Get your dose of eCommerce insight that you won’t find elsewhere, direct from our retail experts.

Blog

About Us

Latest

Leeds

London

Manchester

Harrogate

Gifting: Are You Ready for Peak?

How Shopify Scripts Can Maximise Bundling for Peak Trading.

Preparing For Peak Trading with COVID-19.

what to read next.

Last year, we knew that peak was going to be different with the pandemic accelerating eCommerce trends two-fold. But despite rolling lockdowns and global hardships, 

2020 proved to be the most successful Shopify peak season to date

76 percent increase in global sales from 2019

50 percent more customers bought from Shopify merchants compared to 2019

Sales peaked at over $102 million at midday on Black Friday

Average time to checkout decreased by one minute

But that was last year, and our attention is now laser-focused on 2021’s peak shopping season. Reflecting on how businesses adapted, how customers responded and what this means for this year and beyond, we’re sharing insight into how you can get your Shopify store ready for peak trading.

how to prepare your store for the heightened demand

why communicating with your audience before peak is so important

how to integrate your peak plan with other channels

how Shopify can help you make the most of peak

If you haven’t done so already, it’s high time you began your peak preparations. The busiest trading time of the year, BFCM and Christmas shopping can put a strain on your customer experience if you’re not well prepared.

Dan Conboy, MD at Statement, gave his thoughts on what Q4 could have in store for us this year and why it’s essential to prepare:

“Q4 provides a key opportunity for retailers and can often be the key to a successful year - or not. 2021 will likely prove to be one to watch - there’ll be the assessment of how trends this Q4 change compared to last year with the impact of the pandemic, but also the potential consumer boom (or otherwise…) as the economy (hopefully) looks to stabilise as we move back towards some normality.

Retail is rarely predictable and the last 18 months has shown that now, more than ever, it’s difficult to fully envisage what is set to happen. What businesses can do is prepare now and consider the different strategies they can adopt to maximise potential and minimise risk through continued uncertainty.”

Now is the time to clearly define your goals and the steps you’ll take to reach them. Here are some of the top considerations you need to consider in your peak plan:

A good place to start is by looking at last year’s performance. While it’s likely changes will occur this year, by analysing your previous data, you will be able to form a better picture of what to expect and where to focus your efforts for the best return. Consider possible trends for best selling products and when they experienced high sales demand.

It’s worth looking at which channels are driving traffic to your best sellers. Is it paid, social media, email, organic? Doing so will allow you to use this channel to drive maximum traffic to the areas you want.

Without enough stock, peak trading is set to be a bust. Using data and an understanding of what your audience is interested in, you can source the right products in the right quantities.

Promotions are the backbone of BFCM. Everyone expects a deal. Promotions, events and discounts should be considered during the planning phase. What discount is both affordable to you and attractive to your customers? Have you created marketing collateral to promote your offers? Which channels are you going to advertise them on?

 plays a big role in peak success and can help you stand out from the competition, especially during busy periods. Even better, it can also drive conversions and long-lasting customer loyalty. But don’t forget that your people are just that - people. Peak season doesn’t just put pressure on your eCommerce store, it can put pressure on your team too. It’s important to spend time preparing them on what to expect, ensuring enough staff are available to cater for your customers and that everyone’s aware of peak promotions, stock availability and delivery timescales.

The sooner you plan, the more time you’ll have to firm up your strategies and prepare for success. Fortunately, the Shopify platform is built to handle large loads such as the peak shopping season and they take extra precautions to ensure their servers don’t fall short.

Slow site speed, high bounce rates and frustrated users – poor site performance can be detrimental to your peak success. Optimising your site’s performance ahead of the shopping rush will keep your customers converting and helps to prevent site crashes.

Without a reliable platform, the seasonal traffic surge can slow down or even cause your site to crash. Tests should be run in advance to ensure your store can handle peak shopping loads.

One of the top issues during busy periods are slow pages. Research shows that 

93 percent of shoppers have left a website because it didn’t load fast enough

. With figures like these, speeding up your site could make a huge impact on your conversions. Even better, you can use 

 to calculate how your conversion rates could be improved by faster site speeds.

Getting your site navigation and search functionality in the best shape possible will help customers find what they’re looking for quickly and easily. With predictive site search, you can guide shoppers to the goods they want. 

 can considerably improve the onsite customer experience.

The holiday season is prime time for hackers to target vulnerable sites. Prevent fraud from taking hold with an 

. Using a Flow template can save you money and time spent looking for fraudulent orders. Once added to your Shopify store, emails will be sent prompting a review of high-risk orders before capturing payment to ensure you’re always aware of suspicious activity.

Google’s page speed analysis tool allows you to drill down into performance issues to see what’s causing the problem. 

 can be run against any webpage and provides audits for performance, accessibility, progressive web apps, SEO and more.All you have to do is provide the tool with a URL to audit and a report is generated on the quality of that page containing references on how to fix the issue(s).

During the peak shopping season, customers are often in a rush to get their shopping done. The more painless you can make your checkout process gives shoppers yet another reason to love your brand and ensures they reach conversion faster.

One way to do this is by letting shoppers skip to the cart and checkout without leaving the page they’re browsing. Using 

 places a customer’s preferred and trusted payment method through a super-fast checkout process on the product page.

Dynamic checkout buttons are great for busy shopping periods when customers want to convert fast. Checkout buttons can be third-party branded such as ‘Buy with Apple Pay’ or unbranded such as ‘Buy it now’.

In the competitive eCommerce world, how do you stand out and gain the trust of your customers? Social proof. Social proof can come in the form of reviews, images, video, testimonials and social media posts.

Now is the time to start collating this social proof and sharing it across your own digital platforms. Your website is a brilliant place to display social proof with some brands such as ASOS even using real-life customers on their product pages.

Social proof continues to be one of the most persuasive and effective methods of influencing a shopper into buying a product. To encourage your audience to provide their own social proof, why not offer them an incentive such as a 5 percent discount if they write a review. Or encourage them to tag your social account or use a community hashtag to get more people to see your brand.

If you want more tricks and insights into how to use social proof to generate more sales, take a read of our blog: 

social proof in ecommerce: what is it and why do you need it?

Preparing for large sales events can be stressful and challenging. These stresses only increase two-fold when you consider how many different sales events, promotions and discounts run through the course of Black Friday, Cyber Monday, Christmas Shopping and Boxing Day Sales.

This year, you can save your team a whole lot of trouble and those late nights by using an automated promotional tool. eCommerce automation can schedule, execute and monitor events such as sales, product releases, restocks and changes to site content.

Fortunately, Shopify has a range of tools designed to take the strain out of busy sales events. Between 

, tasks can be automated and time saved to increase efficiency and productivity. Freeing up your valuable time, you can place more focus on strategy adjustments based on real-time insights to drive more revenue.

Using Shopify to automate front and back end workflows will not only save your team precious time but also make your customer’s experience easy and fast.

Don’t leave it until the day your promotions kick-off to start communicating with your audience. This should begin well in advance of peak shopping events to build anticipation with your customers.

 is ideal to help you do just this. Make it known onsite that Wishlist is available to encourage customers to ‘love’ the products they’re interested in. Doing this will allow you to email customers if one of their desired products is discounted.

Another idea is to encourage site visitors to sign up for upcoming deals without giving away what those deals will be. This approach can be used to engage with users before they’ve even shopped with your brand. An exclusive pre-sale could be run for those who sign up, providing visitors with access to stock first before it runs out.

Not only is it important to ensure your website is prepared for peak, but you should also define your wider marketing plan to capitalise on the increase of people searching for products.

Paid media, email and social platforms are all effective channels to engage with your audience. Take a read of our top considerations to build momentum and drive traffic to your site ahead of peak:

With more people than ever before shopping online, opportunities are rife to engage with an even bigger online audience during this peak season. However, increased demand also means other businesses will be more aggressive with their promotional techniques which is why it’s so important to prepare your PPC campaigns now.

It’s worth analysing last year’s performance to give you a steer on this year’s decisions. Consider which products sold well, which pages were most visited, which messaging and promotions resonated best with your audience. Jump into your Google Analytics account to understand which landing pages were most popular so they can be optimised.

One thing customers are guaranteed to look for during peak trading is a good deal. Once you’ve decided what promotions you want to run, it’s time to start promoting those promotions! Your promos form the backbone of your digital marketing and will influence your onsite messaging, ad copy, imagery and even social media calendar. You’re looking to attract people with a deal so it’s important to start telling them about them prior to peak beginning.

 Remarketing ads can target previous website visitors to encourage them to return and convert with you. Past visitors can be targeted through remarketing lists while bids can be increased for the most valuable customers. Remarketing is often cost-effective as you already have a list of leads available to use. This means purchase intent is higher, cost per click is lower and messaging can be directed towards the right person at the right time.

If you want further guidance on how to make the most of paid media during peak, our connected specialist paid media agency, equation, wrote a blog on the topic: 

preparing for peak: what do you need to consider?

Emails are still top when it comes to engaging your audience. The customer data you gather can be used to target individuals with relevant emails based on products they’ve shown interest in on the run-up to peak. As your audience will no doubt be inundated with emails, it’s important to ensure yours stands out:

Peak shopping season is a good time to capture additional customer data for future use too. Use incentives such as a 10 percent discount to encourage people to subscribe. Not only can you enjoy a boost in conversions ahead of peak, but you can even use the data to build up your email marketing list.

Your subject lines are the first thing your audience will see when it comes to your emails. Make sure your subject lines are concise, engaging and clearly state the offer that’s up for grabs. Consider 

A/B testing your subject lines as this can help you understand what performs best

In the peak shopping frenzy, customers will likely browse numerous websites and place multiple items in their shopping carts. In many cases, these carts will be abandoned as the shopper is distracted by another product or promotion. Email can draw them back to you and encourage conversion. An additional promotional incentive could also be used.

Designing emails that your subscribers want to open and click on can be challenging. A well-designed optimised email is essential for driving engagement with your audience to generate a higher ROI. A whole topic in itself, 

take a read of this blog from email marketing experts and connected agency, Wired Plus

 to learn more about designing emails that engage.

Social media is one of the most powerful marketing tools today. Able to engage, communicate and promote your business far and wide, there are many platforms that can be used to support your peak trading season.

 Social proof such as reviews, testimonials and user-generated content (UGC) can drive awareness, build trust and convert users into loyal customers. 

UGC in particular is great for both your eCommerce store and social media. Content that your audience has already created and posted featuring your products can be reshared (with permission) to your brand’s accounts. This is a tactic we deployed for 

 which helped them promote how effective their products really are with the use of real-life customers.

Once you’ve settled on those all-important promotions and sales events, it’s important to advertise them. Social media channels are effective for building excitement around an event. Through the use of stories, polls, regular posts and communications with your audience, you can get more people interested in your promotions before they even launch.

Many social platforms today offer their own, native shopping functionality built into the app. Providing your customs with more than one place to shop makes the purchasing and conversion process even easier. In fact, 

130 million Instagram users click on shopping posts every month

 highlighting just how popular they’ve become. Selling products directly within the app allows customers to browse, research, engage and convert all in one place. Fortunately, Shopify has a whole range of 

 including ones for social media channels such as 

A common issue merchants struggle with during busy shopping periods is coping with the big influx in traffic. As a hosted platform, Shopify means your store is built to handle peak performance all year round.

Thanks to Shopify’s infrastructure, the platform is a secure and reliable option for eCommerce stores – this is one of the main reasons brands choose to switch to them. Fast and dependable with unlimited bandwidth and 99.9 percent average uptime means you can rest easy knowing your site is performing at its best during the busiest time of the year.

As a Software-as-a-Service (SaaS) platform, Shopify takes care of the technology so you can focus on your business. Always striving to maximise stores powered by Shopify, they continuously improve server-side performance such as hosting, security and stability.

Make the most of the peak shopping period with a post-peak plan. With so many incentives, promotions and sales events flying around, this isn’t just a chance to drive revenue. Peak can be beneficial for your business into the new year and beyond.

By avoiding site slowdowns, connecting your customers to the products they want and letting them checkout fast, your sales are set to soar this peak season. To find out how we can support you in driving your best peak performance so far, 

get in touch with our team of eCommerce experts

get ready for peak trading.

The Surge of eCommerce Subscriptions.

How to meet user expectations with your eCommerce website. 

In light of the events 2020 has thrown our way, the world of eCommerce has certainly had a shakeup. With online retail fast becoming the go-to method for shopping, 31 percent of UK consumers have shopped online with new brands that they hadn’t before the pandemic.

A shift in demand and shopping behaviour presents opportunities for businesses to find new customers and convert them into loyal, long term brand advocates. But 

how do you prepare for eCommerce peak trading during a global pandemic

? With regional lockdowns occurring across the country along with the uncertainty around what COVID-19 could still bring, many brands are rightly focused on catering for their online audience.

shoppers will spend approximately £512 on Christmas gifts

 this year, making it integral to get your online store prepared for the demand. Online gifting services are set to rise, providing an option to remotely gift physical and virtual gifts via an online store. As we progress through the third quarter of the year, now is the time to prepare your website and provide the gifting functionality your customers want, and in many cases, need.

Why is online gifting so important this year?

Let us rewind to peak 2019 when times were more ‘normal’. During your Christmas shopping spree, you’d buy the item in store or online, take it home, wrap it up, write your card and deliver by hand or by post. But with travel restrictions now the norm, couriers likely to struggle with demand which will cause delivery delays and some bricks-and-mortar stores not yet open, this once simple tradition becomes increasingly difficult.

By providing a gifting service, you can cut out the hassle for your customers, allowing them to send a gift direct from you to the recipient. Many businesses offer all the bells and whistles that go with this service including gift recommendations, personalised messaging, gift wrapping and dedicated delivery dates.

As an eCommerce merchant, you will likely understand just how 

important it is to meet your audience’s changing expectations

. But have you considered what needs to be in place to offer a gifting service? How will you provide gift receipts? How will you organise the logistical elements? What kind of features should you be offering? Take a read to find out what you need to consider now in order to get your online store ready for gifting.

A USP, such as offering an end-to-end gifting service that makes online shopping experiences a whole lot easier, helps your brand stand out from the competition. Promoting your USP across different touchpoints of your website alongside your email marketing and social media communications is integral to success. The only way your audience will know what you offer is by regularly telling them.

Whichever page or channel your consumers land on, ensure your USP is clearly visible. Here are some touchpoints we advise displaying it on:

A USP bar could be added at the top of your header image for maximum exposure when a user lands on your homepage. This feature needs to be designed for desktop and mobile meaning your messaging may need to be punchier on mobile for maximum impact.


Reinforcing why the customer should purchase from you, adding a dedicated USP block on your product pages is an effective place to communicate with your audience. Bullet points on what your gifting service includes and how the customer can go about adding this to their basket are important features to display.


 Once the customer has moved to this point in their buying journey, it’s a perfect opportunity to point out your gifting service. Although you may think the user has made their decision on your product, 

over 80 percent of people abandon their cart at the checkout

. This is a chance to give them confidence in purchasing from you, highlighting any added benefits of choosing your brand over the competition.


 Adding a USP block to the header or footer of your emails is a brilliant and engaging touchpoint for customers. Communicating what your gifting offering includes through a few punchy lines within your marketing or automated emails is an effective way of cementing why a customer should buy from you.



It’s also important to make it as easy as possible for users to add the gifting service to their order. This could be done with a simple tick box on the product page that says ‘Add gift wrap for an extra £XX’ before adding the item to the basket, or these options could be reinforced on the checkout page too.

Be clear with exactly what you are offering

As all elements of a gifting transaction take place solely online, it’s important to ensure the ins and outs of your service are communicated well to avoid disappointment. For example, if you offer gift wrapping, we advise to include an image of what the gift bag or wrapping paper and final product would look like.

The same should be considered for your personalised gift messaging too. What does the card look like? Are there options to choose from? What’s the maximum characters you can use? Can you choose the typography or change the layout? Don’t frustrate your users, that could be the difference between them choosing to shop with you or go elsewhere.

Order now for delivery in the future is an extremely useful function for those early shoppers in particular, but it requires considerations around stock levels, logistics and your supply chain. If a customer places an order now but doesn’t want it to be delivered until 10th September, can your logistics and fulfillment operations support this as well as your website?

An expert agency would be able to build and integrate this bespoke functionality into your site, but it’s also important to have these conversations early with your suppliers, delivery providers and warehousing team. In order to know what you’re able to promote, these parties need to understand what demand they may have to scale to and whether this is realistic. Even if the delivery provider misses the specified delivery date, it will still reflect your brand in a negative light, highlighting the importance of keeping everyone in the loop.

There’s nothing worse than ordering a gift and having it show up after the event has taken place. It’s important to be completely transparent with your delivery timescales and highlight your cut off dates and times to ensure your customers won’t be disappointed.

, customers can select the delivery option best suited to their requirements. Even better, if you can guarantee delivery by a specific date, make sure you’re promoting this in obvious places across your site.



Creating a FAQ section on your website can act as a central information source for your online shoppers covering topics such as delivery timescales and return options. Reviewing these frequently asked questions also highlights the kind of information that should be reiterated across your product and checkout pages.

As sales increase, it’s likely your returns will too, especially at Christmas when it’s inevitable that not everyone will receive their ideal gift. Even more important when the recipient hasn’t ordered the item themselves, it’s integral to communicate how the product can be returned.

Particularly around the peak period and while restrictions are in place, individuals may not be able to reach the post office as much as they’d like, and courier services will experience increased pressure. As a result, you may want to consider extending your returns policy to maintain a positive ongoing relationship between your customers and your brand.

In line with refunds, it’s also important to offer gift receipts for the recipient. Normally, when an item purchased online is delivered, you will receive the product along with an invoice showing your order number, details and pricing. However, that’s goes against gift giving etiquette, you would not want these details sharing with the recipient.

Ideally, you should aim to offer the functionality to send an item directly to a specific person with only the gift receipt included. This way, the recipient can still return the item if it doesn’t suit but will be unaware of the price up to this point.

Using an app integration with Shopify Plus known as ‘Drop a Hint’, your visitors can send ‘hints’ via email to a person of their choice highlighting what products they hope to receive. Appearing as a link with a heart on each product, this feature helps to curate a personalised and easy to use shopping experience.



Even better, this app integration captures both emails, doubling your email list in no time. By having valid email addresses linked to specific items, you can gain insight into what your consumers are interested in which can be leveraged within your wider marketing efforts and email campaigns. Integrating relevant promotions with your ‘Drop a Hint’ emails, you can optimise your retargeting campaigns to help increase conversions.


Create product bundles and recommendations

Many of us are grateful for the present inspiration and gifting guidance brands can provide. Using Shopify Plus, you can quickly group compatible products together to create appealing bundles at a discounted offer.


a skincare brand like our client Green People

, could bundle together a range of toiletries and offer the package at a discounted price. These discounted bundles make choosing a gift or creating a hamper even easier for the user, and, when complete with the full gifting experience, can take all the hassle out of shopping.

When a user is buying for someone else, cross selling and upselling can help locate the right gifting set. Do you sell a hairbrush to go with those hair straighteners? Be sure to communicate this with your audience. Shoppers are inclined to look for small, relevant items to get their order over the free delivery or discount threshold. Do you have a best seller? Make sure you advertise it well! Many shoppers will look for guidance when shopping for someone else, a feature that NEOM display across their home page.



Cross selling and upselling can also make consumers notice a product which they may not have considered. This can be done by showing complimentary and personalised product recommendations in the basket or on product pages using a third-party solution such as Nosto. By recommending the most relevant products, the user journey is naturally much more inspiring. NEOM do this effectively by highlighting their Pod starter packs featuring essential oils when a user shows interest in purchasing their Pod.


Annual events such as Christmas and Valentine’s Day are the perfect time to promote your supporting content such as gift guides, imagery and diagrams. These assets can really aid in the product discovery process and also provide inspiration on what to buy for who.

Let’s imagine you want to purchase a gift for your friend who has recently moved into their new home. Using NEOM’s feel good gift guides, you can get recommendations on suited products as well as having the gift delivered direct to their door. We also advise making pricing guides available too as many people prefer to shop by price, for example, ‘Gift ideas for under £10’.



The supporting assets can also help answer any product questions while in the browsing stage. For example, there are countless styles of earrings which come in different sizes and are made for different areas of the ear. An accompanying diagram or piece of content explaining the differences can help in purchasing the correct gift, which naturally creates a more positive shopping experience.

Just because your customers aren’t delivering their gift by hand, doesn’t mean they shouldn’t be able to make their gift personal. Why not make your products as unique as the recipient with product customisation?

This functionality, which can be built bespoke for Shopify Plus sites, takes your gift offering to the next level, allowing users to add monogramming or personalisation to specific products at an extra cost. A USP worth shouting about, 

 across their website, product pages and checkout.



In addition to product personalisation, it’s also a good idea to offer personalised messaging functionality within your gifting service. For example, including a message such as “Do not open until 25th December”, or “Happy 30th Birthday Dan!” evokes an emotional response that the recipient will continue associating with your brand. Additionally, if you have the email of the recipient, why not target them with an email featuring a £10 discount off their first order enticing them to use your gifting service in the future or shop with you direct?

This experience isn’t just about the person buying the gift, it’s also about the person receiving it. Whether it’s from the individual making the purchase or the person receiving the gift, there’s a whole lot of love going on when it comes to gifting! Make the most of this and don’t let your customer engagement end once the product has been purchased.

Encourage your audience to share their reviews, images and thoughts on their gifting experience. A product review is an authentic and effective way of showing customers why they should shop with you. Integrating with a third-party platform such as Yotpo, you can leverage your user generated content (UGC) and allow your shopping experience to speak for itself. These reviews can then be used as assets across your marketing channels including your social media feeds, emails and various website touchpoints. By leveraging genuine feedback and encouraging people to advocate for your brand, you can help build a loyal following while appealing to new customers.

By implementing some of the features mentioned in this blog such as product bundles and gift guides, your navigation structure and categories may need to be restructured. It’s important to consider how this may be affected and implement these alterations way ahead of the peak gifting period.

Ensure your navigation is easy to use and as relevant as possible, allowing users to visit the pages they need to fast. For example, Green People split each of their drop-down menus into further categories including ‘By Product’, ‘By Skin Need’, ‘By Range’ and ‘Featured’. If a user is looking for a gift set, they can quickly navigate to the page they need, allowing for increased ease of purchase.



In addition, if you have the space on your nav bar, we advise having your gifting pages as the top header on your navigation.

This year, peak has the potential to be bigger than any year previous. But one thing we know for certain, the global pandemic has caused our buying habits to change with 

 in the month of July. From meeting demand, to catering to a new type of shopper, there are many considerations that need to be taking place ahead of peak 2020 and gifting is key to this.

No matter the circumstances, to continue succeeding it’s important to cater for your audience and their needs in the way that suits them best. If you need a helping hand to get ready for peak, 

 who can share their insights and expertise on how to succeed in the changing landscape of online retail.

6 Top Tips for Inspirational Christmas eCommerce Customer Service.

What We Learned From Analysing The Black Friday Data of 20 High-Growth eCommerce Stores.

How do you plan for eCommerce peak trading in the middle of a global pandemic?

This is the question that eCommerce businesses are beginning to consider as preparations begin to ramp up for the busiest time on the eCommerce calendar once again.

Many retailers saw sales hit or even exceed Black Friday levels during lockdown. So with the immediate future still uncertain, how can you begin to predict and plan for what could turn out to be an even busier holiday period?

From meeting demand to catering to a whole new kind of shopper, here’s everything you need to know to prepare for peak trading 2020.

Whether some form of lockdown returns to the UK this winter or not, gifting will undoubtedly need to be a central component of any successful peak strategy in 2020.

If customers are in a position where they need to ship their orders straight to the recipient, a lack of gift packaging, messaging, gifting options or even no option for brand free packaging could be an instant turnoff.

 offers comprehensive gifting options that are clear to understand and make the visitor aware of any potential delay.

Online shoppers unable to travel to see loved ones will be searching for unique, personalised products and delivery experiences. If you can’t meet these heightened expectations, they may choose to look elsewhere.


Perhaps the most difficult aspect to plan for this year is the level of demand. With varying levels of lockdown in place and economic downturn looming large, how can you plan effectively for peak demand?

The key to success in 2020 will be preparing for every eventuality and being capable of adapting to the unexpected. Whether this year gives us the busiest peak period for eCommerce yet or not, the situation is likely to change quickly as restrictions are implemented and relaxed.

Focus on the durability of your supply and delivery systems. They need to be able to scale to meet demand as and when it arises. Furthermore, with local lockdowns a likely prospect, your approach may even need to flex at a local level, with different parts of the country displaying very different needs, shopping behaviours and legal restrictions.

Not everything will buck the trend this year. 

International shopping continues to be a growth area

 for eCommerce retailers, and this will likely carry on whatever the situation.

Offer localised experiences for international visitors including local currency, language and shipping options. You should be identifying well in advance where the majority of international demand lies and focus on creating experiences for these visitors that match the quality of your UK store.

Delivery networks were under huge strain throughout the initial UK lockdown, and this is likely to repeat itself come peak season, especially as further lockdowns could place mounting pressure on couriers.

All of this makes clearly communicating your delivery options and any delays to visitors even more important. If shoppers aren’t absolutely sure their chosen gift will arrive on time, they’ll likely browse the competition.

Not only that but, as alluded to earlier, many shoppers will likely want flexibility when it comes to where and how they ship their order. Can you offer the option to split an order into multiple locations? Can you send orders in plain packaging to avoid giving away the surprise?

Clear, flexible options that give your customers confidence and exceed their expectations will not only help create a successful peak season, but grow your long-term customer base as well.

Don’t forget your environmental responsibilities.

Far from abandoning ideals in favour of necessity, research suggests the pandemic has actually 

made consumers more conscious of environmental practices

It’s important not to forget recent trends towards sustainability and environmentally conscious shopping. Whether it’s something as simple as using recycled packaging, or a wider sustainability mission, visitors will reward you for paying attention to their values.

Many consumers have used the lockdown as an opportunity to rethink their shopping habits and only 37 percent of shoppers are currently satisfied with the level of information online retailers provide them on sustainable practices.

Right now, access to experience led, brick-and-mortar retail is severely limited. In an attempt to replicate this, eCommerce retailers are becoming more experimental with how they engage and interact with customers.

’, for example, is an experiential eCommerce trend that hadn’t really made an impact outside of China until COVID-19 hit. With similarities to traditional shopping channels, retailers including Nordstrom and Amazon are beginning to enter the live streaming space to offer product advice, experiences and interact with customers.

Access to live streaming is abundant across social platforms, with Facebook even 

including live shopping features in the recently announced ‘Shops’

 toolset for Facebook and Instagram. Google has also just announced its own social and video eCommerce platform 

This is a fast developing trend and one you may want to consider using during this peak season in order to retain close customer relationships when face-to-face contact just isn’t what it usually is.

Another important trend we saw in the initial lockdown period was an increase in inexperienced and first time eCommerce users, 

and this is likely to continue into the peak season.

Consumers who previously had no reason or desire to shop online suddenly had no other option, and catering to these eCommerce novices requires something of a back to basics approach.

Be sure not to overlook key reassurance factors such as security, payment and delivery. Shoppers lacking experience and confidence will be turned away very easily and won't necessarily take the basics for granted like a more experienced online shopper may.

Provide clear and easy to locate information on your delivery processes and accepted payment methods, as well as eliminating any bugs or system issues that could deter first time shoppers and damage trust.

Just like the rest of 2020, this year’s peak trading season will be like no other. With a national and international landscape that is changing by the day, preparing for the holiday season can be a daunting task at the best of times.

But the peak period also provides a unique opportunity for eCommerce retailers to craft surprising, engaging and delightful experiences that both draw in first time visitors and foster brand loyalty for years to come. Plan carefully, be flexible, experiment with new approaches and make 2020 your best peak season yet.

Our team of eCommerce and retail specialists are well versed at helping brands respond to landscape changes and remain flexible and open to opportunities. 

Amazon claiming this year’s Cyber Monday as the biggest shopping day in their history

, it’s clear that the growth of Black Friday weekend isn’t slowing any time soon. But away from Amazon’s eCommerce juggernaut, how are fast growing eCommerce retailers performing, and what can you learn from them?

This year, we analysed real Black Friday weekend data from 20 successful, high-growth client stores to see just how the shopping event is impacting everything from conversions to returning customer rates in verticals from fashion to food.

Here’s what we learned from analysing the Black Friday 2018 data of 20 high-growth client eCommerce stores, and what you can learn and apply to your own eCommerce business.

As you might expect with some incredible offers available from our client stores, we saw a general trend towards significant conversion rate improvements.

The top performing store in our data finished up with a conversion rate of 14.92% over Black Friday Cyber Monday weekend.

Amongst the stores which performed the best, a focus on optimising the customer journey, conversion rate optimisation and ongoing improvement over the past year has led to year-on-year improvements in Black Friday metrics.

Working on optimising your store throughout the year definitely pays off when the peak trading season arrives.

Seasonal.css-vykmad{color:var(--chakra-colors-brand-500);}.

Seasonal.