What are some ways to be transparent about holiday shipping?
Dedicate a section of your website to holiday shipping policies. Explain delivery timeframes, order cut-offs, and shipping rates. Set expectations upfront.
When should I launch holiday promotions and products?
Start your holiday season earlier, like October, to spread out demand. This gives customers more time to take advantage of deals.
Why communicate shipping policies to customers?
Clearly outlining charges, estimates, deadlines, and other details sets proper expectations about delivery. It also reduces customer confusion.
How can I offer flexible fulfillment options?
Consider implementing BOPIS and BOPIC for online orders. This gives customers the option to buy online and pick up in store or curbside.
What should a return policy include?
Share who pays for return shipping, expected processing times, any deadlines, whether you offer refunds or store credit, and other key details.
When should I use third-party delivery services?
Tap into on-demand, crowdsourced couriers to supplement capacity when you can't handle all delivery needs internally, especially during peak.
Why offer gift cards?
Digital and physical gift cards give customers an easy option that doesn't require fulfillment. They also incentivize return visits when recipients redeem them.
How can I ship items faster during the holidays?
Provide expedited shipping close to the holidays, but first streamline internal processes to pick, pack, and ship orders quickly.
Apparel peak isn't the CPG peak with bigger volume. A peak-readiness checklist, what an apparel-only peak SLA should actually contain, and three ways to stress-test a 3PL's peak claim before you sign.
Buy a product cheap at retail, resell it on Amazon for more. That's retail arbitrage. This guide covers what it is, whether it's legal, how to start, where it works, and when to graduate out of it.
For many small business owners, outsourcing shipping and fulfillment can sound daunting. When you're passionate about crafting your product with care and precision, you want to ensure its customer experience is consistently top-notch from start to finish–even before factoring in issues such as cost or complexity! Luckily, engaging with a 3rd-party logistics provider (or 3PL) provides an ideal solution for taking control of delivery operations while freeing up bandwidth in other critical areas. But it's certainly not one size fits all – so how do you choose the right 3PL for your small business needs? Read on to find out more.
