How to prepare your business for the most wonderful time of the year.
The Holiday Shipping Playbook
Brisk weather and brisk sales – it’s peak season again! The only thing that can dampen the good cheer for merchants? Knowing how hectic holiday shipping can be. Whether you’re new or seasoned in the ways of eCommerce holiday shipping, the dance always follows the same steps.
More than 50 million parcels ship per day between Thanksgiving and Christmas. Courier services slow under the strain, some shipments get delayed, and customer tensions run high. Your sales increase, gloriously, though you should be mindful of those new peak season surcharges. Thankfully, a little planning is all you need to waltz through the holidays with style, grace and plenty of cash in your pocket.
Use this complete playbook to plan for holiday shipping. You’ll gain solutions to the most persistent problems in holiday shipping, our best practices supported by proprietary data from over 2,000 businesses. We walk you through the steps to successful fulfillment, from courier selection to returns. Including how to:
Ace holiday shipping in 4 steps
Ship without paying holiday surcharges
Deliver on time using courier cutoff dates
Forecast demand for inventory control
This year, your holiday spirit can be one of relief.
The State of eCommerce Holiday Shipping
There are now over 5 billion global internet users, and in 2023 eCommerce sales reached over $5.2 trillion. This figure is expected to increase as the years go by, so now is a better time than ever to prepare your holiday shipping strategy. One thing to be aware of is the delay in freight shipping. There are still ports that are backed up due to a shortage of container space and a tight labor market. This means that merchants are still struggling to transport their goods.
What does this mean for eCommerce shippers?
Consider UPS® Ground as your go-to shipping choice. UPS® Ground is the more economical standard delivery option with Easyship's discounted rates — and a reliable choice
Prepare for returns. The average online purchase return rate is around 18% and only 49% of retailers offer their customers free return shipping labels. Develop a returns strategy that's both convenient for customers and efficient for you, then communicate your returns policy along the sales journey to reduce friction. To ease the post-holiday returns bottleneck, you can extend your returns window by a month or so to keep your customers happy.
Consider help with fulfillment: 40% of shoppers will wait until the last 10 days before Christmas to buy gifts. Maybe recruit an extra set of hands to help you or partner with a fulfillment center. Outsourcing some of your shipments can help you hasten deliveries, reduce errors, and stay sane amidst the crush of holiday orders.
Be proactive about shipping: "When will my order arrive?" is the most-asked question in eCommerce over the holidays. Tracking details are a must-send, of course. Familiarize yourself with the courier cutoff dates to ensure packages arrive by Christmas. Late deliveries can tarnish your customer relationship and your reputation, plus spark returns.
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The Customers' Timeline
Good news: peak season may be getting less intense. The popularity of Black Friday and Cyber Monday have deal-savvy shoppers looking for savings earlier in the season. Most people assume that late November to early December is when the mad rush of Christmas shopping begins but in fact, 43% of online shoppers start their holiday shopping in October. October to November is when to expect lots of holiday orders, so if you can prepare for that, then luckily things calm down towards the end of December.
How to Plan Your Holiday Shipping Strategy
Step 1: Forecast Demand
Most companies begin to prepare for the peak season in Q3 around September. This means you'll want to evaluate two things, 1: demand for your products, and 2: your business performance during last year's holidays. Pay attention to metrics like:
Forecasting demand for the coming year is critical because it allows you to buy the right inventory and staff up based on data – not guesswork. To learn how to forecast demand, check out this full guide to demand forecasting in eCommerce. For best results, all your prep work should be grounded in data available in your website analytics.
Step 2: Stock Up on Inventory and Packaging
Running out of packaging supplies at the last minute will slow you down and make you fall behind. Be prepared and ensure you have enough packaging supplies so your orders can get shipped out on time. More importantly, ensure your inventory is stocked up so you don’t have to cancel any orders and disappoint your customers. How much inventory you procure should be largely based on last year's sales numbers. But also consider your demand forecast alongside any marketing promotions or ongoing trends that will drive sales up or down. Once you set procurement objectives, communicate with your suppliers about your needs.
Step 3: Optimize Your Cart Experience for Shipping
Shipping has become a cornerstone of customer service for eCommerce shoppers. Many shoppers say they choose retailers based on the shipping and delivery options. Amazon set the bar high, so it's important to take steps to meet customers' expectations for a seamless experience.
3 Ways to Boost Sales at Checkout
Provide flexible shipping options: Easyship's Rates at Checkout feature allows you to display three live courier options in checkout – the fastest, cheapest, and the best value. Having different shipping options make customers more likely to convert and stay loyal to your brand .
Provide accurate tax and duty: Avoid surprise fees that sink sales by showing all international shoppers the pre-calculated tax and duty amounts for their orders. All tax & duty fees are shown upfront in the Easyship dashboard. Full transparency of costs improves sales, plus allows buyers to prepay any fees to streamline the delivery experience.
Use an address verification system: Most shipments with an inaccurate address either fail or are delayed. Address verification is an automated feature of shipping platforms that ensures the recipients' entries align with the address in courier delivery systems. This paves the way for a successful delivery every time.
Step 4: Automate Your Shipping
The holiday pre-season is a good time to test shipping automation that allows you to spend more time focusing on keeping your customers happy.
Automate returns: Returns are common enough that you want to put them on autopilot if possible. You can toggle on a setting in Easyship to have all return labels generated for you to ensure a hassle-free customer experience. Easyship also updates all inventory based on scanned return labels for you, ensuring you have real-time visibility of stock as it comes and goes. Learn more about returns management for eCommerce.
Enhance the post-purchase experience: Make life easier for your customer service department by having transactional messages such as packing slips, tracking emails, and tracking landing pages automatically created and sent post-purchase. Maintain brand visibility and increase sales through these communications with these tips.
Set up shortcuts with shipping rules: You can create rule-based shipping preferences in Easyship to effectively program a range of actions, including courier selection, fulfillment, returns, and more. Our automation can shave hours off your operations flow, especially important during the busy holidays.
Access the cheapest rates always: If you don't have time to negotiate your own shipping rates, you can access our discounted shipping rates (up to 91% off) and immediately offer them to your customers.
Step 5: Set Ship By Dates for Timely Deliveries
In the US alone, upwards of 50 million packages are delivered daily by USPS, UPS, and FedEx during the holidays. This staggering crush of parcels can derail your delivery schedule if you're not careful. To ensure customers receive their packages by Christmas, it's best to establish "ship-by" dates for each courier so customers know when the estimated delivery times are for their packages. Here's how.
Holiday Shipping Deadlines in the U.S.
Every year, couriers publish their "last days to ship" schedules. Easyship recommends the following mailing and shipping deadlines for expected delivery by December 25th:
International Holiday Shipping Deadlines from the U.S.
Which Courier is Best for Holiday Shipping: UPS, USPS, or FedEx?
It's important to remember that each merchant is different and there is no one-size-fits-all courier when shipping to a global audience.
By relying on our Rates at Checkout feature, Easyship clients offer their customers location-based delivery flexibility, while leveraging shipping rules to account for their holiday cut-off and fulfillment logic.
In addition to partnering with popular couriers to ship domestically, Easyship also includes multiple last-mile solutions that provide holistic, pre-negotiated coverage for the rest of the world.
Consider Your Holiday Shipping Offers
The holidays offer opportunities to brands who don’t usually offer discounts to do so, without diminishing brand value. However, this can often create issues in undercutting profitability.
Below are some options that help you find the balance between services that please your customers, at a price that your business is happy with.
A Good Shipping Strategy Is Key
Offering free shipping during the holidays makes sense, as many customers are truly in "purchase mode" and are more willing to justify their purchases accordingly.
To determine the best way to offer free shipping, it's best to know your:
Average order value
Product margins
Actual shipping costs
From there, you can make this promotion happen by:
Offering free shipping for your most popular products
Incorporating the price of shipping into the listing price of your items
Making it available to customers who spend over a certain amount. Your shipping threshold should be 10-15% higher than your current average order value.
Promote Your "Ship-By" Dates On Your Site
The busiest mailing and delivery times for couriers are the two weeks before Christmas.
Manage expectations for delivery by sharing ship-by dates for the following customers:
Promoting these dates on your website and sending gentle reminders via email marketing can encourage your customers to make their purchases earlier to ensure delivery before the holidays.
Have Same-Day And Rush Fulfillment Options Ready
There will always be those who procrastinate and are in need of rush fulfillment options.
In order to capture those sales effectively, it's best to have the following solutions available:
Same day, local delivery
Overnight
In-store pickup
Don't have a same-day delivery provider? You can utilize Easyship to offer same and next-day delivery for select shipments! sign up for an Easyship account to see if your shipment qualifies.
Prepare for returns
Record-breaking holiday sales bring record-breaking returns in January! Be prepared.
Review Your Returns Policy
Returns are definitely a pain point for eCommerce SMBs. If you're in need of a clearly defined shipping policy, try this free shipping template generator for a fully customized policy with time to spare before the holidays.
To help prevent returns, it's best to do the following:
Show high-quality photos of your product on your website. Showing the product in detail and seeing it from various angles can better manage customer expectation.
Include accurate size guides. This is especially important for apparel and shoes. Bonus points if you offer size guides that are localized by country.
Be proactive in getting product reviews from customers. This feedback can help prospective customers make better-informed buying decisions.
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Discover the Cheapest Shipping from USPS, UPS & FedEx
Find the guaranteed cheapest rates for any courier in seconds with Easyship’s free shipping rate calculator. Compare discount rates from USPS, UPS, FedEx, and 550+ courier services at a glance.
Find the guaranteed cheapest shipping in seconds with Easyship’s free shipping rate calculator. Compare discounted rates from USPS, UPS, FedEx, and 250+ global couriers at a glance.
Save up to 91% off shipping with Easyship’s discount courier rates. Create your free account to save instantly on 550+ courier services, including USPS.
Discover the Cheapest Shipping from USPS, UPS® & FedEx
Find the guaranteed cheapest rates for any courier in seconds with Easyship’s free shipping rate calculator. Compare discount rates from USPS, UPS, FedEx, and 250+ couriers at a glance.
Use Easyship’s free shipping policy generator to formulate your perfect holiday shipping policy for returns, tracking, and more. Just follow the prompts and you’re done!
Learn how to ship internationally without missing a step. Our case studies show you proven tactics for shipping worldwide from Easyship users who did it right.