting up a subscription if that applies to any of your products. Not only are subscriptions popular holiday gifts, but getting your product into someone’s home every month is a great way to build loyalty with new customers.
And to delight customers, you may want to offer to gift wrap their items, either for an additional fee or as a free bonus. It’s an easy option to add to your checkout form, where you can also add the option to include a gift message to make gifts feel even more personal.
3. Make a shipping and payment plan
If you have a physical store and nearby customers want to get a product quickly or save money on shipping, you can offer local pickup and sync up all your inventory, online and offline, in one place.
Connect a payment processor to your Squarespace account to let you handle credit cards, mobile payments, and cash payments in person, using a mobile credit card reader. If you want to encourage offline purchases, offer special in-store or in-person discounts.
4. Stress-test your site
The two biggest shopping days of the year are the Friday after Thanksgiving and Cyber Monday commonly referred to as BFCM (Black Friday Cyber Monday) weekend. You can expect your traffic to increase on these days, especially if you’ve been promoting your store on social media. Make sure your online store is functioning properly with this checklist.
Double check your product images and descriptions to make sure everything looks correct.
Walk through your checkout process to make sure everything is intuitive for your potential customers.
Prepare your blog and/or holiday newsletter to communicate with existing customers and share discounts or the latest additions to your store.
Expecting an uptick in orders this season? Read tips for optimizing selling, shipping, and fulfillment on your online store.
This post was updated on September 15, 2023.