Last Minute Holiday Prep Checklist for Omni-Channel & Multi-Brand Retailers

Black Friday and the holiday season are just days away. For multi-brand commerce businesses, the time to act is now. While the groundwork may already be laid, last-minute optimizations can make a huge difference in ensuring a smooth holiday experience and maximizing your year-end results. Here’s a streamlined checklist to help you prioritize and fine-tune your strategy as the shopping frenzy begins.

1. Spot-Check Your Data Ecosystem

Double-check that all systems —inventory management, order tracking, and marketing platforms— are syncing properly with your commerce data platform. Ensure your dashboards are displaying real-time data to avoid any surprises. Platforms like Glew’s Commerce Data Cloud consolidate data from over 170 integrations, providing a single source of truth for critical decisions​​.

2. Optimize Inventory Management

Leverage unified inventory insights and review your top-selling items and ensure priority restocking is in place. Use data to quickly identify low-stock items and coordinate with suppliers or warehouses to expedite shipments.

Avoid holiday pitfalls like stockouts or overstocking.

• Monitor inventory levels across brands and channels.
• Identify top-performing products to prioritize restocks.
• Align supply chain operations for peak demand​​.

3. Personalize Marketing Campaigns

Use customer data analytics to create targeted holiday promotions such as refocusing email marketing on targeted flash sales or last-minute deals.

Analyze past performance and customer behavior to:

• Segment audiences by brand affinity or purchase history.
• Optimize email campaigns with personalized offers.
• Sync promotions across channels to ensure consistent messaging​​.

4. Streamline Analytics & Reporting

Set up automated daily performance dashboards to track top metrics like sales, ROI, and ad spend efficiency. Ensure you can identify underperforming campaigns and pivot quickly.

Out-of-the-box reporting features from tools like Glew can track:

• Sales and ROI by channel, brand, location, and more.
• Customer acquisition costs.
• Real-time ad spend efficiency.​​

5. Refine Your Pricing & Promotions Strategy

Double-check that your Black Friday and Cyber Monday promotions are consistent across all channels. Use data to make last-minute adjustments to pricing or discounts based on early trends.

Coordinate pricing and discount strategies across all brands to maintain consistency and maximize conversions. A unified commerce platform can help manage:

• Tiered discounts or bundle deals.
• Regional or channel-specific pricing variations.
• Real-time price adjustments based on sales trends​​.

6. Prepare for Increased Traffic

Run one final stress test on your website to confirm it can handle traffic spikes. Have customer support and order fulfillment contingencies in place for potential bottlenecks. Ensure your infrastructure can handle the holiday demand. Focus on:

• System readiness across e-commerce platforms.
• Backup plans for logistics or delivery delays.
• Customer support scalability, including chatbots or extended hours​​.

7. Leverage Cohort Analysis for Retention

The holiday season is not just about acquiring customers but keeping them. Target your most loyal customers with exclusive offers to boost repeat purchases during this high-traffic season.

8. Communicate Clearly Across Teams

Align your marketing, operations, and logistics teams with unified dashboards and data visualization tools. Platforms like Glew’s reporting systems make it easy to update stakeholders in real-time​​.

‍Final Thoughts

Time is of the essence, but there’s still room to optimize your holiday strategy. By focusing on the critical areas outlined above, you can ensure your business is ready to handle the busiest shopping days of the year. Glew’s Commerce Data Cloud makes it easy to implement these last-minute adjustments and empowers you with the data-driven insights needed to succeed. Don’t let the holiday rush overwhelm you—act now and finish the year strong.

Ready to optimize? Request a demo today!