How Do I Handle Customer Service During a Chinese New Year Sale?
Set your holiday rules before the sale, then let AeroChat answer the gift, delivery and holiday questions in chat while your team takes the break. A Chinese New Year sale brings two waves: gift buyers asking “will it arrive before the reunion dinner?”, then buyers messaging during the holiday when your team is away. AeroChat answers both from your store data and your holiday schedule, in English, Chinese or a mix of both, on WhatsApp, Instagram, Messenger, web chat and your marketplace chats.
Why Chinese New Year is hard on customer service
The sale runs in the weeks before the holiday, when people are buying hampers, gifts, new clothes and goodies for visiting. Most of these orders have a deadline. Buyers want to know if the parcel arrives before the first day, whether you can add a greeting card, and whether a bundle can go to a different address.
Then the holiday itself starts. Many sellers close for several days. Couriers and warehouses run on holiday schedules. Buyers still message, about late parcels, about orders placed during the break, about returns. A shop that goes quiet for a week comes back to a long queue and a few unhappy reviews.
The usual fixes and their limits
- A holiday banner and an away message. They tell buyers you are closed. They do not answer the question the buyer asked.
- A last-order-date notice. Useful, and buyers still ask about their own address and their own order.
- Someone on duty over the holiday. It works, and it costs that person their holiday.
- Stop selling during the break. It avoids the questions and loses the sales from buyers who still want to order.
How to handle it in chat with AeroChat
Write your Chinese New Year rules once: the sale dates, the last order date for delivery before the holiday, your closing and reopening days, when orders placed during the break will ship, and whether you add greeting cards or gift wrap. AeroChat answers from those rules and from your store, so every buyer gets the same correct answer. It looks up orders and tracking, checks stock for gift sets, and takes greeting card messages as an order note. Complaints go to your team when they are back, with the details already collected.
Customer: 想问这个 hamper 今天订, can reach my parents’ house before CNY eve or not?
AeroChat: 可以的。Orders placed by Jan 30 (example) ship the next working day and usually arrive in 2 to 4 days, so it should arrive before the eve. The Prosperity Hamper is still in stock.
Customer: Can add a card saying 新年快乐 from the Lim family?
AeroChat: Yes. I will add a greeting card with “新年快乐, from the Lim family” to your order once it is placed (example).
Copy this into AeroChat
During our Chinese New Year sale and holiday, follow these steps.
- When someone asks if an order will arrive before the holiday, compare today with our last order date, Jan 30 (example), and answer plainly.
- When someone asks about a gift set or hamper, check live stock in our store before answering.
- If they want a greeting card, take the message and add it as a note on their order.
- From Feb 5 to Feb 9 (example), tell buyers we are closed for the holiday, that orders placed now ship on Feb 10, and still answer their product and order questions.
- When someone asks where their order is, ask for the order number or phone number and give the status and tracking.
- If someone reports a damaged, wrong or missing item, collect the order number and a photo, and tell them our team will reply on Feb 10.
Reply in the language the customer uses, including a mix of English and Chinese.
Use your own dates and closing days before you paste it.
What to connect
- Your store. Shopify, WooCommerce and Wix are built in for products, stock and orders. Chat sellers can run on the Google Sheets store.
- Your channels. WhatsApp, Instagram, Messenger and web chat, plus Shopee, Lazada and TikTok Shop buyer chat.
- Delivery. POS Malaysia is built in for tracking and booking. Other couriers with a public API connect the same way.
Questions
Can AeroChat reply in Chinese?
Yes. It replies in the customer’s language, including a mix of English and Chinese in one message. See multilingual chat.
Can it announce the sale to past customers on WhatsApp?
Yes, with an approved marketing template sent to customers who opted in. See the festive sale announcement template.
What happens to chats during the holiday?
AeroChat keeps answering product and order questions. Anything that needs your team waits for your return with the order number, photos and the full conversation attached.
Does this work for marketplace orders?
AeroChat answers buyers in Shopee, Lazada and TikTok Shop chat from your rules and product details. Orders, shipping and returns for marketplace sales stay in each marketplace.
Using a different system? If it has a public API, it connects to AeroChat the same way: describe what you want, paste in its key, and it runs.
Can’t find your tool? Message us in the chat on this page and we’ll tell you how it connects.
Take the holiday without a queue waiting for you
Add your holiday rules, connect your store and channels, and test the answers before the sale starts.
Start your 7-day free trial. No credit card needed.
On Shopify? Install AeroChat from the Shopify App Store.