Omnichannel

The holiday season exposes cracks in post-purchase infrastructure. How can retailers close the gaps?

Holiday demand exposes the operational gaps behind the scenes. Retailers that address those gaps before volume rises can deliver a more consistent experience even when orders go off course, giving seasonal shoppers a reason to buy from them again.

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November 3, 2026 by Eric Kobe — CEO, Route

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The World Cup created the kind of demand surge retailers dream about. Adidas reported selling four times as many jerseys as it did during the 2022 tournament, showing how quickly a cultural moment can send order volume soaring.

But building lasting customer relationships requires more than winning the sale. When orders rise that quickly, fulfillment, delivery communications and returns processes must be ready to support what comes next.

Retailers will soon face that same challenge on a much broader scale.

The holiday season will put post-purchase infrastructure under sustained pressure across products, channels and customer journeys. Brands should use the time now to stress-test how they keep customers informed, resolve delivery issues and manage returns before peak volume exposes the gaps.

Because a better post-purchase experience can turn a one-time holiday purchase into a lasting customer relationship.

Why post-purchase shapes the next purchase

In a survey of 1,000 U.S. consumers conducted this year by Route, 97% said a positive return experience makes them more likely to shop with a retailer again. The post-purchase experience also influences whether they buy in the first place: 82% said easy return options affect their decision to purchase from a new brand.

That's especially important during the holidays, when customers may be buying gifts from unfamiliar retailers and feel less certain about whether a product will be right for its recipient. Once retailers earn initial confidence, they have to sustain it through delivery and, when necessary, a return, exchange, or other post-purchase need.

However, peak volume creates more opportunities for small operational gaps to become visible. Delayed shipments, conflicting tracking updates and slow refunds may originate in different systems, but customers experience them as a single journey. When those systems fall out of sync, retailers risk losing the trust they worked to earn at checkout.

That's why holiday readiness requires more than preparing for a rush of orders. Retailers also need a plan for the questions, disruptions and returns that follow.

Strengthening the post-purchase experience before peak season

Effective peak-season preparation includes anticipating where higher volume will create strain and giving employees the information and authority to keep the customer experience moving.

Focus on three areas:

1. Plan for post-purchase surge after peak sales
Peak sales create a predictable second wave of operational pressure after orders leave the warehouse. Salesforce, for example, found that more than $181 billion in online orders came back last holiday season, 14% of everything purchased between November 1 and December 31.

Tracking questions, delivery issues, claims, exchanges and returns all rise with order volume, often placing the greatest strain on systems that receive less attention during holiday planning.

By using data from previous peak periods, you can estimate how order growth will affect every stage after checkout. Look beyond fulfillment capacity to assess whether tracking information will remain accurate, customer support can absorb additional questions, and claims and returns workflows can continue moving without creating backlogs.

It's also important to pay particular attention to the connections between your systems. When an order page, a shipping update and a support representative provide conflicting answers, customers lose confidence in your ability to deliver.

2. Build a playbook for orders that go off course
Peak-season disruptions leave little time for case-by-case decision-making. You need to identify the problems most likely to occur and establish a response to each one before order volume rises. Or even better, build systems that can automate or answer customer inquiries before they happen.

This ensures customers have the right information, at the right time. It also enables your support representatives to know which resolutions they can offer without additional approval, including replacements, refunds or other remedies. It also helps them identify situations that require a more tailored response.

A gift that arrives after a holiday or tied to an event that has already passed creates a different problem than an ordinary late delivery. Your response should account for why the customer placed the order, not just the number of days it was delayed.

3. Pressure-test returns and refunds
Returns often become one of the most visible post-purchase pressure points during and after the holidays. Customers expect to know if their return has been received and when their refund will arrive, but that information can get lost as products move between carriers, warehouses and internal departments.

It's important to test returns-related workflows for gaps in status updates, unclear ownership and conflicting timelines. This testing can reveal where a return is likely to stall and what must happen before a refund can be issued.

You should also define refund triggers and disposition rules in advance. Decisions about whether to restock, refurbish, resell or liquidate a product affect margins, but they shouldn't create unnecessary delays for the customer. Clear criteria allow operational teams to move products efficiently while preventing internal processing decisions from holding up refunds.

Turning the holiday surge into lasting loyalty

Holiday demand exposes the operational gaps behind the scenes. Retailers that address those gaps before volume rises can deliver a more consistent experience even when orders go off course, giving seasonal shoppers a reason to buy from them again.

The sale may be seasonal, but the impression it leaves will last much longer.

About Eric Kobe

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