What Retailers Are Doing to Prep Holiday Customer Service for Peak Season

Twinkling lights, packed parking lots, and endless “order shipped” emails can only mean one thing: peak season is here. 

For retailers, the holiday rush is equal parts magic and mayhem. Shoppers expect fast shipping, accurate inventory, effortless returns, and cheerful support regardless of how busy things get. That puts holiday customer service at the center of whether the season ends with record sales or apology emails. 

So, what are smart retailers actually doing right now to get ready? Let’s unwrap it. 

Planning for a Longer, Earlier Season 

Peak season is no longer a single weekend or a couple of big days. It is a full-on marathon. 

Recent research underscores how much earlier the season now starts. According to a recent Idea Grove summary of the 2024 Theatro Holiday Shopping Report, 68% of holiday shoppers begin their shopping before Thanksgiving. 

Deloitte’s 2024 holiday retail survey notes that 78% of shoppers plan to participate in October and November promotional events—pulling peak-season demand forward into the entire fall. 

That has big implications for retail customer service: 

• Forecasting contact volume for a longer window, not just a handful of spikes 

• Shifting staffing so help is available earlier in the season 

• Watching real-time demand signals (web traffic, cart activity, promo calendars) and adjusting coverage accordingly 

Retailers that treat November and December like one long “always on” season, instead of a single weekend sprint, are less likely to be caught understaffed when shoppers need help.

Designing Omnichannel Experiences that Feel Seamless 

Holiday shoppers bounce between mobile, desktop, social, call centers, and store associates in a single purchase journey. They might: 

• Discover a product on TikTok 

• Check inventory online 

• Ask a sizing question in chat 

• Buy online and pick up in store 

• Call or message about a delivery issue 

To keep seasonal customer service feeling smooth in that chaos, leading retailers are: 

• Making sure policies are consistent across channels so customers get the same answer everywhere 

• Giving frontline teams visibility into orders and inventory, regardless of where they originated 

• Tightening handoffs between digital journeys and humans so customers never feel like they are “starting over” 

The goal is simple: no matter where a shopper reaches out, it should feel like the brand knows them and their order. 

Building a Stronger Seasonal Customer Service Bench 

The classic “hire a bunch of seasonal temps and hope for the best” playbook is fading out. Today’s shoppers are less forgiving, and associates need to handle more complex situations. 

Retailers are upgrading how they build and prepare their holiday bench by: 

• Hiring earlier and staggering start dates to avoid cramming all learning into one week 

• Re-engaging top past seasonal workers who already know the brand 

• Using remote customer service professionals to add coverage in hard-to-staff time zones or surge windows 

• Focusing preparation on the real peak-season issues: promotions, inventory, shipping cutoffs, and returns 

Done well, seasonal customer service feels like an extension of the core team, not a backup plan. 

Turning Self-Service into a Holiday Helper, Not a Dead End

When shoppers are juggling gift lists, travel, and year-end to-dos, they often want quick answers without waiting for a person. 

Retailers are investing in self-service that actually helps, not frustrates: 

• Clear order-tracking pages with accurate status and carrier updates 

• Gift and promo FAQs that answer “can I stack codes,” “when is the last day for shipping,” and “how do I send a gift receipt” 

• Smarter virtual assistants that can answer common questions about returns, sizing, or store hours, and pass customers to a person when needed 

The key is designing self-service as a first line of holiday customer service, not a barrier that keeps people from getting help. 

Stress-Testing Operations for “Uh-Oh ”Moments 

Storms, shipping delays, inventory mix-ups, and website outages are almost a holiday tradition of their own. The difference between a forgettable hiccup and a social media crisis is how prepared the brand is. 

Leading retailers are: 

• Running tabletop exercises for “what if” scenarios, from carrier delays to promo misfires 

• Building surge playbooks that spell out how to scale contact handling quickly 

• Aligning store teams, digital teams, and contact centers around the same escalation path 

• Preparing empathetic messaging for common issues like “your package is delayed” or “that item sold out” 

A little planning turns chaos into manageable bumps and keeps retail customer service from becoming the story. 

Making Value and Empathy the Holiday Differentiator 

Consumers are still feeling the squeeze. Deloitte’s most recent holiday survey found that shoppers plan to spend an average of $1,595 this season, down 10% from last year, and 77% expect higher prices on holiday items, which makes value and smart choices more important than ever. 

Retailers are responding by: 

• Training teams to explain value clearly, not just recite prices 

• Equipping contact center professionals with alternatives when items are out of stock 

• Coaching associates to show empathy when shoppers are stressed, rushed, or worried about budgets 

• Proactively communicating promos, shipping deadlines, and back-in-stock alerts 

In a tighter spending environment, how people feel about the interaction can matter as much as the discount they get. 

Treating Post-Holiday as Loyalty Season, Not the End 

The season does not stop when the last gift is wrapped. Returns, exchanges, and customer follow-ups are where loyalty is really tested. 

Retailers preparing now are: 

• Simplifying returns policies and making them easy to find before customers buy 

• Providing clear instructions and packaging for mail-in returns or drop-offs 

• Offering store associates and contact center teams guidelines for turning returns into exchanges or future purchases 

• Following up on high-stakes interactions with “we appreciate you” messages or small gestures that rebuild goodwill 

Customers remember how easy it was to fix problems long after the tree is down. 

How the Right Partners Help Retailers Win the Season 

Behind the best holiday customer service strategies is a support model that can actually execute them. 

That is where partners like Liveops come in.  

Retailers work with Liveops to: 

• Tap into a network of experienced retail customer service professionals who understand promotions, fulfillment, and omnichannel journeys 

• Add coverage in the exact time windows when demand spikes, instead of carrying excess capacity all year 

• Maintain fast, empathetic experiences at scale across voice, chat, email, and back-office support 

• Use data and precision scheduling to match staffing to real demand, so customers are not left waiting when it matters most 

Peak season will always be busy. But with thoughtful planning and the right support model, retailers can turn that rush into loyal customers, not just short-term revenue. 

Because when holiday customer service feels smooth, helpful, and human, shoppers are far more likely to come back again next year, long after the lights and decorations come down. 

Conclusion: Turning Peak Season Into an Advantage with Liveops 

All of the strategies in this blog come to life when retailers have a support model that can scale up, adjust quickly, and stay human in the middle of the rush. That is where Liveops shines. 

Liveops connects retailers with a nationwide and global network of experienced customer service professionals who are ready to support peak season across channels.  

With precision scheduling, retailers can align coverage to real demand, from early-bird shoppers in November to last-minute buyers in December, without carrying unnecessary year-round overhead. The result is better total cost of ownership and holiday customer service that feels fast, calm, and in control. 

Because Liveops is built around right-fit solutions, retailers can add seasonal customer service support wherever it is needed most, including: 

• Frontline retail customer service for voice, chat, email, and social 

• Back office support for order processing, refunds, claims, and exception handling 

• Technical support for account access, password resets, and basic product troubleshooting 

Everything is designed to reduce friction for customers while keeping brand standards high. As contact volumes surge, Liveops helps retailers maintain consistent experiences, protect margins, and preserve loyalty with seasonal customer service that feels anything but temporary. 

For retailers who want peak season to feel like an opportunity instead of a fire drill, partnering with Liveops turns preparation into performance and holiday traffic into long-term customer relationships.