How will Chinese New Year affect your store

How will Chinese New Year affect your store? Well, Lunar New Year is a big holiday. If you are working with China suppliers or manufacturers for sourcing for your store, it’s even bigger. So it’s important to answer that question and figure out the way to run your store through this upcoming period. Fortunately, we’re going to discuss this matter in this article. Let’s scroll down and check it out.

When Is Chinese New Year 2021

If you’re checking Chinese calendar, it will be on Friday, February 12 this year. The holiday officially lasts for a week however manufacturers usually give their workers more time off to spend time with their families and friends. So, you’ll find that most manufacturers would shut down more or less between February 12th and February 25th, 2021.

Moreover, manufacturers also start slowing down production before the holiday. That’s why you should contact each supplier you work with to get exact dates on when they’ll be shutting down and starting up again. It’s a long holiday and it’s time for you to take some action to get prepared. But first, looking at how will Chinese New Year affect your store in the next part.

How will Chinese New Year affect your store?

Shipping during Chinese New Year

Before Lunar New Year, many suppliers may slow down their production a week or two, which makes some delay in shipping. So, orders received during the holiday will be delayed too. Actually, there are some factors accounting for the shipping time of your orders. You’d better contact your suppliers to get exact information. Ask your suppliers to also provide the exact time when they stop processing orders and starting up again.

Delays in shipping process might be the first problem for the question: How will Chinese New Year affect your store?. So you need to get prepared for it and draw out a plan.

Should I Close My Store for Chinese New Year?

You might think of it. But no. It’s needless to close your online store during Lunar New Year. Instead, it’s time for you to plan something new and interesting to launch out during the holiday. Your store will be affected by Chinese New Year. Definitely. But it doesn’t mean that you have to stop operation during that time.

You can get your stock prepared by estimating the amount and loading it more than usual to get you through the period. You should stay active on social media, answer emails, and keep your store up. People will do shopping more before and during the holiday. So it’s a shame to miss out on this chance to make more sales. You can even make up a list of how will Chinese New Year affect your store and write down your solutions to each factor.

Which Niches Will be Most Affected by Chinese New Year?

Beside the things we have mentioned earlier about how will Chinese New Year affect your store, if you are selling any products that are in time-sensitive niches, Lunar New Year will affect the shipping time. For instance, if your store is selling lingerie, your orders may not come in time for Valentine’s because of the holiday.

How to Handle Customer Inquiries About Late Packages from Chinese New Year

One of the things about: “How will Chinese New Year affect your store” is that some customers are not patient enough to stand the delays. During Chinese New Year, you will encounter a lot of complaints and queries from your customers about this matter. But there’s still something you can do to deal with those situations and retain your customers.

The first thing to note is that you should ensure that you have made a post on your website explaining that delays may occur during Chinese New Year. If possible, provide the specific time during which the products might get delay. A sticker banner saying this on your website or product page is also highly recommended.

Second, send emails to your customers reminding them of delays whenever they make their orders. It can be an automated email sent out to make sure they get the delay information in case you missed it on your page. Moreover, it shows your professionalism when they are informed in advance when their orders may not arrive on time.

Third, be kind and be patient when you respond to your customer inquiries. Some customers are upset when their package is delayed. Then you need to reply to all their messages promptly within 24 hours so that your customers can be reassured that their package will be arriving. Otherwise, they might become even madder and the situation will get worse.

Finally, you should always keep track of all order packages and see how the shipping process is going on. In case you notice any delays, inform your customers initially before they could complain. It’s better to be proactive than reactive.

After getting past the part How will Chinese New Year affect your store, it’s time to know how to run your business through it.

How to Run Your Store During Chinese New Year

Now you know how will Chinese New Year affect your store, it’s time to draw out a plan to cope with the situation. To run your store smoothly and make profits during this period of time, you will surely need some slight adjustments.

First, you’d better cut down your spending on Facebook advertising until your manufacturers are back to normal. In the meantime, it’s good to save some money. You should get prepared to have fewer orders in this period. But by scaling it down you worry less about funds.

Second, while you spend less on advertising, keep up your marketing efforts. Remember to post on social media multiple times a day, updating your blog or other activities to keep reminding your customers of your brand. This not also helps reassure current customers but also create engagement with potential customers.

Lastly, keep an eye on all the money you have in your bank account. Since you will make less money in a few weeks so it’s best to save as much as possible to use on rainy days. For example, you will still have to pay all of the monthly expenses of your store. So don’t spend every dollar you make.

You have gone through all the parts of how will Chinese New Year affect your store, and how you will get prepared for it. Then you might be looking forward to when business will be back to normal. Well, we’ll talk about that right now.

When does business go back to normal ?

It’s important to figure out How will Chinese New Year affect your store, but it’s also crucial to fathom what will happen after that. Well, obviously business will go back to normal. The question is when. It’s about a week or two after Chinese New Year for most suppliers.

Some suppliers might shut down a bit longer but it depends on. Again, you should contact your suppliers directly to find out more information.

Final word

In the above part, we have explained briefly how will Chinese New Year affect your store, though it might be so familiar if you are experienced. But for newbies, it’s a little frustrating sometimes. But don’t worry. As long as you get prepared, it’ll be alright. The matter is you should cut down on costs, know exactly when your manufacturers will be off and prepare to keep on marketing efforts on your page. Also, remember to keep your customers posted about any delays. You will see at first it’s scary to find out how will Chinese New Year affect your store, the following steps are not so hard to take.