Business cover when on holiday?

meanbean

Hi folks, I'm a SME and sell a product through my own website - its just me, no other employees. Am due to go on my long awaited summer holiday soon and am in a quandary about what to do with my website, as I'll not be able to dispatch products from abroad. Was thinking of just shutting it down with a holding page stating it was being updated, 'please check back soon' type content. I'm not too happy about doing this though as I don't think it looks particularly good, should any past or future customers visit it.

I wondered how others have handled this situation, or whether anyone knows of any 'better' solution?

CKhalvashi

Stick 'I am on holiday from xx.xx.13 to xx.xx.13. All items will be dispatched as soon as I am back' on the front of it, seems the best option to me.

CK

paddyrg

Get a friend to post stuff out when orders arrive?

CKhalvashi

paddyrg wrote: »

Get a friend to post stuff out when orders arrive?

Or this!

CK

meanbean

Thought of the friend option but concluded it's too complicated - I have numerous varied passwords to ecommerce carts, accounts software, webmail etc. They'd have to create prompt invoices to comply with distance selling regs and email them to customers etc. Have ruled it out on this occasion.

Did think about the 'on hols' message but I'd be worried it'd invite a burglary.

lvm

Depending on how many products you sell, could you say something like "back in stock on xx.xx.13. Will be dispatched on day of arrival" or something like that for each product?

If I saw a website saying you we're doing updates or something...I probably would go elsewhere to purchase immediately rather than return. But then again, depends on your product!

Brassedoff

meanbean wrote: »

Hi folks, I'm a SME and sell a product through my own website - its just me, no other employees. Am due to go on my long awaited summer holiday soon and am in a quandary about what to do with my website, as I'll not be able to dispatch products from abroad. Was thinking of just shutting it down with a holding page stating it was being updated, 'please check back soon' type content. I'm not too happy about doing this though as I don't think it looks particularly good, should any past or future customers visit it.

I wondered how others have handled this situation, or whether anyone knows of any 'better' solution?

I would not do anything that openly casts doubt about your being a one man band. Simply put a note on your product delivery dates that say between X date and Y date, all deliveries will be delayed by Z days due to supplier holiday's. Most people will know that in certain times of the year you cannot get anything out of Italy for 6 weeks, 4 weeks for Germany, 4 weeks out of Spain. China is the same when its their New Year. You could do an out of stock message, but they would simply go elsewhere.

By doing as I have suggested, you have not affected the buyers good purchasing experience, which should be your number one aim. As well as this, your buyers have committed to the product and if they are not really bothered whether you deliver in one week or three you keep the custom.

Jamie_Carter

Some companies still have a summer shut down. So you could post a message on the home page in big bold letters (as well as a message at the checkout, if you know how to do that), saying something like:

We would like to advise all our customers that XXXXXX is on summer shut down between the dates of xxxx and xxxx. All orders will be dispatched as soon as possible on return.

What you could also do is take a laptop and headset with you. Make sure that you can get wifi at the hotel. Then set up Skype as well as the answerphone service. Then divert the business phone number to your Skype number. This will probably mean setting some time aside each day to check messages, and return calls. And you would obviously be able to reply to e-mails also. If you do this, then also state on the message on the home page that if customers need to call, then to leave a message, and calls will be returned within 24 hours.

meanbean

Such a useful batch of advice - thanks all. I think I'll go for the 'back in stock on the xx.xx.13' option, as at least the website will look generally 'open' and I'll retain the custom of anyone determined to buy my product and who wants to place the order in advance. I am going to somewhere with wifi so can deal with emails when away, but really need the break from working, so aiming for almost zero-work whilst away. Will set some time aside each day to respond to emails. Thanks again, very useful.

paulwf

Now might be a good time to document all your procedures and put them in a folder somewhere? Go through it with someone you can trust so you have an emergency backup plan in place. You might not design it so that someone else can run the site but it could help if you're stuck in hospital for a week and need someone to stop orders being taken on the site or something like that. The more backup plans you have the easier it will be if something goes wrong.

InsideInsurance

Removing the site is a bad idea because of the SEO impact it would have.

To be blunt, a lot of new start SMEs simply dont take holidays because of this sort of issue.

I dont know what you sell or what your processes are but unless it is a very bespoke service or product then I immediately wonder why you are needing to do things like generating invoices manually, your website should do this sort of thing automatically.

When I used to run my agency I did used to take my laptop on holiday with me and twice a day checked the work email. Thankfully I wasnt posting anything but you could do the messy bit yourself and then get a friend or family to do the basic bit of actually posting the item out?

Not ideal but I'd have rathered that then lose many potential customers, their repeat business and their friends they chat to etc