The 2021 Ecommerce Holiday Readiness Guide

Prepare for Huge Revenue and Happy Customers with Webscale

In 2021, 58% of retailers expect consumers to buy more than the previous year, according to research by Digital Commerce 360. And that’s no mean feat considering the NRF (National Retail Federation) reported that in 2020, overall holiday spending grew 8% to $789 billion (all retail) while online sales jumped 24% to $209 billion.

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In June of this year, Walmart, Target, Best Buy and a growing list of retailers again announced Thanksgiving Day store closures as the consumer shift to online continues. More stores are expected to be open for Black Friday this year, yet, with rising concerns about Covid variants, and more consumers having grown accustomed to online shopping, ecommerce will likely be center stage for the remainder of the Cyber Week, and through the remainder of the holiday season.

According to eMarketer, 2021 retail ecommerce sales are projected to make up 19.6% of total holiday retail sales (November-December), up from 17.8% last year. And, worldwide retail mobile commerce will clock 18.6% growth this year, with the UK and BRIC (Brazil, Russia, India and China) nations seeing 19-34%.

When Prime Day was moved to October last year, it led to an extended holiday shopping season. This year too we could see a similar holiday head start with rumors floating around that Amazon is considering another sales event in the fall. Reaffirming the rumors are results from the Digital Commerce 360 survey wherein 61% of retailers said they plan to start their 2021 holiday marketing before November 1; 22% of retailers have already started their marketing efforts (July/August).

 2020 was the year of “omni-channel” and this momentum will continue this year. 58% of online shoppers in Digital Commerce 360’s Omnichannel survey indicated that they checked online for product availability at a nearby store; 43% of online shoppers had picked up in store (BOPIS) and 35% had taken advantage of curbside pickup (BOPAC).

When asked about retailers’ performance with such offerings, shopper satisfaction was very strong: 77% graded their experience an 8 or higher on a 10-point scale. Merchants must ensure their technology stack is geared to deliver on both fronts.

This guide will help you navigate the upcoming holiday season with confidence. Based on our insights gathered from managing hundreds of merchants, thousands of storefronts, millions of shoppers and billions of dollars in revenue every year, here’s our checklist of action items to prepare your storefront for a holiday shopping season like no other.

What Should Ecommerce Merchants Care About?

90+ Core Web Vitals score on mobile and desktop

What you need: Real User Monitoring and web performance optimization with a CDN built for commerce

100% application uptime, always

What you need: A storefront that scales automatically to any level of demand (auto-scaling cloud infrastructure)

Enterprise-grade security

What you need: proactive, automation-led end-to-end security

Is your new site tested for functionality and peak demand? Do you know when enough is enough?

What you need: Cloud Application Testing and a code freeze!

Rapid knowledgeable support, at your service

What you need: Round-the-cloud DevSecOps support with guarantees

Deep visibility and insights – knowledge is power!

What you need: A single pane of glass view

90+ Core Web Vitals score on mobile and desktop

What you need: Real User Monitoring and web performance optimization with a CDN built for commerce

Is your new site tested for functionality and peak demand? Do you know when enough is enough?

What you need: Cloud Application Testing and a code freeze!

100% application uptime, always

What you need: A storefront that scales automatically to any level of demand (auto-scaling cloud infrastructure)

Rapid knowledgeable support, at your service

What you need: Round-the-cloud DevSecOps support with guarantees

Enterprise-grade security

What you need: proactive, automation-led end-to-end security

Deep visibility and insights – knowledge is power!

What you need: A single pane of glass view

How Can Webscale Help?

By providing 100% uptime, enterprise-grade security, blazing fast performance and 24×7 support, Webscale enables ecommerce merchants to offer holiday shoppers a flawless customer experience.

We’re proud to have delivered 7 flawless Black Fridays in a row for Fortune 1000 brands including Dollar General, Unilever, Swarovski, Olympus, Regal Cinemas and thousands of others. Let us help you get prepped for the all-important holiday season.

Webscale CloudEDGE Application Testing

Why: Ensure your customers have the best possible experience on your site, regardless of the traffic

24x7x365 DevSecOps Support

Why: Cloud and ecommerce experts who act as your extended IT team.

Webscale Real User Monitoring (RUM) and Webscale CloudEDGE CDN

Why: Get ahead of Core Web Vitals and protect your search rankings for organic traffic.

Webscale CloudEDGE Security

Why: Comprehensive ecommerce security to address the gaps of  bundled WAFs and CDNs.

Predictive Real-time Auto-scaling

Why: Zero downtime whatever the traffic surge, and without over-provisioning

The Webscale Portal

Why: Monitor everything, automate everywhere.

Webscale CloudEDGE Application Testing

Why: Ensure your customers have the best possible experience on your site, regardless of the traffic

Webscale Real User Monitoring (RUM) and Webscale CloudEDGE CDN

Why: Get ahead of Core Web Vitals and protect your search rankings for organic traffic.

Predictive Real-time Auto-scaling

Why: Zero downtime whatever the traffic surge, and without over-provisioning

24x7x365 DevSecOps Support

Why: Cloud and ecommerce experts who act as your extended IT team.

Webscale CloudEDGE Security

Why: Comprehensive ecommerce security to address the gaps of  bundled WAFs and CDNs.

The Webscale Portal

Why: Monitor everything, automate everywhere.

Now is the Time!
Freeze your code early and address issues around availability, performance and security for optimizing the overall customer experience. Happy Holidays!

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Schedule a 15-minute call with one of our ecommerce specialists

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