62%. That's how many Australians say their phone is the device they'll use most for online holiday shopping this year, up from 57% last year.
That figure comes from Integral Ad Science's Holiday Shopping Australia 2026 report, a survey of 532 Australians in September 2026. The same survey found 60% plan to do most or all of their holiday shopping online.
You probably think the Christmas rush is a December problem. It isn't. For a lot of your customers it starts in mid-November, on a phone. If your website can't answer "Are you open? Can you fit me in? Will it arrive?" in a few taps, they'll ask someone else. The good news: none of the fixes below need a new website, and most are quick.
The 60-second version:
- Get your Christmas hours onto Google and your website now, not on 23 December.
- Test your booking, enquiry or checkout on your own phone, start to finish.
- Put your cut-off dates where people can see them without asking.
- Give people something to buy even when you're closed, like a gift voucher.
- Do your updates and backups before December, then stop changing things.
- Write your key details in plain words so search engines and AI tools can find them.
Here's how to do each one.
The rush starts in November, not December
The Australian Retailers Association and Roy Morgan forecast Australians would spend $72.4 billion in the six weeks from 13 November to Christmas Eve 2025, up 4% on 2024. Their research also found 29% of shoppers were buying gifts earlier than the year before.
Online, the season is just as busy. Australia Post delivered almost 111 million parcels between 1 November and 31 December 2025, up 7.6%, and 7.9 million Australian households shopped online over those two months.
This year, Black Friday falls on Friday 27 November, Small Business Saturday on 28 November and Cyber Monday on 30 November, according to Business Victoria. That's about seven weeks away. Do this today: put those three dates in your calendar, plus a reminder in the first week of November to have everything below finished.
Your Christmas hours belong on Google before anyone asks
Nothing loses a customer faster than turning up to a locked door, or ringing a phone nobody answers. The fix is boring and powerful: publish your holiday hours early.
On your Google Business Profile, use "special hours" for each public holiday and any days you're closing. Google's own help page says it's a good idea to confirm your hours for official holidays even if they're the same as usual, because it makes it clear to customers your hours are accurate. Christmas Day is a Friday this year, and Boxing Day a Saturday, so plenty of people will be checking.
Then put the same information on your website: a slim banner across the top of every page, plus a line on your contact page. A café might say "Closed 25–26 Dec. Open from 27 Dec, 8am–2pm." A plumber might say "Booking jobs until 22 Dec. Emergency call-outs available all break." Do this today: write your holiday hours down once, then copy them word for word to Google, your website and your phone message.
Try to buy from yourself, on your phone
With 62% of holiday shoppers planning to use a phone most, your mobile site is your shopfront. So test it the way a customer would. Pick up your phone, open your website on mobile data (not your office Wi-Fi), and try to do the main thing a customer comes for.
For a physio, that's booking an appointment. For a gift shop, it's buying something and paying. For a tradie, it's tapping to call or sending a quote request. Time it. Note every moment you have to pinch, zoom, scroll back or retype something.
Common culprits are a phone number that isn't tappable, a booking widget that doesn't fit the screen, a pop-up that covers the "Book now" button, and payment pages that time out. Do this today: run the test, write down the three most annoying moments, and fix or flag those first.
Answer "Will it arrive in time?" before they ask
At Christmas, every customer has a deadline. If they can't see yours, many won't risk it.
If you post orders, publish your last order dates for Christmas delivery, based on your courier's cut-off dates. Australia Post's busiest day last season was Monday 8 December, with more than 3 million parcels delivered, so don't leave your cut-off to the last minute. Put it on your home page, your product pages and your checkout.
Service businesses have deadlines too. "Last bookings before Christmas: 19 December" helps a hairdresser or a dog groomer fill the calendar early instead of fielding a flood of disappointed calls. Do this today: decide your cut-off dates and add them to your holiday banner.
Make money while you're closed
Lots of small businesses close over the break, but their customers are still shopping for presents. A gift voucher you can buy online turns that downtime into sales.
A physio can sell massage vouchers. A café can sell coffee cards. A salon can sell treatment packages. They're quick to set up through most booking and payment systems, and they bring customers back in the quiet weeks of January. Do this today: pick one voucher to offer, set a price, and add a clear "Buy a gift voucher" button to your home page.
Freeze your website on 1 December
December is the worst time for your website to break. Before the rush, make sure software and plugins are updated, your backups are working and you know who to call if something goes wrong. Then stop making big changes until January.
While you're there, check your key details are written in plain words on the page, not just inside images: what you do, where you are, your hours and how to book. IAS found 22% of Australians plan to use AI tools to research products and gift ideas this season, up from 12% last year. Plain, clear text is easier for people, search engines and those tools to read. Do this today: book a time in November for updates and a test restore, and write "website freeze" in your diary for 1 December.
Ready before the rush
Christmas customers don't wait. They check, tap and decide in a minute, then move on. Get your hours, your phone experience and your cut-offs sorted in the next few weeks, and the rush becomes an opportunity instead of a scramble.
Want a second pair of eyes before November? EkkoByte's hosting and support takes care of updates, backups and changes like holiday banners, so your site is ready when your customers are.
