Yes, we realise that it might seem a curious thing for us to be publishing a Christmas-themed blog post at a time when many of you may have only recently peeled yourselves off the beach. But we’re doing so for a very good reason – when it comes to readying your business for the Yuletide season, few things are more important than starting early.

In fact, you might not have known that according to research from a few years ago, more than half of Brits like to start their Christmas shopping from October or November, with 13% even doing so in the July-to-September period. Being slow to get your ecommerce business ready for Christmas shopping demand, then, could mean you missing out on sales.

Let’s, then, take a look at some of the steps your e-tail business might be taking now to ensure it is well-positioned for festive-season success.

Establish – or maintain – your online arm

You might think this is a curious tip to be giving when this blog article is aimed at e-tail businesses. However, we’re doing so because of the large numbers of firms that have become almost ‘accidental’ e-tailers over the past year and a half, due to how successive lockdowns have compromised retail businesses that previously based themselves entirely on the ‘high street’.

Presuming your business already has some kind of online sales presence, our message is: keep going. Recent statistics show that Internet sales in the UK as a percentage of total retail sales have remained higher during 2021 than before the COVID-19 pandemic hit.

Even, then, if we don’t see any further lockdowns or restrictions this Christmas (and here’s hoping!), your investment in a strong e-tail presence won’t have been wasted.

Get your festive-season supply chains in order

We all know that Christmas is a historically busy time for ecommerce businesses. However, with the coronavirus crisis having further strained the supply chains on which many such firms depend, you’ll probably need to be especially vigilant about ensuring yours is in good shape well ahead of time.

Supply chains are highly sensitive, with even seemingly ‘small’ issues potentially causing critical delays in deliveries. You’ll therefore need to keep a close eye on such aspects as how stretched your staff are, and the state of your warehousing and delivery network as Christmas nears.

Be careful when giving estimated delivery dates on orders, too. One sensible step could be to add one or two extra days to whatever dates you do estimate, to allow for any postal system delays. After all, your customer will probably be delighted if their order turns up a day or two earlier than expected, but is unlikely to forgive you in the event of it arriving late.

Start putting in your own orders for supplies now!

You might have noticed that we already have our Christmas collection of shredded paper available in our store, and there are good reasons for that. We are committed to giving e-tailers around the UK the benefit of our high-quality shredded kraft tissue nice and early, so that they can have at least some of their essential supplies ready and available well ahead of November and December.

Indeed, with highly competitive wholesale prices available and fast turnarounds, there’s little reason not to order your Christmas-themed shredded paper from us now. Our shredded paper is a popular choice among e-tail businesses wishing to package their goods well for delivery to customers, while also giving out invaluable Christmas spirit.

In fact, with our shredded paper having long been used for the packing of business gifts, candles, china, glass, as hamper filling tissue, and much more, any such paper that you have left over can continue to be useful long after the festive period. We’re proud of the 100% recyclability of all of our paper, too.

So, to help get your ecommerce firm’s Christmas preparations off to the best possible start, why not place your order for our shredded paper and hamper filling tissue today? We even offer free delivery to most UK mainland postcodes.