We are a few weeks away from the start of one of the busiest shopping periods of the year – the holiday season. As soon as the leaves start changing color, the madness starts descending. Help your business keep its head above the noise by implementing a few key strategies for staying ahead.
Achieve the sales results you want, all while keeping your customers happy and satisfied by coming up with the best shipping strategy known to man. Okay, that may be a little dramatic – but so is the holiday season.
Follow these five expert shipping tips below and help your business successfully navigate one of the most challenging times of the year:
- Inventory Boost
Peak shipping times can be difficult to navigate, especially if this is your business’s first holiday season. When the busy months hit, you need to be prepared. Keep your sales forecast updated weekly, keep an eye on the most trending items, and get the items you’ll likely sell out of in stock.
Make sure that your ordering process is seamless and give your suppliers notice of items that you will need urgent shipping on if you do not have sufficient warehouse storage space.
- Incentivize Early Shopping
The best customers start their holiday shopping at the end of September, which is only a few weeks away. Use promotions or offer free shipping to incentivize your customers. That way, you will increase sales during the less busy periods and keep more customers happy.
Keep your content fresh and create branded materials that captivate audiences and encourage sales.
Do your research and find smart ways to get your customers to spend earlier in the year, most of your competition will be too busy focusing on promotions for the holiday season.
- Choose The Right Packaging
The correct packaging is crucial to ensuring your customer’s order arrives in one piece.
Use better packaging, like corrugated mailer boxes, to keep items safe and intact during shipping. We are approaching one of the busiest times of the year, so couriers are understandably in a rush to deliver orders, and unfortunately, poorly packaged items pay the price.
Instead of regretting your packaging choices, chat to a few experts first and let them advise on the best solutions for your product range.
- Keep An Eye on Your Competition
Your business needs to find opportunities to reach more customers and increase sales for this period. One way of doing that is to keep an eye on your competition. November shoppers are a great target, so ensure that your business is ready for them.
Plan out captivating ways to draw customers away from your competition and entice them to buy your items instead. There is a five-day period between Thanksgiving and Cyber Monday – all you need now is to think of a clever hook.
- Manage Customer Expectations
Some humans never learn – it’s a design flaw.
The problem comes in when most of those humans become your customers. There will always be last-minute shoppers who order the day before they expect the item to arrive. These customers must get treated the same as everyone else.
Manage your customer’s expectations by keeping them informed and updated on every step of their order’s shipping journey. Implement an “order by” deadline and stick to it. You need to feel confident that your business can meet that deadline comfortably – that way if there are any delays, you won’t be running around in a flat panic.
Remember, the holiday season is a manic time – so take deep breaths and push through the anxiety. It will all be okay if you follow the easy expert shipping tips above.
