Roshana Ghemoshu
software engineer
Roshana Ghemoshu has a keen interest in the evolving world of technology and its impact on everyday business. She enjoys exploring new trends, innovative ideas, and the ways digital advancements are shaping how businesses operate and connect with people.
It is the biggest sales day of the year. Customers are filling their carts, your ad spend is at its peak, and then checkout slows down, a payment fails, or an item shows "in stock" when it sold out an hour ago.
Festival season is when your store gets its highest traffic and its harshest test. A slow page, a wrong stock count, or a late delivery costs far more now than in a quiet month. This checklist is built for Nepali online stores, so work through it in order.
Short on time? If you only have 3 days: test every payment method, fix your stock display, and publish your courier cut-off dates. Do those three first.
When to do what
| When | Focus |
|---|---|
| 4 weeks out | Site speed, load testing, hosting capacity, stock count |
| 2 weeks out | Payments, offers and pricing, courier agreements |
| 1 week out | Support scripts and rota, final tests, campaign links |
| During the festival | Monitor uptime, stock, payments, and orders daily |
| After the sale | Review results, collect reviews, plan for next year |
1. Site speed and capacity
- Test your store with many shoppers at the same time, not just one.
- Compress images and remove heavy scripts from the homepage and checkout.
- Ask your hosting provider about capacity for peak days.
- Set up uptime monitoring with alerts to your phone.
Common mistake: Testing checkout only on your own fast office Wi-Fi. Most of your customers are on mobile data, so test there.
2. Stock accuracy
- Count fast-moving items before the sale starts.
- Show real stock levels, and hide or mark sold-out items automatically.
- Reserve stock at checkout to stop overselling.
Common mistake: Letting two customers buy the last item. The second customer pays, then gets a cancellation, and that is the order most likely to turn into a bad review.
3. Payments
- Test every payment method end to end with real small transactions: eSewa, Khalti, Fonepay, connectIPS, and cards, whichever you offer.
- Have a backup method ready in case one gateway fails.
- Check settlement timing around public holidays, when banks may be closed.
- Decide your cash on delivery (COD) rules now: order limits, phone confirmation for high-value orders, and how you will handle refusals at the door and cash reconciliation.
Common mistake: Testing payments once, weeks ago. Gateways and apps update, so test again in the final week.
4. Offers and pricing
- Set up discounts and coupon rules in advance and test them.
- Make sure offers cannot be stacked by mistake.
- Check that the displayed price, discount, and VAT match on the cart and the invoice.
Common mistake: A coupon that combines with a sale price and takes the product below cost. Test every combination before launch.
5. Delivery
- Agree festival cut-off dates with your couriers and publish them clearly.
- Tell customers the last order date for delivery before the festival.
- Plan for more deliveries to places outside the Kathmandu Valley and a higher return rate.
Common mistake: Promising the same delivery time everywhere. Outside-valley orders take longer in festival season, so set separate expectations.
6. Customer support
- Prepare answers for common questions: delivery time, returns, payment failures, and order status.
- Add extra staff or hours on peak days.
- Automate order status replies where possible, using only your own order data.
Common mistake: Having no answer ready for "my payment was deducted but the order failed." This will be your most common worry on peak days.
7. Marketing
- Set a campaign calendar and budget by week, not one big push.
- Send a clear message to existing customers first, since they convert best.
- Make sure every campaign link lands on the right product page, not a generic one.
Common mistake: Spending the entire budget in the first few days and having nothing left when buyers are most ready.
8. After the sale
- Review what sold, what failed, and what customers asked about.
- Thank customers and collect reviews while the experience is fresh.
- Write down what you would change next year, while it is still fresh in your mind.
How to measure success
Track these during and after the festival:
- Page load time at peak (especially checkout on mobile)
- Checkout completion rate
- Payment failure rate
- Orders delivered by the promised date
- Support response time
Set your own targets before the sale, based on your normal numbers, so you can tell quickly when something is going wrong.
How Quark Infotech can help
We offer a Pre-Festival Store Review for ecommerce businesses. It includes:
- A load test of your store under peak-style traffic
- A walk-through of your full checkout and payment flow
- A check of stock display, coupon, and pricing logic
- A written report with prioritised fixes, delivered within reasonable time
FAQs
Is it too late to prepare?
No. Even a few days is enough to fix payments, stock display, and delivery messaging.
How early should I start preparing for Dashain and Tihar?
Ideally 4 weeks before. That leaves time to load test, fix problems, and test again.
How do I load test my store?
Simulate many shoppers browsing and checking out at the same time, rather than testing one order yourself. If you do not have the tools, a technical partner can run this for you.
How should I handle COD during the festival?
Set order limits, confirm high-value orders by phone, and track refused deliveries. COD volume often rises during festivals, and so do fake orders.
Should we run a big discount?
That is a business decision. Make sure your margin and stock can support it.
Is your store ready for the festival rush?
Book a free 30-minute call to get a quick tech review.
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