The holiday season is chaotic for businesses and customers alike, but that just makes delivering a great experience all the more important. With many consumers trying out new brands as either gift givers or recipients, businesses only have one chance to make a great first impression.

Major shopping holidays like Black Friday and Cyber Monday are sales bonanzas, but elevated traffic levels can lead to long lines in store and site outages online. The volume of traffic means long checkout lines or sluggish browsing experiences can lead to abandoned shopping carts and lost business.

Digital experiences in particular have a long journey that includes last-mile delivery and, potentially, returns. Getting these aspects right is just as important as ensuring a sale in the first place.

The holidays are coming to an end, but it’s never too early to start preparing for next year. Here are some of the biggest stories CX Dive tracked during the 2023 season to help inform best practices for 2024.