For the past few weeks, business owners have been preparing for Cyber Monday by promoting deals via social media and getting their websites ready for an influx of customers. However, the impact of Cyber Monday doesn’t end on Nov. 28. Once the orders are placed, business owners must prepare to ship these products out. Now is the time to get organized. Here are five shipping tips to prepare for these shipments.
Come up with a step-by-step shipping plan
Think about each step of the shipping process from receiving the order to its final arrival at the customer’s door. Map out when you will ship out each batch of items starting with priority shipments first, then to distant/international orders to make sure they arrive in a timely manner. Factor in the time it will take you to track, package and send out each order.
Find the cheapest shipping solution
When customers see shipping prices at check-out, it can make or break the sale. You may be offering a Cyber Monday discount, but a big shipping cost is a deterrent for buyers. Make sure you research the cost to ship out your product through your local post office and UPS. At Portal Warehousing, members have cheaper shipping solutions thanks to daily carrier pickups. Make sure to factor in gas costs as well if you are driving to send out your orders.
Add your business card in each shipment
As a business owner, take advantage of any way to market your product even after the sale. By putting your business card in the package, and possibly a nice note or additional gift, it shows a level of professionalism and care for what you are selling. If the buyer loves their item, they may pass your business card along to someone they showed it off to, which could result in another sale. Add your social media handles onto the business card since it is an opportunity to increase your following, too.
Take inventory of all products you ship out
Create a system that tracks all the products you have shipped including item quantity and tracking numbers. A good way to manage this information is by creating an Excel spreadsheet of all pertinent shipping details and updating it whenever you send a group of packages out. Also, make note of when these packages arrive safely. If a product is taking a while to arrive, you might want to contact the buyer and offer a discount on their next purchase via email
Provide shipping updates to the customer via email
Whether you embed this feature on your website, or you manually send them emails with updates, it’s important to keep your customers up to date with their shipment. This will also help you keep track of the packages that have arrived, and maybe some that are behind. Emails updates send a message to the customer that you are keeping an eye out for their product, and it also heightens their excitement about its arrival.
With the above tips, you will be able to breeze through Cyber Monday shipments and enjoy the success it brought you.
Author: Andrew Runnette is the director of operations for Portal Warehousing. Portal Warehousing is a flexible warehouse operator that provides turn-key warehousing and distribution space to growing e-commerce merchants on a flexible, short-term basis. Portal provides value to businesses beyond real estate with amenities including access to proprietary technology, logistics infrastructure, partnerships, and incubator support. For more information, visit join-portal.com or on Facebook and Instagram.
