There is no such thing as a “quiet holiday” in retail. For contact centers it’s all hands on deck, and thanks to promotions like Amazon’s Prime Day pushing holiday sales into October, that spell begins even earlier. Now is the time to act. How you staff, what tech you deploy, and how you communicate with customers today will determine if your brand thrives or just survives.

Contact center volumes typically soar five to ten times the usual levels during peak seasons. That’s the scale we’re talking about, and it can feel overwhelming if you’re not ready.

To help your brand not only survive but win this season, here’s a five-stage journey that defines what great CX looks like during retail’s most critical months.

Stage 1: The Pre-Surge Setup

Retailers that perform best during peak begin by optimizing their frontline: aligning agents with clear workflows, implementing training accelerators, and ensuring AI agents are in place to handle volume without breaking experience. A leading retailer automated almost 50% of their incoming contacts in one month with [24]7.ai’s bots which handled key rourine queries.

Unified agent consoles become essential. When agents can see order history, inventory data and more in one view, they move faster and with more confidence.

Stage 2: Load Testing and Fail-Safes

Once your systems are live, the next priority is stress-testing everything. Retail peaks can upto 10x normal contact volumes – and every delay, dropped ticket, or integration error gets amplified under pressure. This is the time to simulate real-world traffic loads on your chatbot, CRM, ticket routing, and backend tools.

Test what happens when inventory updates lag or if a surge in return requests hits at midnight. Build backup workflows, like offline order tracking or alternate ticket queues, so your team has a clear plan.

Stage 3: Peak-Period Agility

Once the season is in full swing, agility becomes your most valuable CX asset. Customers will expect real-time information, and if they don’t get it, they’ll flood your support lines. Smart brands stay ahead by sending proactive alerts: think messages about shipping delays, low inventory, return cutoffs, or promo expiration windows. Transparency builds trust and loyalty in the middle of a chaotic shopping landscape.

Meanwhile, CX leads should monitor voice-of-customer data closely to spot emerging patterns, like issues with a discount code or glitches in the mobile checkout experience, so they can intervene fast.

Stage 4: Cross-Team Coordination

Your contact center can’t operate in a silo. Collaborate tightly with marketing, logistics and ops. Share timings for new promotions, inventory constraints, shipping promises. When CX, marketing and operations share context, customers feel it, and come back next time.

Stage 5: Post-Peak Recovery and Intelligence

The peak doesn’t end when the orders slow down. What happens in the recovery phase sets the tone for the rest of the year. This is your moment to debrief quickly and honestly: what broke under pressure? What surprised your team? Where did customers struggle, and where did your experience shine?

High-performing CX teams extract insights from contact drivers, agent escalations, and resolution times to refine their strategy for the next peak.

Quick Peak Season CX Readiness Checklist

This is your call to action: peak season 2025 is coming faster than most realize. Success demands a careful blend of automation, empowered agents, real-time insights and stress-tested systems. See how a top retailer achieved significant cost savings with [24]7.ai’s end-to-end CX management. Brands that embrace AI intelligently, plan early, and build resilience will not only manage the surge, they’ll own it.

Need help getting started? Let’s talk. [24]7.ai can help you design a CX plan that keeps your customers happy and your team ready, so you can thrive this holiday season.