How to Put BigCommerce into a Vacation Mode

Taking a vacation as a small company owner might be exceedingly challenging. Small company owners take less than half of what most workers are entitled to, and American employees already take less time off than the rest of the industrialized world.

Nonetheless, the advantages of taking a vacation are apparent. Taking a break from day-to-day operations is a great method for a busy entrepreneur to avoid burnout. Small businesses, especially those that are very new, sometimes need owners to work long hours. It’s not unusual to work 12- to 14-hour days and six or seven days a week.

And, of course, when planning for a vacation break, how to let your customers know about your leaving and managing sales are among the most significant questions of every store owner. In this article, we will provide you with detailed instruction on How to put BigCommerce into a vacation mode?, as well as give you some extra tips on how to fully enjoy your break without harming your business.

Put BigCommerce into a vacation mode from Store Setting

There is a simple method to turn off sales on your BigCommerce store while keeping the content accessible for your customers.

Step 1: Go to Store Setup, select Store Settings.

Step 2: Click on Miscellaneous.

Step 3: Scroll down to Advanced Store Settings, uncheck the box named Allow Purchasing?

Step 4: Click on Save when finished.

Put BigCommerce into a vacation mode with “Down for Maintenance” functionality

The BigCommerce “Down for Maintenance” option is another method to shutter your business if you’re taking a break. However, one disadvantage of this strategy is that Google will continue to index your business. Even while BigCommerce will send a 503 server response to search engines stating that your site is offline for maintenance, some users believe that if this continues for an extended length of time, Google may penalize you.

Step 1: Go to Store Setup, select Store Settings.

Step 2: Under Store status, toggle the switch to Down for Maintenance.

Step 3: Click on Save when finished.

Create Store Banner

Banners are an excellent method to promote deals, display discount codes and promotions, convey crucial information, and include design elements like photos and videos. Consequently, you should create a banner in your BigCommerce store during the vacation to inform your customers about your leaving.

Step 1: Navigate to Marketing › Banners and click on Create a Banner.

Step 2: Set up your Banner Name.

This name is strictly for internal use and will be hidden from your customers.

Step 3: To create the content for your banner (Images, video, text, and scripts), use the WYSIWYG Editor.

Step 4: Choose which page the banner should be shown on.

Only one banner can be placed on a page at a time.

Step 5: Set up a Date Range for the banner to display.

Step 6: Choose whether the banner should be Visible or not.

Uncheck this option if you want to save the banner as a draft.

Step 7: Select where the banner should show from the Location drop-down menu.

You can only apply a banner to one page at a time, but you can replicate it to use on another page.

Step 8: Click on Save when finished.

Tips for taking a vacation without interrupting your eCommerce business

1. Determine the possibility.

It would be a bad idea to take a week off one month after beginning a new firm when you are the sole employee. Companies that have been in operation for a longer period of time are more stable, which makes delegation easier.

However, even if it’s only for a few days here and there, it’s a good strategy to take time off as often as feasible. Even eCommerce has peak and off-peak periods. Make a small break during a period of the year when your absence will have the least impact (for example, when your sales are at their lowest).

2. Make preparations for your absence.

Learning to prepare for your absence and delegating responsibility does more than merely allow you to take a vacation. They are abilities that will assist your business in every way. After all, if your shop is truly going to fall apart without your regular monitoring, you might want to reconsider your command structure.

If worry is keeping you at home, having a well-organized house is a solution. Here are some simple, practical actions you can take to offer yourself peace of mind when planning your vacation:

• Resolve any outstanding debts.
• Keep in touch with essential clients or customers and inform them of who they should contact while you’re away.
• Contact suppliers and double-check that your accounts are up to date.

3. Assign responsibilities to others.

Making sure your responsibilities are addressed is an important part of the planning process. Without a doubt, there are always certain decisions that only you are capable of making. However, if a company wants to thrive, you must learn to delegate.

Make a list of everything you do in a day. Then, determine which duties can be deferred for a week (for example, long-term projects), which duties can be completed ahead of time, and which jobs may be delegated to your employees. Distribute such responsibilities to your staff. Make task lists for them so that everyone’s tasks and obligations are clear. Then, before you depart, go through your expectations with them as a group.

4. Unless absolutely required, avoid long-distance interaction.

Set aside a regular period each day for business if obtaining a status update from your assistant manager permits you to forget about work for the other twenty-three hours. Regular upgrades come with a slew of other benefits. You won’t need a massive information dump about what you missed while you were gone, and you’ll be able to guide the ship in modest increments if it appears to be off course.

Even if you specify that you do not wish to receive calls or emails, emergencies do occur. Ascertain that your staff has a dependable means of contacting you in the event of an issue. Ascertain that they comprehend what defines a true emergency. Good workers will always step up if they know they will have to address certain sorts of difficulties without your help.

5. Make plans for your return.

Every vacation comes to an end, and if your vacation was exceptionally enjoyable, you may even forget about the tasks you had to complete before leaving. Make a list of things you want to do when you return before you go. It will keep you from feeling disoriented and aimless.

Conclusion

A trip involves some planning and consideration, but your efforts will not only help your sanity, but will also benefit your business in the long term. Taking a vacation gives you time to reflect. You could discover that being away from the office inspires you to come up with fresh ideas.

We hope that our article on How to put BigCommerce into a vacation mode? will help you release the burden of worrying about your store when you’re leaving. Do you find this article helpful? If you do, please share our work with your friends and colleagues, as well as stay tuned for new articles from AVADA.