Here's How You Can Prepare Your Business for the Shipping Nightmare This Christmas
It’s hard to promise quick deliveries during the horrifically hectic holidays. Late delivered presents? Nobody wants that. If you're an online business owner trying to figure out how your company can survive the shipping nightmare this holiday season, read on for tips on how to manage the Christmas shipping rush.
Prepare your team, stocks, and packaging supplies.
Expect a surge in sales during this season. It starts as early as November. Make sure your team is ready for the increased volume. Of course, you have to get all of your stocks and supplies in advance. Everyone knows about the painful regret of having too much demand but not enough stocks to sell.
Manage customer expectations for delivery times
It's no secret that having great customer service and a fast response time is one of the cornerstones of any successful business, whether you're a small ecommerce business or an established company. During the holidays, you will need to get ahead of shipping delays that will occur during this period. It is best to inform your customers that shipping may be delayed. This will help set expectations for your customers and help them make an informed decision regarding orders. After all, a happy customer will most likely be a returning customer.
Set a deadline for orders days before Christmas Eve
There’s no denying the fact that there are people who buy last-minute presents for their friends and their loved ones. Oftentimes, they just end up looking for something that would arrive on time. Having a deadline for orders will ensure that everyone will open their presents during Christmas day, and make this Christmas memorable for them. Pro-tip, add a free blank greeting card with a separate note that says "In case you forgot to get a card."
Have multiple couriers ready to ship out your packages
To children, Santa delivers presents on a sleigh with Rudolph pulling him everywhere he needs to go. For us, we understand that Santa is just your average delivery person on a motorcycle trying to deliver everyone's presents before Christmas Eve. Riders can get very busy during the holiday season and some couriers can run out of riders resulting to delayed deliveries. It is important to have multiple couriers on standby just in case. Luckily for us online business owners, there’s a service that offers multiple couriers all under one platform, which can be a great help in managing delivery times during the holiday season.
Make your shipping process more time-efficient
When there are hundreds of orders being placed, it can be very flustering. What if this process didn’t have to be a long and hard one? What if there was a way for you to book bulk shipments, print waybills in one go, and track all your shipments from different couriers all under one platform? The best part, what if you never have to manually fill up a waybill ever again? This is all possible with a courier platform such as Shipmates.
With Shipmates, you’ll be able to easily book shipments and print waybills in bulk. Most importantly, you’ll be able to choose from multiple couriers, compare rates, and track all your orders under one platform. The process of booking shipments only takes 10 minutes no matter the number of orders you have.
While Shipmates does all that for you, all you’d have to do is schedule a pickup for your orders, print the waybills, and pack the orders. Their courier partners will pick up your packages right at your doorstep. It sounds easy because it is. If you’re ready to get started with Shipmates before the Christmas season starts, you can sign-up for a free account today!