Shoppers aren’t just judging your deals this holiday season

Peak season, holiday season, you know it, and you love and hate it at the same time. It creeps around every year like Angela following Dwight around in that one episode of The Office. 

You know that long days and longer nights may be headed your way. We are here to help you make sure you have the right processes in place, so you can have a seamless peak season. 

Looking back at last year

Last year, US retail sales during November and December surged nearly 4% year-over-year to reach almost $1 trillion. For many, these sales help retailers meet or exceed their revenue for the year. But while the numbers are big, the opportunity is fragile. Customers have high expectations for speed, transparency, and reliability, and the retailers who fail to deliver risk losing them for good. 

The truth is that holiday success isn’t defined by a single blockbuster weekend or by flashy promotions alone. It’s determined by the preparation that happens before November and the operational resilience that carries retailers through December. For some shoppers, this may be their first impression of your brand. It can make or break whether they decide to shop with you again in the future.  

Let’s dive into how you can improve your strategy to make sure you give your shoppers the best experience possible. 

Building a foundation of trust pre-peak 

By September and October, the race to holiday readiness is already well underway. Forrester’s 2025 data shows that nearly a quarter of US consumers start their shopping in October or earlier. These early buyers aren’t anomalies. They’re your everyday shopper who want to avoid the holiday rush and take advantage of deals throughout the year. 

While this is the season of preparation, hopefully, you took the learnings from last year’s peak and have been working on them throughout the year. If not, don’t fret. There is still time!  

Here are some easy things to check before peak: 

• Optimize every touchpoint in the post-purchase journey. Order confirmations and shipping notifications need to be clear, consistent, and branded. Carrier integrations must be reliable, because a single missed scan in December can cascade into thousands of anxious customer inquiries. 
• Prepare marketing campaigns and customer segments. Each step of the customer journey should be personalized to increase customer lifetime value and improve the customer experience. Decide what marketing campaigns you’ll be running during this time and set them up in advance to increase repeat purchases, drive traffic to stores, or boost loyalty program sign ups. Leverage AI to ensure product recommendations match your customers’ preferences. 
• Check the return rules associated with your return portal. Are you charging fees for every return? Do loyal customers get exclusive benefits? Are exchanges possible? Can you provide different refund payment methods, like store credit?
• Stress-test customer service and automation workflows. Holiday traffic can stretch systems to their breaking point. Running “fire drills” in October that simulate order surges, delayed shipments, or sudden spikes in customer inquiries helps teams identify weaknesses before they become disasters. 

Preparation isn’t just about minimizing risk. It’s also about unlocking hidden growth. Don’t underestimate the power of post-purchase emails, as they are some of the most powerful marketing tools in a retailer’s arsenal. Forrester’s research found that 70% of consumers actually prefer transactional and confirmation emails to promotional ones.  

That means every delivery update, tracking page, return portal, or return confirmation is an opportunity to cross-sell, upsell, or simply reinforce brand loyalty. Retailers who only focus on the pre-purchase journey are leaving money on the table. 

In the end, this phase isn’t glamorous, but it is decisive. Retailers that build resilience now will have the agility and confidence to thrive when the chaos of November hits. 

Delivering under pressure during peak 

Once November arrives, you are in the thick of it. Shoppers flood websites, stores, and apps, with expectations for instant updates, flawless tracking, and responsive service. But the true test of peak isn’t how many orders a retailer can generate. It’s how well they can deliver them. 

62% of consumers find an accurate delivery date estimate more important than fast shipping. This doesn’t come as a big surprise, seeing as though delays don’t just create frustration. They damage trust. During peak, silence is a retailer’s worst enemy. Customers can forgive a storm or a carrier disruption. They won’t forgive being left in the dark. 

Here’s some ways to make sure you’re delivering on your promise during peak:

• Be as transparent as possible. Shoppers want updates on order status, clear communication about delays, and proactive handling of exceptions. Imagine a customer who receives a message that their package will be late due to weather, but also receives an apology, a new ETA, and perhaps even a discount on their next order. That kind of proactive care turns disappointment into reassurance, and reassurance into trust. 
• Take control of the last-mile. Customers want real-time tracking and confidence that their package will arrive when promised. Retailers who rely solely on carrier updates risk disappointing customers. Those who take control of the tracking experience with branded, real-time visibility show that they own the customer relationship end-to-end. 
• Collect prompt customer feedback. When you gather post-delivery feedback in real time, retailers can spot systemic issues, like repeated delays from a certain carrier, before they escalate. This kind of agility isn’t just operationally smart. It sends a message to customers that their voices are heard and valued, even at the busiest time of the year. If you have a post-purchase software, like parcelLab, it should be easy to incorporate surveys into your customer journeys. This way, you can capture feedback as soon as a customer receives their order 

Ultimately, peak season resilience comes down to one mantra: communicate early, often, and empathetically. Every order update, every status notification, every resolved exception is a chance to strengthen the relationship. Retailers who embrace transparency will not only survive peak. They’ll emerge with a base of loyal customers ready to return long after the holidays. 

The bottom line 

Every holiday season is a test of preparation and execution. Pre-peak is the time to build trust and resilience, ensuring systems, workflows, and policies can withstand the pressure. Peak itself is the proving ground, where transparency, reliability, and personalized experiences decide which retailers win loyalty and which lose it. 

In an era where customers have endless options, the differentiator isn’t just what you sell but how you deliver it. Retailers who invest in the post-purchase journey will discover that holiday success isn’t about weathering the storm. It’s about transforming it into growth. 

After all, you wouldn’t want a fire drill situation when you’re underprepared, right?