How to manage orders for ecommerce when going out of town??

[Tourmaline]

How do I manage orders for my ecommerce site when I'm going out of town?

Previously I have simply stopped advertising, but that is not a long term solution, and it feels like a loss in potential and time.

Would simply putting a banner at the top of the site saying 'orders will ship out on XX/XX date' be sufficient in making sure customers don't get angry that their orders are taking longer to ship out?

Or maybe an email should be sent as well informing them of when their order will ship out and asking them to let me know if they have any concerns or questions?

Eventually I intend to automate this so I won't be so bound, but for now I need an interim solution and appreciate your insight!

Edit: The orders need to be packed and shipped, I don't yet have any other employees that can do the job.

 

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[Daniela101]

How about hiring a virtual assistant? Upwork.com

 

[Tourmaline]

The problem is the orders need to be packed and shipped

I probably should have made that clear in the OP

 

[Vitaly the Winne]

It sounds like you have a very limited scale operation right now, depending on you being there in order to function. Is it profitable enough to automate so that even when you're not there, it's business as usual?

 

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[wade1mil]

The basic answer is systems.
Ask a family member or someone who you trust to handle everything while you're gone and pay them for it.

 

[Tourmaline]

It sounds like you have a very limited scale operation right now, depending on you being there in order to function. Is it profitable enough to automate so that even when you're not there, it's business as usual?

That is the goal! But first I need to get things rolling enough where that becomes doable.

The hardest part is trusting someone to measure things accurately and then label them correctly.

The basic answer is systems.
Ask a family member or someone who you trust to handle everything while you're gone and pay them for it.

I suppose that's the simplest answer. Currently I don't trust anyone to do this, but it looks like I need to find someone/employee that can do this.

The hardest part to trust others with is actually sending the right sized items! Perhaps it would help to prepackage everything to minimize any possibility of mistakes.

 

[Bearcorp]

A pop up at checkout notifying them that your warehouse is closed until xx/xx/xx is fine, if a customer desperately needs it they will move on, if they’re happy to wait they’ll order. As long as you communicate with your customers then it’s fine.

 

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[MitchC]

An email after they order explaining the delay and offering a refund (no one will take it) they just like to be kept in the loop.

You need a fulfilment centre, I put it off for way too long to save money but in the end, like you, it ended up costing me money because I went away over Christmas and had to stop selling.

Once you have this set up that removes all limits for scaling. I used to dread getting heaps of orders because it meant more work but now I can scale as hard as I want.