How to prepare your Shipping Strategy for Christmas

It comes around quicker every year, right?

Christmas is a wonderful time of year for businesses worldwide because the festive season typically sees a surge in online sales. We’ve talked about preparing for Black Friday and Cyber Monday sales. Now it’s time to check your shipping strategy for Christmas is all wrapped up for a successful delivery.

Why is it important to offer reliable shipping?

Customers are starting their Christmas shopping earlier this year, and the online buying experience has never been more important during this current economic climate.* Consumers are used to quick, reliable and flexible shipping options when ordering online so it is imperative that these needs are met. Not only do customers want to feel like they’re getting a good deal on their Christmas gifts, but they want delivery they can trust.

For a successful Christmas trading period, you must provide your customers with a transparent buying journey, especially after checkout. If buyers have a good experience with you, they’ll be more likely to recommend you to friends and family or purchase again from your online store.

What are the challenges of shipping?

More and more people turn to online shopping at Christmas each year. Last year, a report predicted that 48% of all 2021 Christmas goods would be bought online.** Whilst this is positive, you can expect this year's eCommerce sales to be high too!

Courier services will also be at capacity as they fulfil your domestic and international shipping. When offering customers different shipping options, you must factor in final delivery dates/transit times, and communicate final delivery dates ahead of time to avoid disappointment. Parcel tracking can also be a challenge with shipping as many standard postal services do not offer free tracking as standard. Therefore, it's crucial that your shipping solution offers detailed tracking via multiple methods so you and your customers are kept in the know.

Fortunately, our helpful shipping tools and free tracking features are designed to optimise your delivery strategy and give your customers a merry Christmas.

Tips for optimising your shipping strategy for Christmas

To be successful during the holiday season, implement these easy suggestions to improve your shipping strategy.

Set up your free Branded Tracking Portal

Keep your customers informed of their parcel’s whereabouts with your brand at the forefront. You can customise the portal to maintain brand continuity after the sale, and your customers can quickly check the progress of their delivery. Win, win!

Use a multi-carrier solution to reduce risk to your supply chain

Booking your courier services with Interparcel allows you to choose from a range of carriers, so you are not tied to just one company. You can compare and trial services that you haven't used before to find the best service for your business and reduce the risk to your supply chain, especially during the crucial Christmas sales period. If one carrier experiences unexpected issues or exceptionally high demand, you can quickly and easily switch to another carrier. You can also take advantage of our discounted shipping rates as a result of our long-standing relationship with our courier partners.

Fulfil multiple deliveries in one place

Reduce manual processes and integrate, organise and fulfil all your orders in one simple dashboard using the Interparcel Shipping Manager. You can fetch multiple orders from different eCommerce platforms and marketplaces, such as Amazon, eBay, and Shopify, to name a few.

Advertise cut-off dates in advance

To keep things running smoother than Santa’s workshop, ensure you send your parcels in plenty of time. We will publish a list of the last Christmas posting dates shortly, so keep an eye out on our website!

Save time with the Interparcel Print Manager™

When you have several parcels to send, you don’t want to spend time manually downloading and printing from PDF files. That’s why we created the Interparcel Print Manager™; to save you time by enabling direct label printing from our platform to your printer. Install our printing plugin on your computer and try it for yourself.

Offer Next Day or weekend delivery in the final weeks of the Christmas sales

Help make potential customers’ buying experience more manageable by offering fast and reliable shipping in the final run-up to the big day. We offer fast UK shipping options like Next Day, Same Day and weekend delivery services. For international deliveries, our Express services can deliver your parcel overseas in as little as one working day after collection.

Deliver a happy Christmas with Interparcel

It might seem too early to think about Christmas, but it is crucial to be prepared and not rush around like one of Father Christmas’s elves!

For UK Mainland deliveries, we offer an extensive range of domestic Collection and Drop Off courier services. Enter your parcel weight and dimensions into our quote tool and find the one that’s right for you.

Popular domestic courier services

Similarly, if your customer’s Christmas order is destined for an address in Europe or overseas, we have a range of international services available to book in a flash. Of course, sending a parcel abroad requires a bit more paperwork, but we make the booking process as simple as possible by incorporating the customs clearance process.

Popular international courier services

Get ahead of the curve this Christmas and create an Interparcel account today. It’s quick, easy and, best of all-free! If you have any queries, speak to our real team of parcel experts by phone, live chat, or email, seven days a week.

*Source: Forbes, 2022 Holiday Shopping Trends You Need To Know

**Source: Charged Retail ,2021,More UK consumers Christmas shopping online than ever before, report reveals