Is your website ready for Christmas 2026?

There are about eight weeks to Christmas, and the latest forecasts suggest it will be a busy one online. If your business sells products, gift vouchers, bookings or seasonal services, now is the time to make sure your website is ready, not mid-December.

What the forecasts say

Bain & Company’s 2026 Holiday Shopping Outlook, published on 15 October, expects UK retail sales to grow 3.5% across November and December, the strongest rise in four years. Bain expects more than half of that increase in value to come from higher prices rather than people buying more, so shoppers will be watching every pound.

Online is expected to do much of the heavy lifting. As reported by Retail Times, Bain forecasts online sales to grow 7.5%, compared with 2.8% in store. It also found that 20% of online shoppers expect to start their Christmas shopping on a generative AI platform, rising to around 41% of Gen Z.

Shopify’s 2026 Holiday Report points in the same direction. It found that 64% of UK shoppers are likely to use AI for at least one shopping task this festive period, most often to find deals or discover products. Encouragingly for smaller firms, the report found that shoppers who use AI most are much more likely to choose independent or niche brands.

Your Christmas website checklist

1. Put your festive key dates where people can see them

Last order dates, last posting days, Christmas opening hours and when you reopen in January should be on your home page and relevant product or service pages, not buried in a PDF. Bain says delivery timing and stock availability carry outsized weight in November and December.

2. Make product and service information complete

Bain advises retailers to make sure product content is structured and readable enough to appear when shoppers ask AI tools for gift ideas. For a small business, that means clear names, honest descriptions, prices, sizes or options and stock status on every page. Shopify’s Stephen Rogan said businesses need “accurate product information and inventory to clear pricing and delivery details” so that both shoppers and their AI assistants can understand what makes a product worth choosing.

3. Show genuine value

Price sensitivity is high, and Bain notes that AI makes it easy to spot a discount that is not real. Keep offers simple and honest, and explain what makes your product or service worth the money: quality, craftsmanship, local service or expert advice.

4. Test your checkout and forms on a phone

Many festive purchases and enquiries happen on mobile. Place a test order or send a test enquiry from your own phone. Check that pages load quickly, buttons are easy to tap, confirmation emails arrive and nothing breaks at the payment step. If your site is hard to use on a phone, a website redesign before next Christmas may pay for itself.

5. Tell your story

Shopify found that UK businesses are highlighting where and how their products are made and drawing attention to their independent status. If you are a small, local or specialist business, say so clearly. It is a real advantage this year.

6. Plan for the whole season

Bain recommends treating the season as a campaign that evolves, because the early-November browser is very different from the last-minute buyer. Plan simple updates to your home page and offers for early November, Black Friday week, mid-December and the January sales.

A one-hour website check you can do this week

You do not need a big project to be ready for Christmas. Set aside an hour, use your own phone and work through these steps in order. Note anything that is wrong, then fix the items that stop people buying or getting in touch first.

Search for your business as a customer would

Search for your business name and for what you sell plus your town. Check that the page Google shows is the one you want people to land on, and that the title and description still describe what you offer. If you cannot find your website at all, read why your website may not be showing on Google.

Time your home page on mobile data

Turn off wi-fi and open your home page. If you are waiting for large images or a video before you can read anything, festive shoppers will be waiting too. Our guide to why websites load slowly explains the usual causes and what to fix first.

Buy something or send an enquiry yourself

Go from the home page to a finished order or enquiry, as a customer would. Check that confirmation emails arrive, that delivery costs appear before the last step and that every button works with a thumb on a small screen.

Read your delivery, returns and opening hours information

Make sure your Christmas cut-off dates, returns window and any changed opening hours are written down once, kept up to date and linked from the pages where people make decisions. Out-of-date information is one of the easiest ways to lose trust in December.

What to do in January

When the rush is over, look back while it is fresh. Note the questions customers asked most often and answer them on your website. Remove expired offers and festive banners, check that seasonal pages still make sense or redirect them, and write down what you would change next year. If the season showed that your website is holding you back, January is a good time to plan a small business website redesign or monthly SEO for small businesses for the year ahead.

Get a quick health check before the rush

If you only have time for one thing, find out what is most likely to cost you sales. Our £99 website audit audits your whole website, including your home page and your checkout or enquiry pages, for mobile experience, speed, search foundations and conversion, and gives you a prioritised list of fixes within two working days. If you are advertising over the festive period, our festive ad creatives keep each ad to a short headline, the price and one button, and our creative design service covers logos and presentations too. For the year ahead, we can also help with SEO packages for small businesses or small business website design.

Not sure what’s holding your website back? Get your whole site reviewed for £99, with prioritised fixes in 2 working days. Book a £99 website audit.