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Tips for Shipping and Fulfillment for the Holidays

Holidays     If the record sales on Black Friday and Cyber Monday are any indication, this year's holiday sales should be good. Even though a lot of orders are great, there is still the work of filling and delivering those orders. We're still having problems with the supply chain and shipping times this holiday season. To avoid these delays and get products to customers before the holidays and keep them happy, it's important to do some work upfront. You should have planned your holiday shipping strategy weeks ago, but if you didn't, here are a few simple last-minute tips to make sure your customers get their orders by the holidays:  

1. Meet deadlines set by shipping companies to make sure packages arrive before December 25

No matter how big or small your sales are, you still need to get your products to your customers in the time frame they expect. As you may have noticed, the rise in e-commerce orders and a number of other things have caused shipping carrier deadlines to change. You won't be able to predict shipping carrier delays, but you can do your best to meet their deadlines and stay up to date on any new information they share. Carriers change their shipping deadlines every holiday season to make sure packages get there before certain holidays and dates. Find out about the ship-by dates for the holidays in 2022.   Tip: If you miss a deadline, be honest with your clients and let them know about any possible delays. Find out more about how to ship items during the holiday season.  

2. Simplify the way you handle fulfillment and shipping

Once you've looked at the shipping deadlines for each carrier, you can decide how to handle your orders. Organizing and prioritizing your orders can help you get products to your customers faster and not miss any deadlines. If you use Shopify, you can add tags to each order that say who is shipping it and when it needs to be there. From there, you can use the orders list to sort by the deadline, then choose multiple orders to fulfill. You can also sort unfulfilled orders by delivery method (local, standard, or expedited) or by the date the order was placed (oldest to newest). Use Shopify's bulk fulfillment workflows to speed up this process even more. For example, if you're in the US, Canada, Australia, or the UK, you can buy and make Shopify shipping labels from one view once you've decided which orders you want to fill. You can also print all of the packing slips for the orders you want to ship that day at the same time.   New_flow___Bulk_changes_dc7619d5-c0a7-4389-b1fa-5e2f9a160e11.gif (1711×864)   You might want to set up your fulfillment area so that your products, packing slips, packaging, and shipping labels are all ready to be packed and shipped in an assembly line. When you're ready to ship, have the shipping company pick up the packages so you don't have to waste time taking them to the post office.  

3. Extend the time you can sell during the holidays by offering local delivery and pickup

We all know someone who doesn't start their holiday shopping until the last minute. And we all know someone who finishes shopping weeks in advance but keeps buying "little things" right up until December 24. Because of shipping carrier deadlines, it's hard to keep selling to last-minute shoppers and get their packages to them in time for the holidays. You could also use faster shipping methods, but those can also be expensive. Local delivery and local or curbside pickup are great ways for local shoppers to get last-minute holiday gifts. Early on in the pandemic, these alternative delivery methods were a lifeline for merchants. Now, they are essential for business owners who want to connect with nearby customers, boost sales, and give customers a great experience. It also lets people support local businesses and save on shipping costs while staying safe. Everyone comes out ahead. In your Shopify store, it's easy to set up both local delivery and pick-up. Once you're set-up, think about how you'll get your products to people who want to pick them up or have them delivered. No matter what strategy you choose, make sure to tell your loyal customers about it. You can do this by adding banners to your website, putting signs in the windows of your store, and using email and social media.  

4. Allow changes in orders

When shopping online, it's not unusual for people to make mistakes. Sometimes they click "Pay" too quickly and then realize too late that they forgot to add a discount code, chose the wrong size or color of a product, or forgot to add something to their cart. As a business owner, you might want to use order notifications so that your customers can remember what they bought after they check out. They can look over their order again to make sure nothing went wrong. Order notifications also keep your customers informed about the status of their order at all times, including when the order is received, sent out for delivery, and delivered. If there was a mistake, you can make the customer's experience better and more memorable by fixing it before delivering the order. This will also make it less likely that the customer will come back later. You can edit an order in Shopify to add or remove items, change the number of items in an order, and apply discounts. Once the change has been made, Shopify makes it easy to charge or refund your customer, and the customer is notified automatically.  

5. Get ready for a flood of returns

National Returns Day, the day when buyers send the most orders back to sellers, usually falls on January 2. However, because the holiday shopping season lasts so long, you can expect more returns in December, January, and February. During the holidays, the average rate of return is about 30%, which is 10% higher than the rest of the year. Returns have become an important part of the shopping process, and most people won't buy a gift if they can't send it back. People think that the industry most likely to have a high return rate is the clothing industry. Learn how to handle returns in Shopify to get ready for the return season. Once your customer has asked to return the product according to your return policy, you can process the return right from the order details page by following a simple step-by-step workflow. With Shopify's returns feature, you can keep track of the reason for the return, make return shipping labels and have them sent to your customers automatically, track shipping, give a refund, and restock your inventory. If you have been using local delivery or BOPIS, you might want to use these delivery options to handle your returns. You can avoid extra return shipping costs by picking up returned items locally or by giving your customers an incentive to return the item in-store or at the curb. Even after the customer has received the item, you can still give them a refund in Shopify.  

Look after yourself, your team, and the people around you

2022 was another difficult year. But it showed us how strong small businesses can be and how you were able to keep going despite the ups and downs. So, we want to wish you a happy holiday season, no matter how you celebrate. We thank you, and we're proud of how passionate and strong you are.
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