A wise old proverb says that the forewarned is forearmed. This also applies, of course, (or perhaps especially) to the eCommerce industry - especially in terms of preparation for the so-called High Season, the period from Black Friday to Christmas.
It's a really hot time for online retailers - after all, at the core of human beings is the desire to save money on measly products; so it's no wonder that customers are so eager to take advantage of heavily discounted prices.
However, shopping Eldorado means not only profits alone (sure you should expect them), but also a lot of challenges, especially those related to logistics and efficient handling of post-season returns. This is the only time of the year of this kind- so it's worth making good sales use of it and preparing for it wisely. Read our blog post - and learn the exact science behind peak season 2022/2023! Enjoy reading and be sure to download the full version of our ebook to further delve into the ins and outs of logistics in times of brisk sales.
Running an online shop is really demanding year-round; in the so-called seasonal peaks, however, it becomes almost impossible to bulletproof handle. In order to fully benefit from this intriguing but challenging opportunity, companies should analyze historical data and wisely prepare for the upcoming busy shopping period.
It is good practice to write out the most important dates for a given business early on. Depending on what type of merchandise you sell, some of the important shopping holidays are more important to you than others - such as Valentine's Day or Halloween. Since some of the important holidays are movable holidays, which in fact have a different date every year - below we have prepared a summary for the 2022/2023 season to make your selling life much easier:
Preparing the best possible offer for buyers, including in terms of logistical needs, should start with a close look at their customer experience needs. Despite the global pandemic and other economic factors, the willingness to buy online has not diminished - same as shoppers' expectations.
There is a certain set of online purchase drivers and other variables, without which it is difficult to entice customers with even the most interesting product offer. Search shows that eCommerce store owners are expected to offer free delivery, coupons, and discounts. Additionally, buyers would like to have the freedom to choose the payment method when finalizing the transaction (and should not spend too much time on this process). The business reality shows also that access to an easy return policy plays a crucial role in choosing a store matter; the same as the need to get the order delivered on the same or the next day. All those factors are supported by one obvious, but super important fact - most buyers rely on companies' reviews. The quality of the services provided is what you definitely pay attention to.
A lot more orders mean a lot more profits - but also.... more (not only) logistical challenges.
But before you get unnecessarily nervous and get many sleepless nights, let's spies with a helping hand - a good plan for the future supported by outsourcing your activities to experts will allow you to maintain work-life balance even in this extremely demanding time ;)
Focus on selling to your target market - you don't have to take on the necessity of finding extra room for storage, negotiating prices with couriers, or the inevitable handling of returns.
Take a look at the image below and see for yourself in this example how fulfillment service works:
What can you expect from this type of logistics service? We will definitely make it easier for you to reach new markets - we will take care of negotiating warehouse conditions, rates of local couriers, and de facto the entire process: from picking and packing to last-mile delivery enriched with returns management. To summarize: we take over at the point where the customer clicks the buy now button in your eCommerce site.
When you run an eCommerce company, you don't have to shoulder everything. Smart management of a growing business sometimes requires outsourcing some of the responsibilities.
By putting them in the hands of experts, you can not only be sure that your customers will be properly taken care of - even in such a demanding time as the High Season. Taking such actions makes sense - it will allow you to focus on working on the product, marketing, the store's website, and many other actions that need to be specially taken care of before the end of the upcoming busy October.
Last year and the Covid-19 pandemic showed us in the industry that we are capable of handling any, even the largest number of orders - so you can now predict a large number of orders, and customer expectations, and modify the offer according to your needs and already collected data. We will do the rest of the logistical magic this time - deliver the order to buyers on a given day, take care of return issues and make everything work like the proverbial clock.
We hope that it will be your best season all the way - and we are keeping our fingers firmly crossed for it!🤞 Let's create a state-of-the-art logistics experience together!