The National Retail Federation (NRF) projects holiday spending in November and December to grow by 3–4% compared to the previous year, reaching almost $960 billion.
So, as the holiday season approaches, it’s important to check if your Magento 2 store is prepared for the expected increase in activity.
And what better way to improve your online store than to leverage the proper extension to do the heavy lifting for you?
For instance, you might consider one that helps fine-tune your checkout process, improves your page speed, or provides tailored product recommendations to customers.
Without further ado, let’s explore six Magento 2 store extensions to help elevate your store’s performance and fully prime it for your customer’s online shopping experience.
Size Chart for Magento 2
With the holidays just around the corner, the inclination towards buying new clothes is at its peak — making it imperative for Magento 2 e-commerce clothing stores to optimize user experience for maximum sales.
When it comes to shopping for clothes, the small details matter. And unlike shopping in a store, where you can try on clothes to your liking, consumers don’t have that luxury when shopping online.
So, it’s more important than ever to help your customers find the perfect fit from afar. Integrating the Size Chart for the Magento 2 extension can be a game-changer for stores offering products such as custom pants for men.
Using this extension will add a sizing chart, as shown in the example below from StudioSuits.
The extension simplifies the buying experience, allowing shoppers to refer to a sizing chart quickly and ensuring a seamless and confident purchase of the perfect holiday attire.
Adding these extra details can also help reduce the number of returns and exchanges, which is crucial during the holiday season when volumes are high (and processing returns eats into your productivity and bottom line).
Automatic Related Products
During the festive rush, shoppers appreciate quick and relevant product suggestions — especially when searching for a gift for their loved ones.
The Automatic Related Products extension works wonders for Magento 2 stores. It serves as a helpful shopping companion for customers by analyzing their current selections.
This extension provides customers with tailored suggestions for additional products and introduces them to relevant items they might have overlooked.
By suggesting related products on customer selections, as seen in the image below, this extension encourages additional purchases, significantly increasing the average order value.
This is a win-win situation for any store owner, especially during peak shopping seasons.
Sudhir Khatwani, the Director of The Money Mongers, Inc., attests to the effectiveness of the extension.
He says, “This one’s like a personal shopper, suggesting cool stuff to customers. It’s great for boosting our sales, especially when everyone’s on the lookout for gifts.”
Google Page Speed Optimizer Pro
During the peak shopping season, when every business owner strives to optimize their online store, user experience becomes paramount.
In such times, slow web pages are a source of frustration for customers, which is the recipe for an increase in bounce rates.
A report by Semrush shows that as page load time goes from one to 10 seconds, 123% of visitors are more likely to leave the page.
In this fast-paced world of online shopping, where attention spans are getting shorter and every increasing second is a race against losing a customer, a quick and responsive website makes all the difference.
Here, the Google Page Speed Optimizer Pro extension comes to the rescue. It works tirelessly behind the scenes to ensure your product pages load swiftly by addressing issues like sluggish load times.
How? It starts by compressing resources like images and scripts. The result? Lower bounce rates and improved search engine rankings.
TL;DR. This effective extension improves load times and creates a smooth and satisfactory user experience, increasing your conversion rates tenfold.
Social Login Pro
Online shoppers are impatient. They don’t want to deal with extra steps like unnecessary registrations or forms.
Thankfully, the Social Login Pro extension by Plumrocket simplifies the registration and login process through social media credentials.
For instance, a customer can create a login with their Facebook username and password to purchase a new athleisure set. Simple and effective.
With 50+ social logins available, it streamlines the approach by not only saving time but also contributing to increased registration rates and reduced cart abandonment. Idyllic, right?
While providing an easy login process to your customers, safeguarding their data and protecting your Magento 2 store against potential security breaches is also of utmost importance.
That’s why adding an extra layer of security, like business password management, is worth the investment — especially against insider threats.
As 1Password highlights, implementing a robust password management system ensures that sensitive credentials are securely stored and easily accessible only to authorized personnel.
As a result, you can streamline workflows within your Magento 2 store and fortify defenses against potential cyber threats (and insider threats) during the busy holiday period.
Because let’s face it. A data breach is the last thing you want to deal with during the busiest time of year.
One Step Checkout Pro
Jon Morgan, the CEO of Venture Smarter, swears by the One Step Checkout extension by Amasty.
“Streamlining the checkout process is crucial, especially during the holiday rush. This extension condenses the checkout steps into one, reducing friction and cart abandonment,” he says.
“Customers appreciate the simplicity, and we’ve seen a significant uptick in completed purchases.”
The 3-column layout (as shown in the image below), coupled with the Google Autocomplete option, makes the checkout process effortless. The top benefits of this extension include:
- Supporting various payment methods
- Enhancing user experience
- Increased checkout speed
- Minimizing checkout steps
- Maximizing conversions
Shoppers can swiftly complete their purchases without the hassle of navigating through multiple forms during the crucial holiday rush.
In other words, it’s the perfect extension for mobile devices to adhere to the increased popularity of mobile shopping, thereby enhancing the customer experience.
Advanced Reports
As the festive rush brings increased traffic and transactions, the Advanced Reports extension by Mirasvit offers comprehensive insights and analytics for your Magento 2 store.
Its robust reporting capabilities provide a detailed overview of:
- Customer demographics
- Peak shopping times
- Top-selling products
- Customer behavior
- Sales performance
- Product popularity
“…and I’ve got to give a shout-out to ’Advanced Reports’ by Mirasvit,” says Khatwani, singing praises for the extension. “This extension is like having a crystal ball. It shows us what’s hot and what’s not, so we can stock up and market smarter during the holiday rush.”
Wrapping up
Prepping your Magento 2 store for the holiday season requires strategic optimization, and the right extensions can be your greatest allies.
Quick and seamless interaction can make all the difference between losing a visitor and delighting a customer.
Apart from integrating extensions, coupling them with a sustainable data center elevates your store’s efficiency and sustainability.
With 70% of 16 to 19-year-olds agreeing that sustainability is an influential factor when purchasing apparel, it’s a no-brainer to help you lock in record sales this holiday season.
Not only will you enhance your customers’ shopping experience, but you also align your e-commerce endeavors with an eco-friendly approach. The result? A profitable holiday season thanks to cutting unnecessary energy costs while also appealing to demographic trends.
So, are you ready to lock in the best fourth quarter yet without drastically increasing product prices? Here’s to your online success!
