Keep on top of Valentine’s Day demand in your e-commerce business
As the madness of the Christmas season begins to recede, another key sales season for e-commerce businesses is fast emerging. Valentine’s Day is a vital trading period for many e-commerce businesses, so how do you cope with the rise in demand in your e-commerce business and all those secret admirers’ gift deliveries? We outline our top tips to make your customers really fall in love with your e-commerce business this Valentine’s – so they keep coming back for more!
Communication with your customers is key
Keeping your online customers aware of order deadlines and any updated terms and conditions will reduce last-minute panics and free your time for fulfilling orders and spreading the love! We all know communication is the cornerstone to any healthy relationship, and so is a gift that arrives on Valentine’s Day – not the day after!
Clear lines of communication with your customers ensures they order in time, without putting you under undue stress. It can also help to reduce the amount of time spent responding individually to people with the same questions, something which all e-commerce business owners will agree is a time consuming and often thankless task.
Keep your website clearly updated with order cut-off dates to avoid disappointed customers. Now is the time to update your home page with last-order dates, and send out regular newsletters to your existing database so they know when they need to act if they don’t want to be in the dog house on February 14th.
Getting personal with your e-commerce products
Valentine’s Day is a perfect opportunity to personalise products to make them extra special; if your products can be personalised, be sure to shout about it! However, it’s vital that you also prepare for the extra time this may take to get a custom product to the customer. To maintain your brand’s reputation, personalisation should be done with care and attention. If you think you may need help with fulfilment for this more time-consuming task, be sure to consider your staff levels. It may be beneficial to draft in extra people to help complete this service to the highest standard – there’s nothing worse than a sloppy personalisation job ruining the integrity of your product and your brand reputation!
Effective time management to deal with an increase in e-commerce orders
Balancing your precious time between order fulfilment, customer service and managing incoming deliveries is difficult. Time management is a skill which is tricky to master, but the benefits are endless. A clear time management plan is an effective way to cope with the sometimes-overwhelming uptick in orders. By setting out a clear plan to help you manage your time efficiently and by allocating parts of your week to specific tasks, you will be better able to cope with the increased demand and ensure you don’t totally fall out of love with your e-commerce business! A time management plan will also help give you clarity on your capacity and show if, and when, you are likely to need extra resource.
Managing deliveries to your home or workspace
Many e-commerce businesses originate in the home, where space is often very limited, and potentially compromised by deliveries, workspace and laptops! The home set-up can mean that at busy times your personal space is over-run; additional supplies to help you fulfil those incoming orders can quickly take over your home.
Never-ending deliveries of supplies and packaging, whether to your home, warehouse or office, can additionally clutter your workspace and compromise your ability to work efficiently. This is a problem which could be costly and disruptive to your business at a time of year when you really need to be firing on all cylinders to maximise profits!
A Penn Parcel Box can take the initial strain of receiving deliveries and returns away from you or others in your household or office. There is no longer a need to stay in on certain days waiting for deliveries or to interrupt your work and come to the door to receive parcels. The Penn Parcel Box is a clear solution; a one-off investment in a secure delivery box will give you space, freedom and flexibility in your e-commerce business.
In a range of sizes, the Penn Parcel Box can cater to your business needs, with the added bonus of helping store personal deliveries too! Our secure parcel box will protect your e-commerce and personal deliveries from both thieves and the elements, keeping them safe until you are ready to retrieve your items from the secure, powder-coated box.
We hope this has helped you to foster a healthier relationship with your e-commerce business this Valentine’s Day and cope with the increased demand in a positive way! For more information on how the Penn Parcel Box can allow you to manage a more efficient online business by taking care of your deliveries and returns, contact our friendly team on 01424 429 641.