Coronavirus: Managing your Magento ecommerce store in lockdown

The UK has now entered lockdown with everyone being told to stay at home. The spread of coronavirus (COVID—19) continues to increase day by day and now appears likely that lockdown will continue for at least three months.

Unlike bricks-and-mortar stores your Magento and other commerce sites will continue to operate. It is really important at this stage to establish exactly now your site will continue to operate.

Messaging

Create a single point of information ''yourstore.com/coronavirus'' us a good start, put all relevant information in one pace.

The key will be making the customer aware about all possible problems so they're not expecting an order to arrive sooner than be processed during lockdown.

If you store has built-in alert bars - possibly above the header of below the navigation, now is the time to create one, add a link to your coronavirus page.

Same goes on the homepage - your main banner should link to your coronavirus hub.

This might also be the time to reconsider any ongoing promotions or sales - especially if stock is limited and you no longer know when you will be able to replenish your inventory.

Checkout

If you have access, now is the time to reassess your shipping and delivery options. Remove any delivery and payment options that you know will not be possible. Make clear any options that may be disrupted.

Also consider "pay on delivery" options, it might be best to limited operations to cashless payments.

Government Advice

The UK Government as well as devolved administrations in the UK will have the most up-to-date information. Local government may also be pushing out advice but be aware, they will be operating under the same restrictions as businesses for the most part so may not be the most up-to-date.

gov.uk/coronavirus is the official coronavirus hub from the United Kingdom Government.

Technical & IT Support

Remember that any external IT or technical and digital services you rely on will also be experiencing unusually high demand.

If your hosting, support, marketing or IT services are not in-house you may have to accept increased wait times, try and maximise resources.

For example, ff you have the ability to add a new page but not design it - get the information online to the best of your abilities your web design team can refresh it when they get a chance.

My Magento Expertise

If you are planning a new e‑commerce store, considering a platform upgrade or looking for ongoing Magento support, I can provide the expertise you need. Based in Northern Ireland and working with clients locally and internationally, I deliver solutions that help businesses grow.

Contact me to discuss your Magento project

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