The countdown is on—Christmas is just three months away! For eCommerce store owners, this is the most important season of the year. Black Friday, Cyber Monday, and the weeks leading up to Christmas can make or break your fourth quarter. But here’s the truth: if you wait until November to start preparing, you’re already too late.
Now is the time to get your store in shape so you can maximize sales, delight customers, and avoid costly mistakes during peak shopping weeks. To help you focus on what matters most, here are the five things you should be tackling right now to get holiday-ready.
1. Optimize Your Store’s Product Pages
Think of your product pages as a well decorated storefront window designed to get customers into your store. They need to be well organized, capture the shopper’s attention, and have enough details as a well-written description to convince customers to hit “Add to Cart.” A few hours spent improving them now can pay off big when traffic spikes. If you have a lot of items, focusing on the products that are big sellers during the holidays would be the perfect starting point.
- Upgrade Your Images – Customers want to see what they’re buying, especially when shopping for gifts. Make sure every product has multiple high-quality images taken from multiple angles to show all sides of the product (bonus points for lifestyle shots that show products in use).
- Tighten Up Your Descriptions – Avoid vague or copy-and-pasted text provided by the manufacturer. Even in 2025, well-written, compelling, unique content that tells a story about the product is an absolute necessity. Tell customers why your product makes the perfect gift and who would love / benefit from receiving it under the tree.
- Don’t Skip Alt Tags – Alt tags aren’t just for accessibility—they also boost SEO. Well-optimized alt tags can give you an edge when shoppers are Googling gift ideas. Many platforms and themes automatically create alt tags based on the product title, but the perfect alt tag should be a well written description of what the image actually portrays.
- Spotlight Seasonal Picks – Create bundles to increase order values, highlight stocking stuffers, and use badges like “Holiday Favorite” or “Limited Edition” to guide shoppers to the best buys.
2. Review and Fine Tune Your Shipping & Fulfillment
Nothing kills holiday spirit faster than a package that arrives late, especially today when Amazon delivers to many of us within a few hours. Customers expect clear shipping options, reliable delivery, and no surprises at checkout.
- Set Cut-Off Dates for Holiday Delivery – Customers need to know the last day they can order for guaranteed Christmas delivery. Publish these deadlines prominently on your website, product pages, and email campaigns to avoid letting your customers down.
- Test the Checkout Flow – Go through your own checkout as if you were a customer. Many store owners never do this! As you go through the process, take note to see if your shipping options are clear and easy to understand. If you label ground shipping as “Ground” consider changing it to something such as “Ground (2 to 7 Day Delivery) to provide some level insight as to when it can be expected. You can also link to delivery timelines, or use third-party apps to automatically calculate delivery time based on the customer’s exact address. Fix anything that could cause the customer to abandon, including asking a lot of unnecessary questions at the checkout. Today, customers expect the checkout process to be quick and easy. Make it that way.
- Plan for Higher Volume – Work with your carriers and fulfillment team to anticipate surges. Stock up on shipping supplies now—boxes, tape, labels—before they become scarce.
- Offer Expedited Shipping – If you don’t currently offer shipping options such as overnight, or 2 and 3-day delivery, consider offering it for the holidays. Last minute shoppers will thank you! Also, don’t use these methods as a profit center. Customers who see an overly inflated price for expedited delivery may look at that as a way for you to increase revenue during the holidays.
3. Plan Holiday Promotions & Marketing Campaigns
You can’t just wing it when it comes to holiday promotions (although let’s admit it, a lot of you do!). The most successful eCommerce stores are already mapping out their holiday discount strategies and marketing campaigns months in advance.
- Decide on Promotions – Will you run sitewide discounts, create bundles, offer free gifts, or tiered discounts (e.g., spend $100, get $20 off)? Figure this out now and get your promo codes ready.
- Build a Campaign Calendar – Plan key send dates for Black Friday, Cyber Monday, and mid-December. Don’t forget smaller touchpoints like “Last Chance for Guaranteed Delivery” or “New Year Clearance.” Keep in mind, major retailers are now starting their holiday sales and promos well in advance of Black Friday. While the calendar is shifting to an earlier start of the season, so should you.
- Segment Your Audience – High-value customers should get early access or VIP deals. Shoppers who abandoned carts last year might respond better to a reminder plus a limited-time discount.
- Prep Your Visuals – Start designing banners, landing pages, email templates, and ad creatives now. That way, you’re not scrambling when the rush begins. You’ll have enough to worry about instead of scrambling to create a banner. Oh, and let’s not fail to mention that all your creatives should be professional looking and follow your brand’s style. If your images look like they were done 15 years ago in art class, it’s time to step it up and invest in professionally designed creatives.
4. Set Up Analytics & Conversion Tracking
This may be a no-brainer, but we’re also shocked to see just how many eCommerce stores don’t have Google Analytics installed, or have never updated to GA4. That’s a clear indication that there’s no “investment” into seeing how shoppers use your site and how you’re not taking advantage of that advanced intelligence to grow sales. Without analytics, how do you know if your holiday strategies are working if you’re not tracking results? Having analytics in place ensures you’re not flying blind.
- Check Your Tracking Tools – Make sure Google Analytics (GA4), Facebook Pixel, TikTok Pixel, or whatever tracking tools you use are firing correctly on all pages.
- Track Conversions and Funnels – Are you monitoring cart abandonment? Upsell rates? Promo code usage? These metrics help you see what’s driving revenue and where customers are dropping off.
- Review Last Year’s Data – Look at what worked (and what didn’t) last holiday season. Did certain products fly off the shelves? Did email campaigns outperform ads? Use those insights to help you map out this year’s strategy.
- Monitor in Real-Time – Don’t just check analytics once a week—during peak weeks, look daily. Quick adjustments can turn an underperforming campaign into a winner.
5. Optimize for Gift Shopping
The holidays are gift-buying season. Make it as easy as possible for customers to find the perfect present on your site. In other words, don’t make them look for gift, guide them right to different gift “collections” full of items you, as the store owner, pick items that you know are going to be big sellers, top favorites, profit margin darlings, and of course, the best gift one can give.
- Create Gift Guides – Create and highlight collections like “Gifts Under $25,” “For Him,” “For Her,” “For Kids,” or “Staff Picks.” These guides simplify the decision-making process.
- Add Shop-By-Price Filters – Budget-conscious shoppers love being able to sort by price. Highlighting budget tiers keeps people from bouncing off your site. This type of filter should be something that’s available year round, not just during the holiday season, especially in today’s economy where everyone’s is more budget conscious than ever. If your collection / category pages aren’t using any filters, you’re missing out!
- Offer Gift Wrapping – A small add-on like gift wrapping can be a big time-saver for customers—and a nice profit booster for you. However, if you don’t currently offer this and are considering it, make absolutely sure you have the staffing, resources, and supplies to pull it off. Customers don’t expect their order to be delayed for days because they chose a gift wrap option. If you have even the slightest doubt that you may not be able to offer it successfully, don’t. The holiday season is not the time to experiment.
- Upsell & Cross-Sell Thoughtfully – Show “Perfect stocking stuffer” suggestions or “Pair this with…” prompts right on the product page. Done well, this increases AOV without being pushy.
The Holidays are Closer than You Think!
The holidays may feel far away, but in eCommerce, three months is the blink of an eye. Waiting until November to prepare is too late. By focusing on these five areas now, you’ll set yourself up for a smoother, more profitable holiday season.
At Your Store Wizards, we’re all about helping merchants save time and streamline their operations. Whether it’s bulk updating sale prices, keeping product data complete, or optimizing your category pages, our suite of store management tools for BigCommerce and Shopify can help lighten the load so you can focus on what matters most—serving customers and growing your business.
So, grab that pumpkin spice latte, block out some time on your calendar, and start holiday prepping today!
Scott Sanfilippo began his eCommerce journey in 1994 by co-founding one of the Internet’s first online retailers, TheFerretStore.com, which was acquired by PetCo in 2006. In 2001, he co-founded the eCommerce design and marketing firm Solid Cactus, which was acquired by web.com in 2009. Today, Scott is the General Manager of Your Store Wizards and lives in Delray Beach, FL. Scott can be contacted at scott@yourstorewizards.com.