2023 Holiday Shopping Checklist

To ensure a successful holiday season in 2023, we have prepared a comprehensive checklist for you to follow.

1. Counting Inventory

Inventory management is crucial throughout the year to ensure a seamless customer experience and efficient storage. However, during the holiday period, it’s even more vital.

The upcoming 2023 holiday shopping season is expected to require increased inventory, and being well-prepared beforehand will guarantee a smooth operation for both you and your customers. The demand for a flawless holiday experience from customers is currently at its peak.

You can use the inventory tracking feature available for paid plans. This feature allows you to set quantities for each product, and our system will track your sales and adjust that number automatically. Once the item hits zero, inventory tracking will automatically mark it as “sold out” for you.

2. Shopping cut-off dates:

Our team has developed a comprehensive guide for Holiday Shipping Deadlines that takes into account ShipStation's recommended shipping dates for the country of origin and destination.

This guide can be utilized to establish definitive Shopping Deadlines for your customers. We suggest creating a dedicated Holiday FAQ page to further assist your customers.

Read more about adding custom pages here.

3. Shipping Deadlines:

As mentioned in the last step, we created an easy guide based on ShipStation's recommended shipping dates for the country of origin and destination. Missed that message we sent with those deadlines? Don’t worry simply let us know and we can send you that information.

Shipping Deadlines example for the United States:

4. Marketing:

Let folks know what you are selling ahead of time.

Develop holiday-specific products or variations to cater to the seasonal demand. This will enable customers to easily find and purchase holiday-themed items on your website. Organize your core products into collections such as "Holiday" "Gifts for that “Special someone” or “Gifts under 25 dollars” to facilitate browsing. This cost-effective marketing strategy is particularly beneficial for small businesses with limited time and budget.

Generate excitement and anticipation for your new products or variations by teasing them to your social media followers or email subscribers. For instance, you can run a "12 days of Christmas" or “8 days of Hanukkah” or “7 days of Kwanzaa” or “Regalos para las Fiestas” campaign where you unveil a featured product each day leading up to the shipping deadline. Alternatively, surprise and delight your customers with a virtual advent calendar that unveils a new holiday promotion every day.

You can add a different discount to your shop to keep customers excited: learn how to add a discount here.

5. Offer gift-wrapping as an option:

You can offer gift-wrapping in two ways, you can add it as product and pin it to the top of the navigation so its easy to find and customers can add it to their cart for gift wrapping.

Or you can offer free gift-wrapping as an option by having your customers add it to the Notes to Seller field during checkout.

Keep in mind, you can’t offer a 0.00 product so you will need to make the gift wrapping product at least 0.50.

6. Use tools to make Social Media specific content letting folks know about holiday offers:

Websites like Canva offer free and easy ways to make social media posts, there are easy templates that are holiday-specific, size, and platform-specific.

Instagram has gained recognition as a widely used platform for holiday marketing due to its emphasis on visual content. Utilize this platform to showcase static images and Reels of your products, effectively promoting your holiday offers. Enhance the visibility of your top deals, promotions, and events by featuring them in your bio links and shoppable posts. Additionally, captivate your followers by curating holiday gift guides that serve as a source of shopping inspiration.

You can use Tiktok, Twitter, Instagram, Pinterest, etc. as a way to let folks know about your holiday offers!

7. Add a refund policy or FAQ page to your shop:

We mentioned using custom pages to incorporate a specialized guide for your customers during the holiday season. However, it is crucial to stay proactive in terms of refunds or exchanges by establishing a Refund Policy that streamlines their shopping experience.

We have some things you might want to consider including in a store policy or returns page in our Customer Care Guide and our Customer Support Guide.

Taking a much-needed holiday break? Make sure you add those dates to your Holiday FAQ!

8. Plan ahead after the holidays:

Create a strategy outlining your intended actions for managing the remaining holiday inventory. Although January tends to be a slower period, consider including a printed coupon with orders made during the holiday season to encourage loyal customers to make additional purchases post-holidays.

A physical coupon code accompanied by a heartfelt thank you note can have a significant impact by enticing customers to make a purchase.

9. After all your hard work rest:

We want you to rest, we are aware of how hard our shops work through the holiday season, rest is engaging in restorative activity, it is what replenishes our physical, mental and emotional resources.

10. We are here for you:

Rest assured that Big Cartel is committed to providing you with unwavering support, even during the holiday season. Our dedicated support team is always available to assist you with any queries or issues that may arise. You can count on us to have your back every step of the way!