How to prepare your e-shop for peak season: from orders to returns
Your campaigns are ready, your stock is on order and your supplier meetings are in the diary. But the real test comes when orders start piling up and customers want to know whether their parcels will arrive on time.
Getting your online store ready for peak season means planning your stock, warehouse capacity, checkout process, realistic delivery dates and post-purchase care. Review the whole customer journey, from choosing a product and receiving the parcel to returning an item or reporting a fault.
The Christmas rush doesn't necessarily end for your team when the last gift leaves the warehouse. Plan for the work that comes after Christmas, too.
How many orders can you actually handle?
Start with your data from last season. Look beyond revenue: review your busiest days, dispatch times, products that sold out and the volume of support enquiries.
These figures will show you where your operations struggled to keep up. If you were packing orders late into the night last year, make sure you can handle more orders this year before increasing your advertising budget.
Before launching your campaigns, check:
- Stock: Do you have enough of your bestsellers and packaging materials? How soon can your suppliers replenish your stock?
- Warehouse capacity: How many orders can your current team pick, pack and hand over to the carrier each day?
- Staff cover: Who will step in if a colleague is off, and who will train any temporary staff?
- Shipping: What collection schedules, capacity limits and backup options do you have in place?
- Contingency plans: What will you do if you receive more orders than expected?
Run a test order through your entire fulfilment process. Time each step and look for bottlenecks, whether that's printing labels, locating products or entering data manually.
Promise delivery dates you can meet
“Delivery by Christmas” is a firm promise to your customers. Base it on stock availability, the time you need to dispatch orders and the latest information from your carriers.
Dispatch dates and delivery dates are two different things. Being able to hand an order over to the carrier tomorrow doesn't mean your customer will receive it tomorrow.
Keep delivery information consistent across product pages, the basket, your shipping page and your campaigns. Make sure customers can clearly identify items ordered on request or with longer lead times before they pay.
Decide in advance who will update delivery dates if your warehouse or carrier falls behind. An outdated banner promising fast delivery can keep bringing in orders you can no longer fulfil on time.
Test shopping on mobile and check your discounts
Go through your online store as a customer would, including on your phone. Find a product, select a variant, apply a discount code and complete a test order.
Check that payments, shipping options and confirmation emails all work. Review stock availability, descriptions and size guides for your key products: any information missing before purchase will mean more questions for your support team later.
If you're planning discount campaigns, check your pricing history too. According to the Czech Trade Inspection Authority (ČOI), discount announcements must generally show the lowest price charged in the previous 30 days, and the advertised discount must be calculated from that price. Specific rules and exceptions apply in some cases.
Don't leave these checks until the banners are ready and your newsletter is about to go out.
Answer “Where's my parcel?” before your customers have to ask
Once they've paid, customers need to know what's happening with their order. An order confirmation alone won't keep them informed while they wait for delivery.
Make sure customers receive a working tracking link and clear updates when something important changes. Prepare messages for dispatch, delays and parcels awaiting collection.
When notifying customers of a delay, explain what you know and what happens next. If you don't have a revised delivery date, tell them when to expect another update rather than making an unsupported guess.
We help you do this with Retino Tracking. Track parcels across carriers in one place and send customers automated updates along the way.
See your returns process through your customers' eyes
Try returning an item through your own online store. Start by finding the instructions, then work through the process of sending the parcel back and finding out what happens next.
As you test the process, ask yourself:
- Can customers find the returns instructions without contacting support?
- Is it clear where to send the item and who pays for return shipping?
- Can they submit a request on their phone?
- Will they receive confirmation that you've received their request?
- Do they know what happens next and when to expect their refund?
Make the distinction between returns, exchanges and warranty claims clear. Each follows a different process, and customers should be able to tell which one applies to them.
For most online consumer purchases, customers generally have the right to withdraw from the contract within 14 days of receiving the goods. Exceptions apply. You can find details, including information on refunds, in ČOI's guide to withdrawing from a contract.
If you offer an extended returns period over Christmas, clearly state which purchases qualify and what conditions apply. Your support team should have the same information as your website.
Prepare for online contract withdrawals
From 1 January 2027, online stores must allow customers to withdraw from a contract directly online using an easily accessible button or similar feature. This requirement applies to consumer contracts concluded online where the customer has a right of withdrawal.
If you don't offer this option yet, include it in your preparations for Christmas. You'll have less time for website changes during peak season, and everything needs to be working by January.
For details, see ČOI's notice on the contract withdrawal button.
Keep track of every case
The request came by email, the photo of the damage arrived in an Instagram message, and a colleague has the note about the refund. As soon as someone else takes over, things get messy.
Before peak season, agree on one place where your team can find:
- the order and the customer's request,
- all correspondence and attachments,
- the current status and the person responsible,
- the next deadline and action,
- refund or exchange details.
Alongside keeping records, set clear handover rules. Who handles undelivered parcels? Who deals with warranty claims? Who can approve a refund? Shared visibility only helps when everyone knows who's responsible for taking action.
With Retino Returns, you can manage returns, warranty claims and exchanges in one place. Each case includes all communication, its status and deadlines, and customers can submit requests through a self-service online portal.
Prepare your support team for the work after Christmas, too
Draft answers to common questions about delivery, order changes, uncollected parcels, returns and refunds. Use them as templates that your team can adapt to each situation.
Let customers know when your support team is available over the holidays. If they contact you outside those hours, an automatic reply should tell them when to expect a response.
Include capacity for processing returns and issuing refunds in your post-Christmas plans. Factor this into staff rotas and your cash flow planning.
A quick checklist for peak season
- You know how many orders you can dispatch each day and have a plan for higher volumes. ✅
- You've checked stock, packaging, carrier collections and staff cover. ✅
- Your delivery dates are realistic and consistent across every channel. ✅
- Shopping, payments and discount codes work on mobile, too. ✅
- You've checked the pricing history for your discount campaigns. ✅
- Customers receive delivery updates and can easily track their parcels. ✅
- You've tested the entire returns process. ✅
- Your team can see the status, deadline and person responsible for every case. ✅
- Your support team has up-to-date information and clear handover rules. ✅
- You've planned for returns and refunds after Christmas. ✅
Get your online store ready for what happens after checkout
A successful peak season also depends on what happens after payment: whether customers know where their parcels are, can resolve problems easily and don't have to explain the same issue to three different people.
At Retino, we help you bring parcel tracking, customer communication, returns and warranty claims together. That gives your team more time for the cases that need their attention.
