Shipfusion eCommerce fulfillment services: Part Two
Choosing the right partner can make or break your company’s logistics, customer service, and repeat purchases. Using an eCommerce fulfillment center like Shipfusion frees you from navigating the fulfillment landscape with zero stress. Below are some insights on how Shipfusion can take your business to the next level.
Every eCommerce company wants to have a record-breaking amount of sales during the busy shopping season, whether it’s Back-to-School, Black Friday, Cyber Monday, Boxing Day or a highly-anticipated new product launch. The reality is after you have made the sales, fulfillment and shipping is essential for every order. Not to worry, Shipfusion is here to help!
Here is your 3 part guide on everything you need to create exceptional shipping and receiving processes during the busy time, ensuring customer satisfaction.
Holiday Dates:
- Canadian Thanksgiving: October 12th
- American Thanksgiving: November 26th
- Black Friday: November 27th
- Small Business Saturday: November 28th
- Cyber Monday: November 30th
- Free Shipping Day: December 14th (offer free shipping on all orders, with promised delivery by Christmas Eve)
- Super Saturday: December 19th (the last Saturday before Christmas, typically a big shopping day for brick-and-mortar retailers)
- Christmas: December 25th
Once you’ve decided on a pricing strategy, it’s time to get into implementation by making sure each product is shipping-ready, and that starts with adding accurate weights.
Have Weights Updated on all Products
You must keep up-to-date weights on all of your products to help customers see accurate shipping costs during cart checkout.
Market Shipping Prices and Options to Customers
The most asked questions when it comes to shopping online around the holiday season is, “How much will the shipping cost?” Along with that question and equally important is, “Will my order get here in time?”
It’s essential to over-communicate these answers with customers. You want to clearly let your customers know the time and day cutoff to place their orders, so they arrive before the holiday. For example, send a marketing email through MailChimp: saying, “Order your gifts before November 2nd at 3 pm EST to ensure arrival by American Thanksgiving.”
Here are a few additional ways to get information out to customers:
- Add a popup on your website to make sure shoppers are aware of holiday shipping times and dates
- Add a banner promoting shipping prices, options and times to your store
- Add a stock image or animation to communicate all shipping times
- Share your holiday shipping information on social media
- Send an email reminder to everyone on your client list, including everyone who has abandoned their cart, informing them on the last day they can expect a purchase to arrive before the holidays
- Don’t forget to update your FAQ page on the most common holiday shipping questions
Optimize your return policy
Research indicates that 67% of eCommerce buyers will check your return policy before buying. When it comes to gearing up for the busy season, you’ll want to pay specific attention to return shipping costs.
There are three main ways you can handle the cost of return shipping:
- Your customer pays for the return shipping
- Your company pays for returning shipping
- A combination of the two
You will find the best way to handle the price of return shipping is to better understand your margins, as well as the expected return rate. Carrier return rates can be higher during the busy holiday season. Whichever way you choose to handle the price of return shipping, make sure you properly communicate your return shipping policy as clearly as possible.
Stay tuned next week for part 3 of our 3 part ‘Fall Holiday Fulfillment Guide.’ We will be looking at how to create an exceptional unboxing experience.
Shipfusion sets your business on autopilot and combines flexible, reliable fulfillment with powerful, real-time technology. Shipfusion has multiple fulfillment centers across the US and Canada– making it easy to manage your eCommerce business. For more information on how to set your business on autopilot, contact one of our fulfillment specialists today.
