The holidays will be here before we know it, so as you prepare for the rush, you will want to think of proactive ways to handle shipping this year.
Here are five tips on how you can create engagement, boost sales, and get your site ready.
Reduce Returns
Explore different ways to reduce returns before the transaction takes place.This can include providing detailed product descriptions, highlighting customer reviews that give others insights into the product, transferring gift options such as size and color preferences to the recipient before the product is shipped to ensure it’s the perfect gift.
Offer Multiple Shipping Options
Let your customers decide how soon they want to receive their order by providing multiple shipping options. Holiday delivery schedules should be prominently displayed in the cart, so buyers can make sure their gifts arrive on time—even for those last-minute procrastinators.
Create an Omnichannel Focus
Today’s connected customer is looking for the ability to buy online and pick up in-store, and, more recently, to buy online and have the product shipped to their home the same day. To meet these new demands, retailers need global inventory visibility to know what’s available where and strong inventory management capabilities that work across multiple locations to ensure the product can be shipped quickly and for the lowest cost possible.
Increase Engagement through Reminders
Staying on top of consumer order histories could be a great way to not only continue customer engagement but also boost sales. If you know of customers that buy products from you during the holidays, send a gentle reminder about upcoming holiday sales or products of interest. Some companies start sending reminders to their best customers in August—but you need to determine the timing strategy that works best for your organization.
Always Update the Consumer
If customers are not alerted to any type of order or shipping delays, especially during the holiday season can result in decreased lifetime customer value, decreased reorder rates and a decrease in the likelihood to recommend the brand.