9 Black Friday Order Fulfillment Strategies for Smart Business Owners

Are you looking for some black Friday shipping strategies or cyber Monday's order fulfillment ideas? Is your business prepared for Cyber Monday and Black Friday shipping? The year's most significant online shopping days are almost around the bend!

The holiday shopping and shipping season has already begun for small company owners, retailers, and eCommerce sites worldwide. While customers begin purchasing holiday presents earlier in the season, shops must be prepared now to ensure a successful season. As we all know, Black Friday and Cyber Monday are two of the busiest shopping days of the year, and shops often offer significant discounts to customers on these days. 

With the epidemic adding to consumer financial hardship, shoppers will look for the most excellent prices, which might mean even more shopping on Black Friday and Cyber Monday. Here are some best practices and ideas for preparing your company for Black Friday and Cyber Monday delivery.

9 Strategies  For Order Fulfillment For Black Friday & Cyber Monday

Here we have some lovely black Friday order fulfillment strategy, which is also usable for cyber Monday order fulfillment.

1. Be Honest About Shipping Prices And Delivery Times

Make no promises you can't keep when it comes to holiday delivery. No matter how you send it, a product ordered on December 24th in London will not arrive in Calgary in time for Christmas morning.

Consider dedicating a page to the holiday shipping information. Display cut-off dates at checkout if possible—you could even utilize a popup for this. A shipping rates calculator is built into the cart page of most of our Shopify themes, or you may add one by making a few changes to your store's code.

2. Extend The Shopping Season‍

It's November, which means it's time to crank up the holiday music and dust off the decorations boxes. So why not start the holiday shopping season early and provide seasonal cheer to your customers? Customers are ready for an earlier shopping season and want to dodge the rush, with Amazon Prime Day moving from July to October this year. It's also beneficial to retailers to avoid the stress of higher orders between Black Friday and Christmas Day. The earlier your season begins, the fewer order fulfillment barriers your company will have.

3. Make Your Shipping Policies Clear

The holidays are notoriously tricky for shipping, and no one wants to give an IOU. As a result, it's vital to adequately express your shipping charges and processes to your clients, as well as provide an accessible shipping policy and ensure that your customers are aware of your drop-dead date. This means that orders can be submitted right up until the last minute to ensure prompt and happy holiday delivery.

As a result, retailers must be aware of shipment deadlines set by delivery service providers. These will vary based on the service and whether the cargo is transported in Canada or the United States.

4. Take Advantage Of A Mixed-Mode Shopping Experience

Online buying may be a huge time saver for customers trying to cross items off their holiday wish lists. It enables consumers to shop fast, compare prices, and complete transactions without leaving the comfort (and safety) of their couch. Instead of trekking through the congested aisles, who wouldn't want to kick their feet up? Even better, there's now a way to quickly get things into customers' wrapping-ready hands while still employing current brick-and-mortar stores and personnel.

This is where BOPIS and BOPIC come in to help speed things up. Buy Online Pick-Up In-Store (BOPIS) is an acronym for Buy Online Pick-Up In-Store. Buy Online Pick-Up Curbside (BOPIC) is an acronym for Buy Online Pick-Up Curbside. These solutions provide clients with a hybrid shopping experience by shopping online while still engaging with them in-store.

5. Make Your Return Policy Clear

Returns are an inescapable aspect of the Christmas season, but they don't have to be an expensive and time-consuming ordeal. The most crucial element to consider is your return policy.

You'll need to think about who pays for shipping, how long the procedure can realistically take if there are any cut-off or black-out dates, and if you deal in-store credit or hard cash, among other things. Put it all down in a concise, jargon-free document, post it somewhere conspicuous in your store, and you're good to go!

6. Alternative Shipping Sources

Uber praised its passengers earlier this year for choosing not to ride with them. "Stay at home for everyone who can't," they said. However, for many shoppers, the need for safety remains paramount. So, what do retailers do when they're faced with last-mile shipping issues due to high demand from delivery partners? They use crowdsourcing!

Last-mile shipping can be accomplished with the help of companies like Uber, Lyft, Instacart, and many more crowdsourced transportation and delivery services. This is a type of 3PL (Third Party Logistics) outsourcing. Customers will appreciate how convenient it is, but it is also a safe and flexible choice for at-risk populations to receive their delivery on the same day. Products can be transported from distribution centers to local storefronts for pick-up if your business is already set up with real-time inventory visibility. This is also good for local drivers and the economy. Whose rides to work, restaurants, airports, and other previously frequented sites have decreased.

7. Provide A Variety Of Gifting Options

It's always a good idea to have a backup plan, even if you have the best inventory, order fulfillment, and shipment preparation. Offering alternative gift choices like gift cards (physical or digital) and subscription services can help relieve the strain on order fulfillment and delivery while allowing customers to redeem their products or services when they feel safe and secure.

Gift cards have always been ideal for those challenging to shop for, buying gift cards skyrocketed early in 2020 due to the epidemic. According to survey data from 1,182 U.S. establishments that utilize Rise.ai Inc.'s re-engagement software, retailers sold 114 percent more digital gift cards in the third quarter of 2020 than in the third quarter of 2019. This tendency has continued throughout the year, with sales typically doubling from the beginning of the year. This simple gift idea helps businesses run smoothly while also giving a popular gifting option to customers.

8. Provide Fast Shipping

Every year, millions of people pledge to finish their Christmas shopping early, and millions more end up scouring the internet on December 23rd in the hopes of finding something—anything!—that will arrive by Christmas morning. While same-day or next-day delivery is not cheap, it may significantly affect your bottom line in the closing days when properly marketed and implemented.

Even if you can't match Amazon's shipping times, it's critical to move quickly when it comes to fulfilling and sending orders over the holidays. If it takes you three days to pack and send ready-made goods, you can't complain about DHL's speed.

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Related article: Expedited Shipping- Everything you Should Know

9. Create A Cart Abandonment Strategy

According to Barilliance, cart abandonment peaked at 74.5 percent over last year's BFCM weekend. So while it's worthwhile to devote some time and money to lower that number—for example, by being transparent about shipping costs—you should also consider how to recoup some of those sales for your business.

The good news is that all it takes to entice near-purchasers back to your store is a pleasant reminder email. Shopify has a built-in cart recovery mechanism that can send consumers a link to their abandoned cart via email.

Summing Up

With eCommerce demand outpacing traditional brick-and-mortar, it's more important than ever for merchants to move away from door-buster prices and flashy store signage and focus on creating a great online shopping experience.

Ultimately, prioritizing efficient and competitive eCommerce delivery operations is the way to go in 2020. Using the procedures indicated above to prepare your operations sooner rather than later can help you ensure that this unprecedented shopping season is as effective as possible.

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Smart business owners do not leave their success to chance! Get in touch with our team at Simpl Fulfillment and let us take care of your fulfillment needs during this hectic season.

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Next article: Everything to Know About the Delivery Time of FedEx, UPS, and USPS

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