This Season for heavy shipping is almost here and there’s no better time than now to get your business prepared for the demands consumers expect this holiday shipping season.
Whether you’re an eCommerce based business, marketplace seller, a vendor shipping to merchants or offer to ship in any other capacity, it’s important to align your holiday business goals with an efficient shipping strategy.
Be more prepared this holiday season this guide takes the guesswork and stress out of the holiday shipping season and highlights all the benefits to shipping
Among the key factors, that you should consider include understanding carrier delivery schedules, knowing what your customer frustrations are and identifying why extra fees may be applied to your parcel overhead not to mention processing times.
Know the Holiday Service Schedules from FedEx and UPS Whether you ship exclusively with one carrier or offer a multi-carrier shipping strategy for your business, its important to know the holiday service schedules of FedEx and UPS this holiday season.
Among the key dates to identify include when the last day you can ship a Ground package, useUPS Next Day Air or provide a FedEx Priority delivery with each of these arriving on time for Christmas.
Tip:
Foam peanuts are better than newspaper because paper can get wet and ruin the gifts in the box. Also go prepared to the post office with your identification, the address for the recipient, and be sure to remember what the gifts are. The shipper must provide a detailed list of what is in the package. “Christmas gifts” won’t work.
Know What Your Customer Shipping Pain-Points Are A recent study from Pitney Bowes identified that nearly half of online shoppers reported frustration with everything from shipping to returns to lost products during this holiday shopping season.
Studies have revealed that 75% of consumers prefer free shipping with longer delivery times versus only 25% willing to pay for expedited parcel shipments.
Keeping this in mind, ease your customer frustration by offering efficient shipping strategies that may include free shipping, flexible delivery options and easy to process orders.
Incorporating the cost of shipping into your inventory charges, for example, can help give the perception to your customers that their shipping is free – even if you know this isn’t the case.
The main thing here to understand is to make sure shipping is as seamless as possible versus an obstacle in a buyer’s path to purchase once they’ve identified they’re ready to make a purchase with your brand.
Know what added Extra Fees May be applied to Your Shipping Overhead FedEx and USPS alike have a way of sneaking on extra surcharges much to the surprise of many of their customers.
It’s critical for shippers to confidently understand what surcharges may be applied during the holiday season to best understand what extra variables may be impacting their shipping and costs alike.
Leveraging a parcel auditing strategy into your shipping process can help you capture refunds on charges you may be billed for unnecessarily. while also helping to reduce your parcel overhead. To ensure your holidays aren’t filled with extra, avoidable costs, begin implementing a parcel auditing strategy into your shipping efforts.
Finally, holiday shipping season expectations among consumers are no longer what they used to be.
Their expectations for the same day or next day delivery are becoming the norm versus the exception while their preference to shop online is becoming more dependent on mobile, easy-to-navigate websites with the ability to identify preferred shipping preferences.
Keeping these key factors in mind, aim to please this holiday season by catering to your customer expectations while also having a clear understanding of carrier holiday schedules, extra surcharges that may be applied to your shipping
Chart From Shippo.com
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Stress-Free Holiday Shipping
- Clearly label your package for customs purposes.
Your label should answer three questions about your package: what is it, what is it made of, what is it used for? Customers who don’t supply enough information about their package may find it’s held up by customs. To avoid disappointing delays, ensure your package is clearly labeled. - When sending a gift, make sure you write “personal gift” on your Air Waybill.
Telling Customs that your package is non-commercial by clearly stating “personal gift” after its description will help ensure you don’t attract unnecessary customs duties and taxes. Please contact your carrier for further information. - If purchasing via the internet, check to see if local taxes and duties are included in the price.
Many people think they’re getting a great price when they buy items overseas via the internet, but get a surprise when their package arrives with a demand for customs duties and VAT - Ensure your package is well wrapped, with plenty of padding.
The post office provides free shipping boxes, but customers need to wrap their packages carefully. Invest in some bubble-wrap, styrofoam beads or lots of newspaper to help protect your present! - Accurately estimate the cost of your package and take out adequate insurance.
The vast majority of packages are delivered safely to their address, but sometimes things can go wrong. All customers are asked to declare the value of their shipment – undervaluing can affect their insurance. Customers should also ensure they have adequate insurance, especially for high-value shipments.
Top Etsy Tips for the Holiday Shopping Season
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