My typical day includes working in my home office updating websites, posting to social media, and brainstorming ideas for Berry Digital Solutions. When the workload slows down, I enjoy spending time with my fiancé, Parker. Parker and I are high school sweethearts. We both attended Triad High School and have been together since 2014. We are getting married on October 23, 2021 and we are beyond excited! We have two fur babies that we adore so much! We have a cat named Trixie who we adopted in January of 2020 and most recently, we adopted a Miniature Australian Shepard named Odin who is now seven months old.

Most of my free time is spent with my fiancé. We both enjoy nature hikes in Yellow Springs, fishing, playing video games with our friends, watching anything and everything Marvel, binge watching The Office for what seems like the millionth time, and having Harry Potter marathons. One of our favorite memories is attending the renaissance festival which we plan to attend again this year! Another fall favorite of ours is watching Ohio State University football on Saturdays. This has been a tradition of ours since we started dating almost seven years ago!

Family is the most important thing in my life. I enjoy spending time with my family any chance that I get. I have three siblings; Macie, J.T., and Addison. I am also a proud aunt of Owen (6), Connor (4), Quinn (2), Hailey (4 months), and Elias (2 months). Being with my nieces and nephews is the best, and it's even better when we are all together at once! I could not imagine life without my family and I am so lucky that we are all close knit.

This past year has been very eventful with my fiancé and I moving into a new place in February, planning a wedding, two new additions to our family in April and June, getting a puppy at the end of May, to leaving my job of two years and starting a new career on June 7th. I have been very blessed with the life I have been given and not a day goes by that I don’t thank God for helping me along this path. I still have a lot of learning and growth to do, but I am surrounded by love and happiness that has given me the motivation to always be my best self. I am so excited for what the next few years will bring and I look forward to all that the future has to offer.

Fall is almost here which means the holiday shopping season is happening soon – or has even already begun for some people. According to a survey by Salesforce, 58% of consumers expect to do more online shopping after the pandemic than before. We have already seen this in action, with online sales reaching 18% of all retail sales in 2020. This number is expected to hit 21.4% by 2024. In 2019, before the pandemic, that number was just 13.6%.

What does all of this mean for the future of small business retail? Well, first look at all the different avenues available for online sales. With platforms like Facebook and Instagram rolling out shopping features, it is easier than ever to sell online. While these tools can’t replace your ecommerce site, you can attract potential customers you may not have been reaching before. Getting set up for sales on each platform is a little different, but worth the time.

Another thing to consider while getting your store ready for the holidays is that people are still looking for an experience. It might not be easy to recreate the feeling of holiday shopping the way we used to know it on a digital platform, but putting that thought behind your decisions can help. Some sites are including more videos, offering augmented reality try-ons, and even offering chats with sales associations online. Giving your customers something that makes the experience memorable will go a long way.

As you prepare your holiday shop it is good to remember that half of all online sales during the 2020 holiday shopping season were made on a mobile device. It is so important to make sure the time and effort you put into your ecommerce site translates to mobile users as well. You

don’t want half of your audience to miss out on all the effort you put into your holiday planning.

Last year the holiday shopping season started early, and we should expect to see more of the same this year. Along with early deals, expect shipping costs to go up this year. USPS has already said that they plan to charge more for packages shipped during the holidays. This increase will apply to individuals and businesses. Be sure to take this into account as you price out your shipping costs for the season.

These tips should help you get your ecommerce site ready to go for the 2021 holiday season! If you need any help implementing any of these changes into your site, give us a call today to set up a consultation to see how we can help you - 937-404-1050.

By Chelsea Bray- Elle A. Design