The playbook for your e-commerce business success in Q4!
Peak season doesn’t reward panic - it rewards preparation.
In this episode of Retail Reckoning, myself, Clare Bailey and e-commerce pro Steph Briggs lay out the Q4 playbook: three website fixes you can do this week, email + remarketing that actually converts, the simple SEO steps most indies skip, and the ops guardrails that stop Christmas disasters before they start.
Plus, how to keep the human touch that Amazon can’t copy.
Preparation beats panic. So click play to learn how to do it.
Mentioned in this episode:
Transcript
want your e-commerce business to be successful in quarter four.
Speaker:This is the Playbook for Success covering SEO, frictionless E-commerce
Speaker:and how to maximize reengagement
Speaker:of your customers.
Speaker:Welcome to
Speaker:Retail Reckoning.
Speaker:Today we're diving into peak season prep.
Speaker:Q4 is the make or break quarter, whether you're an indie, a supplier,
Speaker:a place manager, or a chain.
Speaker:The next few weeks.
Speaker:Set the tone for your whole year.
Speaker:I'm joined by my colleague, Steph Briggs.
Speaker:She's been there and done it building and scaling her own e-commerce
Speaker:business, wrestling with logistics at Christmas and helping other
Speaker:retailers navigate the chaos.
Speaker:Steph, it's great to have you here.
Speaker:So if we cut straight to it, what's the biggest mindset shift
Speaker:that retailers need before Q4?
Speaker:Plan early and act decisively.
Speaker:Peak comes every year, and yet too many businesses wait until November.
Speaker:By then you are firefighting stock marketing operations.
Speaker:If you don't lock those down early, you'll pay for it later in
Speaker:loss sales and sleepless nights,
Speaker:absolutely.
Speaker:You can't win it at Christmas.
Speaker:It's all about control and not chaos.
Speaker:if someone's listening.
Speaker:And could just fix one thing on their website this week that will make all
Speaker:the difference when it comes to peak.
Speaker:What should it be?
Speaker:And I mean, actually, if you can think of three things all better.
Speaker:So it's got to be, the number one has got to be mobile usability.
Speaker:Most customers these days shop on their phones.
Speaker:If your checkout is clunky, they will abandon the basket in seconds.
Speaker:Number two I would say is clean design.
Speaker:Make it really simple.
Speaker:Make it really obvious how to shop and how to add to that basket.
Speaker:The less clicks you can get to get to checkout, the better
Speaker:and frictionless payments.
Speaker:It's basic, but they're non-negotiables.
Speaker:So really the key message is forget gimmicks and jazzy websites that
Speaker:are complicated and just make it as easy as possible to buy.
Speaker:But obviously people have got to find you first.
Speaker:And a lot of small businesses, they'll spend a fortune on a jazzy website, lots
Speaker:of funky design and everything else, but then it's like having a beautiful shop
Speaker:window and closing the curtains 'cause they've not invested in the marketing.
Speaker:So what advice have you got for indies to get their marketing on point and
Speaker:cut through the Christmas noise?
Speaker:Your customer list and email is where the gold is.
Speaker:It converts better than social, and you actually own that relationship.
Speaker:Pair it with remarketing ads, and you'll stay in front of mind.
Speaker:And don't underestimate the power of consistent messaging
Speaker:across the different channels.
Speaker:It really reassures your customers.
Speaker:I mean, I know a lot of independent retailers and they, they feel
Speaker:a bit worried about bothering people, but I always think, well,
Speaker:I've signed up for the email.
Speaker:I want to hear from them and I want to get curated messages and I want
Speaker:to get specialized, personalized promotions and everything else.
Speaker:So.
Speaker:I like to hear from the retailers that I've chosen to subscribe to.
Speaker:So I guess they need to get over themselves and not feel like they're
Speaker:bothering people as long as they're giving relevant and sensible advice.
Speaker:So in terms of relevancy and the kind of content that people could be including in
Speaker:some of their email marketing, have you got any examples that might help people
Speaker:consider a better way of communicating that they feel more comfortable with?
Speaker:letting your current customer base who know, like, and trust you.
Speaker:giving them that inside track so that when your Christmas stock arrives,
Speaker:they're the first ones to get to see it.
Speaker:And when your sale starts, if you have any stock left, then they are
Speaker:again the first people to see it.
Speaker:You are looking
Speaker:after your customers first.
Speaker:Steph, we hear a lot about the importance of SEO and I've met a lot of independent
Speaker:retailers who have been told that they've got a website and SEO is built in.
Speaker:I mean, from what I know of it, that isn't even possible, is it?
Speaker:I know you do a lot of work to support retailers be discoverable online with
Speaker:local SEO and also all their content.
Speaker:Can you give some hints and tips about what they should be doing?
Speaker:Because obviously anyone that's been sold a website with SEO built
Speaker:in has been sold a bit of a dud.
Speaker:SEO is sort of marketed as such as a dark art, but There are
Speaker:some basics that anyone can do.
Speaker:if you are a e-commerce retailer, you want to look at each product.
Speaker:You don't want to copy and paste the manufacturer's description, write
Speaker:your own, and input those keywords that you want to appear for within
Speaker:that description, your meta title and meta description, which is
Speaker:the bit that shows up on Google.
Speaker:Needs to, again, have those keywords in and think what your customers
Speaker:would actually be searching for.
Speaker:And just put that in there.
Speaker:Each photograph that you have obviously needs to be a really
Speaker:lovely high quality image.
Speaker:But also the alt description, which is the little bit that Google can read
Speaker:that describes the picture needs to be filled in for each and every product.
Speaker:Each photograph also, particularly if you've taken your own photographs,
Speaker:you know, instead of having IMG 1, 2, 3 as the file name, again, describe
Speaker:the product and change the file name.
Speaker:Not that only thought, that make it easier obviously for you to refin that
Speaker:photo later on when you're looking for it for social media or whatever.
Speaker:Obviously if you are a local based business and you have a catchment
Speaker:area that you want to serve in that local community, then making sure
Speaker:that you mention your location within.
Speaker:Your website and within some of your products will make a massive difference.
Speaker:Blogging is another key passion of mine that businesses, again, it's one of
Speaker:those jobs that's really easy to overlook and to forget about and put off, but
Speaker:actually, if you could consistently blog on a regular basis about your products,
Speaker:about your service, about how you can make a difference to your customer's lives.
Speaker:Then this will pay dividends long term.
Speaker:So basically, you can't have SEO built in because it's a dynamic
Speaker:situation and independent retailers need to work quite hard at it to
Speaker:make sure that they're discoverable.
Speaker:Thanks Steph.
Speaker:I want to now turn attention to retail operations.
Speaker:it's the sort of unglamorous stuff.
Speaker:You know, pick, pack dispatch, making sure that things are done and in
Speaker:well-planned manner, making sure you've got enough staff in place to handle peak.
Speaker:What trips businesses up, do you think, and how can they make sure
Speaker:that the operations don't let them down when they've invested so
Speaker:much time and effort in marketing.
Speaker:Particularly with e-commerce, it's the delivery side of things that you are
Speaker:not a hundred percent in control of.
Speaker:I remember Christmas a couple of years ago where we had royal mail
Speaker:strikes mid-December and unless you had an alternative courier in place
Speaker:already, you were absolutely stuffed.
Speaker:Delivery cutoffs and returns.
Speaker:If get those wrong and you lose trust, customers don't
Speaker:forgive Christmas disasters.
Speaker:It's an emotive time of year.
Speaker:Clear policies and communication protect your brand as much
Speaker:as the products themselves.
Speaker:Yeah, I remember the news stories.
Speaker:Actually broken delivery experiences can undo months of marketing.
Speaker:There was one particular story that resonated and it was ever so sad.
Speaker:It had been snowing and delivery drivers couldn't get through any more than
Speaker:people could go out in their cars.
Speaker:And yet there was an awful backlash against Asda because a Christmas Turkey
Speaker:hadn't been delivered to somebody in time.
Speaker:But you think about it, it's like if you are not willing to drive
Speaker:out to the shops, why should that driver put their life at risk?
Speaker:So we also have to recognize that there are circumstances that arise.
Speaker:Where deliveries can be delayed or failed simply because nobody expected
Speaker:heavy snow in a particular area.
Speaker:that, I guess, comes back down to the communications and making sure that in the
Speaker:regions where deliveries are disrupted, customers are contacted and advised
Speaker:that if you're in this postcode area, unfortunately we have some issues due to
Speaker:the weather, and you just have to hope and pray that the customers respect that.
Speaker:And are willing to, you know, be a bit more flexible and adaptive.
Speaker:And I guess that comes to the next point.
Speaker:Then there's a human touch.
Speaker:We always have to balance slick e-commerce with humanity and personality,
Speaker:and particularly with e-commerce where they don't get the face-to-face
Speaker:interaction at they get in store.
Speaker:How can indie scale without losing the human and personal touch?
Speaker:It's the personal touches, the little notes in parcels.
Speaker:I used to hand write every single note in each parcel.
Speaker:It's the thoughtful packaging, the quick replies.
Speaker:People don't expect perfection.
Speaker:Really value, effort, and authenticity,
Speaker:and that's what makes independence memorable.
Speaker:So I guess that's where the
Speaker:independents are gonna get the edge over Amazon from the
Speaker:warmth and the kindness and the personalization rather than just speed.
Speaker:And parcels being put in your wheelie bin on the day they get taken out.
Speaker:I know that's happened to people before.
Speaker:if we think again about peak, we're gonna do as much as we can to help
Speaker:these businesses get through, but then looking beyond peak, what should the
Speaker:independence be focusing on for 2026?
Speaker:It's all about community.
Speaker:Community loyalty memberships, exclusive content, blending, digital
Speaker:and in store together, it's about deepening those relationship and
Speaker:not just chasing the one-off sales.
Speaker:completely agree there.
Speaker:It's all about.
Speaker:The future of connecting online and offline, which we've talked about
Speaker:for years, but so few businesses do it effectively, and I think from a
Speaker:customer's perspective, it's good to never feel like you're a stranger.
Speaker:That whole integrated customer experience that transcends online, offline, social.
Speaker:It has to all feel consistent and it has to all feel authentic because I
Speaker:believe that that's what builds trust and in such a heavily contested market
Speaker:where consumer confidence is undeniably low and inflation is putting so much
Speaker:pressure on people's spending power.
Speaker:Then having that security, I suppose, of a great customer experience and
Speaker:knowing that you'll get the best possible advice from somebody who's
Speaker:a member of your local community.
Speaker:That's really important.
Speaker:Steph, is there anything you'd like to share before we wrap up for today?
Speaker:Christmas in retail, particularly as a small indie, is all year round.
Speaker:So you start in January by analyzing what happened in the last few months, then
Speaker:you start purchasing for next December and really building up all the way
Speaker:through to make sure that that golden
Speaker:quarter is golden for you.
Speaker:Thank you very much, Steph.
Speaker:It's been great to hear your thoughts and it sounds like that's
Speaker:the playbook that retailers really need right now and year round.
Speaker:For listeners, I hope if you can pick just one point that steps made and act
Speaker:this week, it might make a difference.
Speaker:'cause preparation makes all the difference between thriving and surviving.
Speaker:In quarter four, you've been listening to Retail Reckoning.
Speaker:My name's Claire Bailey, the Retail Champion.
Speaker:See you next time.
