Small-Business Owners Will Trust These Brands Most to Get Business Done During the Holiday SeasonThe brands that do right by their customers are the ones small-business owners trust most.

Six hundred fifty-eight billion dollars. That's how much consumers spent during the2016 holiday season, up 4 percent from 2015, according to the National Retail Federation.Deloitteis forecasting the 2017 holiday season to surpass $1 trillion in spending between November and January, with $114 billion coming from ecommerce. In addition, theaverage consumerwill spend $728 on gifts this holiday season, meaning the stakes are high for each customer businesses can convert.

Related:How to Prepare to Dazzle and Delight Your Customers This Upcoming Holiday Season

This seasonal spike in consumer activity is both an opportunity and a challenge for small businesses, with some relying on theholiday seasonto account for 30 percent of annual sales. Naturally, the increase in activity will produce a much welcomed increase in sales, but will also put a strain on business owners to keep up with the increased operational needs.

So what are the operational areas small-business owners rely on most during the holiday season? Furthermore, within each of those functions, which brands do business owners trust to help them run their business?

Hiring

Hiring is already challenging for business owners, and hiring seasonal help can be even more difficult. Why? Seasonal workers are in demand. Consider a few of the big brands and theirhiring forecastfor this holiday season:

• Target: Hiring 100,000 seasonal workers
• Macy's: Hiring 80,000 seasonal workers
• FedEx: Hiring 50,000 seasonal workers
• UPS: Hiring 95,000 seasonal workers

So, where will business owners turn? According to a recentstudyby my company,Alignable, small businesses rely on the following brands for their hiring needs:

1. Indeed
2. LinkedIn
3. ZipRecruiter

Related:A 6-Step Checklist to Get Your Online Business Ready for the Holiday Season

Payments

As a business owner, your payments strategy matters, substantially. In fact, 82 percent of failed businesses citecash flowproblems as the primary reason for closure, and your payments strategy can often determine your cash flow. One interesting statistic from Intuit is the fact that 55 percent of small-business owners stilldon't accept credit cards. That's unfortunate, considering 66 percent of point-of-sale transactions are done with credit, debit or gift cards, while 2017 predictions cite cash payments representing as little as 23 percent by the end of the year. Almost every majorcredit card company(Discover, AMEX, Chase, Citi, Visa, Capital One) will be offering consumers cash back programs as we head into the holiday season, so consumers will be looking to use their plastic.

While the most trusted payments brands are listed below and can be up and running quite quickly, make sure to compare what each brand charges and read the fine print to make sure you select the best option for you. In addition, there can be waiting periods formoneyto be transferred to you for some payments brands, while others will deposit the cash automatically.

Alignable found the most trusted brands for small-business owners in payments are:

1. Stripe
2. PayPal
3. Square

Related:The 6 Musts of a Successful Holiday Marketing Campaign

Email marketing

Despite what you might hear, email is incredibly powerful and efficient, with average open rates actuallyincreasingyear-over-year for small-business owners. In addition, according to Constant Contact, the ROI onemail marketingis 38:1. It's seasonal, too; email marketing is responsible for as much as 25 percent of holiday sales according to a recent report fromWebsiteSetup.org.

The last statistic to consider here is that 75 percent of consumers made an impulse buy during theholiday seasonlast year. The data here is strong. You absolutely should be doing email marketing this holiday season, and you should be doing it frequently from now until early January 2018.

The most trusted brands for small-business owners in email marketing are:

1. MailChimp
2. Constant Contact
3. GetResponse / AWeber (tied)

Related:10 Ways to Prepare for Small Business Saturday

Website management

Over 40 percent of holiday shopping is done inNovember, and 51 percent of that shopping isdone online, which means your website has to be perfect. Small-business owners need to make sure their website looks great, can easily be updated with new sales and promotions, flawlessly accepts payments, and showcases any and all activity from social media channels or in-store events.

当涉及到网站管理,放松of use and customer service play a monumental role in small business owner trust.

The most trusted brands for small-business owners in website management are:

1. WordPress
2. 1&1
3. GoDaddy

Related:'Tis the Season: It's Time to Get Mobile Ready for Christmas

Ecommerce

Sometimes it's the little things that add up, especially when it comes to ecommerce during the holiday season. For instance, you not only need to make sure your return policy is crystal clear to consumers, but also make sure you and your ecommerce platform both areproperly set-upfor it -- along with your otherecommerce needs. With over 50 percent of holiday sales happening online, all small-business owners now have an opportunity to expand their reach to close more business.

Having the right ecommerce platform is the catalyst that allows business owners to grow this area of their business. The good news is there's plenty of online content for business owners to read about "ecommerce best practices." The bad news is there's too much noise and oftentimes business owners just need to know which ecommerce brands they can trust.

The most trusted brands for small-business owners in ecommerce:

1. Shopify
2. BigCommerce
3. WooCommerce

Related:How to Boost In-Store Holiday Purchases With Paid Search

Shipping

With 51 percent of consumers preferring to shop online, your ability to ship products gets thrust into the spotlight, especially since over 60 percent of consumers citeshipping costsas their least favorite part of the online shopping experience. Another report found that 28 percent ofconsumersabandon online shopping when presented with unexpected shipping costs, with 83 percent of consumers saying they'd buy more online if they knew shipping was free.

Consumers expect (especially when paying for shipping) their goods to be delivered on time, and delivered without being broken or damaged. While it's likely most business owners use one of the below, it's important tocomparethem against each other and talk to as many business owners as possible to ensure you're mitigating risk. Find the company with the highest percent of on-time delivery and lowest percent of damaged goods upon arrival.

The most trusted brands for small-business owners in shipping services are:

1. FedEx
2. UPS
3. DHL

With the holiday season upon us, these 18 brands will certainly be in the spotlight for business owners even more so than they are during the rest of the year. What is it that makes these brands so trusted compared to their competitors? Is it price or reliability? While those are necessary steps along the purchasing path, the majority of these brands have made strategic efforts to focus on customer service, support and success.

Business owners, more than anyone, understand that things will go wrong and break, but they expect to be treated well when those things happen. The brands that do right by their customers are the ones small-business owners trust most, and trust is the lynchpin to small-business acquisition and retention.