Introduction
If you’re running an online store, you probably know about the global pandemic and its effects on e-commerce. Lockdown restrictions have made physical retail outlets inaccessible for many consumers. In some cases, goods are unavailable because of supply chain problems or government-imposed limits on which products can be sold in local stores.
As a result, online retailers have seen tremendous surges in orders. Some companies are struggling to keep up with demand while others are selling out of stock almost as soon as it arrives. For any e-commerce business—particularly small and medium-sized firms—it can be hard to maintain your usual level of service during such periods of rapid growth. In this article, we’re going to look at 10 measures that can help your company stay on top of things when order volumes rise dramatically:
Establish a baseline.
Before you start, it’s important to establish a baseline. How many orders are you receiving on a typical day? What will happen if you receive 5% more orders than normal in one month, or even 20% more? Do you have the staff and infrastructure to support larger volumes of sales? If so, do they have the time or training they need to handle those additional orders efficiently?
The best way to answer these questions is by establishing goals for yourself—and then staying true to them as much as possible. Don’t worry about what other people’s goals are; if they’re not realistic for your store, don’t let them affect yours! Be ambitious but stay realistic: if your average order size is $100, aim for an increase of $10 over two months—not $100 per day after three days (even though that would be great). Here are some examples of tangible fitness goals that could be achieved in 3-6 months: lose 10 pounds; run 5 miles without stopping; complete one full marathon; swim 1 mile unassisted.
Communicate.
- Communicate.
- Update your website and social media channels with information about the delay, and send out an email to customers who have placed orders.
- Make sure all staff members are aware of the situation and can direct customers accordingly.
- Have enough stock on hand to meet anticipated demand, but don’t overstock. If you do end up with extra inventory, sell it at a discount or offer free shipping—this will help get rid of your old stock while also giving customers more incentive to shop with you again when things return to normal!
Make it simple for customers to find you.
In order to drive sales, you’ll want to make it as easy as possible for customers to find your site.
- Optimize your website for mobile. The majority of shoppers now use their phones to search the internet – so make sure that your website is optimized for mobile users and provides a pleasurable experience on these devices.
- Make it easy for customers to navigate through your site. Use clear categories, descriptive tags and titles, and detailed descriptions so that users can easily find what they’re looking for without having to wade through lots of content first. Don’t forget about search engines either – ensure that any key terms associated with your products are included in meta tags, product titles, and descriptions. This will help Google index you correctly so that people searching online can find you more quickly when they need something specific like an item from one particular category (e.g., “cheese graters”).
- Create calls to action throughout the user journey so that visitors know what steps are needed next: sign up now; buy now; learn more by exploring our blog posts which offer tips on how best practices translate into real results!
Make it easy for customers to buy your products online.
- Make it easy for customers to buy your products online.
Today’s online shoppers are looking for an intuitive, streamlined shopping experience. They expect their website to be mobile-friendly and easy to navigate. If it isn’t, they’ll go somewhere else where the process is more seamless and efficient. Consider these tips:
- Make sure your site loads quickly and easily on any device (smartphones, tablets, laptops) so that no matter what someone is using when they land on your site, they can have a good experience with it immediately—and then continue exploring or make a purchase if they like what they see!
- Have clear navigation elements so people immediately know where they are within the page hierarchy and where other pages link from each one of them; avoid burying important information behind tabs or dropdown menus wherever possible (you might ask yourself whether this is something you would want as a user before deciding whether or not someone else might need it).
- Keep things simple—don’t overload pages with too much text or complex graphics unless these add value for users who may not read all instructions carefully before making an important decision about buying something from your store during surge periods when demand spikes due to sale prices offered only during limited time periods like Black Friday sales promotions at retail stores worldwide every year around November 27th – 29th annually starting Thursday evening after Thanksgiving Day celebrations end here in America but typically lasts into December 1st until midnight New Year’s Eve night depending upon country laws regarding opening hours during holidays such as Christmas Eve Eve/Christmas Day Eve etcetera…
Make a plan for the high-demand period.
Planning is essential to managing a high-demand period. You need to know what you’re doing, and you need to be ready when it happens. Planning is a continuous process that starts before the surge and continues after it’s over. In fact, planning is more important than the actual execution of your plan. A good planner will take steps (such as those in this article) to ensure they don’t miss anything during a surge period because missing one little detail can mean losing out on thousands of dollars in sales. Because of this, many online stores have made planning their top priority; companies like Zappos even require managers from different departments within their company to meet weekly just so everyone knows what’s going on with upcoming promotions or marketing campaigns so that everyone can coordinate their efforts accordingly!
Market your products with relevant, engaging copy and images.
- Market your products with relevant, engaging copy and images. It’s important to make sure that you are marketing your products in a way that speaks to the needs of your audience. You can use social media, email, and other platforms to reach your audience; for example, Facebook ads or Google AdWords will help you target people who have shown interest in similar products or services in the past. In addition to using traditional marketing channels like display ads or blog articles that promote new products on websites like BuzzFeed or The Next Web (which is owned by Axel Springer), try using videos on YouTube as well. If there’s an actionable item featured in one of these videos—such as how-to guides—you may be able to get even more views if it’s shared by other people who see those videos! Another great way of increasing traffic during busy periods without spending too much money would be through influencer marketing campaigns where someone influential shares something about themselves on social media like Snapchat/Instagram Stories etc…
Prepare your website for the surge in demand.
As well as being easy to navigate and responsive, your website needs to be secure. You want people to feel safe when they’re browsing or buying from your store, so make sure all the security measures are in place. You may also want to think about adding a chat box or live support option on your site, which can help with customer service when there is an increase in traffic.
Other things you should consider are making sure that your site is fast loading, has good mobile compatibility and offers user-friendly options for returning customers who have already purchased from you before.
Check your shipping settings in advance of increased orders.
Shipping is an important part of the customer experience. In fact, it’s one of the key factors that can make or break your relationship with your customers. When shipping goes well, you’ll have happy customers and lots of repeat business. But when shipping goes wrong—or isn’t available at all—you’ll lose money and potentially alienate customers who might never come back again.
To avoid these problems, here are some tips for setting up your store to handle increased demand:
- Check your shipping settings in advance of increased orders. Make sure you have a reliable shipping partner; this will be especially important if you’re offering same-day delivery or expedited services like overnight air freighting or next-day ground transportation (and don’t forget about Saturday deliveries!). Also, make sure that you know how much each type of service costs per order so that these expenses don’t eat into profits during busy seasons such as holidays!
- Make sure that there are enough staff members trained on how to process orders quickly & accurately before any major surge happens within 24 hours after receiving notification about them coming online via email alerts sent out daily at 6 am EST/PST time zone which means there may be up to 12 hours lag time between being notified & being able to respond accordingly due mostly due to human error caused by lackadaisical attitudes displayed by some employees who’ve been working here since forever meaning they’re not very good at following protocol–
Manage customer expectations and inquiries during the high-demand period.
- Make sure you have enough staff to handle the extra demand.
- Make sure your customer service is ready to handle the extra demand.
- Make sure your website is ready to handle the extra demand.
- Make sure you have enough inventory to handle the extra demand.
Set up a marketing campaign to stay in touch with your customers after the key dates are over.
- Send out a thank you email to customers who made purchases during the surge.
- Let customers know about future sales or discounts.
- Let customers know about new products.
- Use social media to promote your store.
- Use email marketing to promote your store.
Running an e-commerce business is challenging under normal circumstances, let alone during busy periods when you may see a surge in demand for your products or services. But with some planning, you can get ready for these spikes before they happen and make sure you’re able to capitalize on them when they do
Conclusion
As you can see, there are a lot of ways you can prepare for increased demand. Just because your business isn’t Amazon doesn’t mean that customers will be willing to wait days for their order! Of course, the best way to handle this is with proactive planning and preparation. If you do it right, your customers won’t even notice any difference in their experience—and they’ll be happy that you were able to finish their order so quickly.
