Preparing Your Site for the Christmas & New Year Peak Period

As we head into the Christmas and New Year season, many sites experience one of the busiest and hottest times of the year.

To ensure smooth trading and minimise the risk of downtime, now is the ideal moment to prepare your technology and store operations. A few proactive checks can make all the difference when foot traffic and temperatures are on the rise.

Point of Sale: Ensure Stability & Performance

Your POS terminals work hardest during peak periods, so it’s important they’re operating at their best.

Key checks:

• Dust & overheating: Inspect terminals for dust buildup. If needed, carefully blow out vents and surfaces to prevent overheating.

• Printer health: Ensure your receipt printer is producing clean, consistent prints. Confirm you are well stocked with thermal rolls to avoid last-minute shortages.

• Touchscreen responsiveness: Test your touchscreens - slow or unresponsive screens can cause delays during busy hours.

• UPS functionality: Verify that your Uninterruptible Power Supply (UPS) is operational and holding charge.

• Customer display: Confirm your customer-facing display is working correctly and clearly visible.

Back Office: Strengthen the Foundation

Your back-office system supports critical processes, especially during high-volume trading.

Key checks:

• Dust & airflow: Make sure back-office PCs and servers are clean and free of dust. Overheating can cause unexpected shutdowns or performance issues.

• System responsiveness: Take note of any lag, error messages, or recent issues. If something feels “not quite right,” address it now.

• UPS reliability: Check that your UPS is functioning as expected to protect your systems against power fluctuations.

• Backups:

  • Ensure backups are being performed during each Shift Reconciliation.

  • Confirm backups are valid, complete, and stored safely.

  • Maintain at least one offline or off-site copy to safeguard against hardware failure.

If anything appears unreliable, replace or repair it now - before it becomes a critical problem during the busiest trading period of the year.

Get Your Shop in Order

Operational readiness is just as important as technical readiness.

• Price labels: Walk your shelves and check for missing, damaged, or incorrect price labels.

• Stocktake: If it’s been a while since your last stocktake, now is the time.

  • Accurate Stock on Hand (SOH) data ensures Order Generation works effectively.

  • Reliable figures help you stay replenished during peak customer demand.

Be Prepared, Stay Confident

A little preparation now will help ensure your systems and store run smoothly throughout the holiday rush.