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As a business owner, there is no need to remind you, just how hard this year has been. This has been a testing year for us all, but it doesn’t mean you cannot still take steps to be prepared for the upcoming Holiday Season.
Christmas is fast approaching so we wanted to help with a few tips on what you can do as a business to prepare for a very COVID Christmas. Surprisingly, it’s possible your business, no matter its size can take advantage of this unique holiday season as we move from response to recovery.
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PLAN EARLY
The Key to coping through Christmas with your business is to start planning and as early as possible. Planning well ahead of time and also with contingencies is the best way to fight these uncertain times.
MAking preparations whether you have a physical location or just an online presence is both equally important, from protecting your customers to providing accessible options to continue trading.
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UPDATE YOUR ONLINE STORE
This is vitally one of the most important things that you can do because the majority of Christmas shopping this year is going to be the primary way shoppers shop. It is vital your website is ready to accommodate this traffic.
Many businesses have been so much in a rush just to get an online presence that it is easy to miss the fundamentals of running/opening an e-commerce shop online. There is every chance they did the bare minimum just to ensure they catch any desperately needed business.
A few key points could be:
– Crafting informative and educational emails and web banners to inform your customers of your COVID procedures and how your business will be operating around this.
– Correctly setup Shipping options. These are quite important to get right if you charge for delivery. You don’t want to be posting a large parcel to the USA and offer Free Shipping.
– Keyword Research into your chosen industry. This may require an expert to assist on implementation. But you can still research yourself what keywords are most popular in your industry and what are customers searching for exactly.
– Establish Email Marketing. Unlike a physical store, where you cannot track customers so easily, having an online shop allows you so much more personal contact with your customers, all supplying personal information you can utilise (if consented) within email marketing campaigns for follow up sales!There are a ton more things you can do to your e-commerce store, speak to us today to find out more on how we can help boost your e-commerce online presence.
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HYGIENE
This will mostly apply to physical stores only, but it is a vital part of possibly being allowed to even stay open. IF you are one of the lucky businesses who are allowed to stay open then ensure you provide adequate social distance provisions.
This is mostly common sense in most cases but just ensure you provide hygiene stations if possible where customers can use hand gel. Also, wear appropriate face coverings (if not exempt) when in close proximity with your customers.
you can also include floor markings and signage to clearly designate walking areas where customers can freely and comfortably walk around your store.
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CONCLUSION
It is going to be hard no doubt for each and every one of us. But we can still do a lot to push through and survive over the Christmas period with a little bit of preparation and a lot of perseverance.
The adversity and strife faced by businesses this year has been one we have never witnessed before, we hope these few tips can somehow help you and your business in any way to get through to the end of the year.
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