7 Order Fulfilment tips for Black Friday

We are fast approaching two of the busiest days of the year for e-commerce businesses, as merchants prepare the Black Friday rush ahead of Christmas.

We have seen online shopping skyrocket, especially since the pandemic, with more people turning to online stores and marketplaces to make their purchases. But as the UK is beset by turbulent times, from stock market crashes to high energy prices, will it be as busy?

We know how it is, it can also be extremely stressful and hectic trying to manage orders and delivery if you are not fully prepared. If you’re looking for some tips on how to manage your Black Friday and Cyber Monday sales, then we’ve got all the information you need for your order fulfilment.

Using Royal Mail? With all the strikes taking place in November, it’s obvious there’ll be a backlog, which means delays.

It’s important to be honest about your shipping times with customers so that you can minimise the chance of unhappy customers. We have all been a customer of someone else at some point and there is nothing worse than poor communication between the customer and business.

Consider using an alternative courier or simply keep the customer updated.

While on the topic of shipping, you may want to consider offering free shipping if you don’t already. Look at it this way, if you see an item listed for £45 and £5 shipping, but then you scroll down to see the same item for £45 with free shipping, which do you feel more inclined to buy?

Customers are likely to go for the one with free shipping because it makes us feel like we’re getting some kind of bargain. So ‘free shipping’ on a Black Friday sale is a double win in the eyes of a customer.

Marketing is always important when it comes to your business, as marketing helps your business grow. During peak times like this, marketing is crucial, as you want to increase the visibility of your business to increase your customer base.

A surge in traffic on your website could cause your website to slow down, and in our fast-paced world it’s important to make sure your website is running quickly and efficiently. Consider optimising your website to counteract this, as some customers may feel discouraged from purchasing from you if it is taking too long or if the site is crashing.

Customers love an easy, quick, hassle free check out. This can help in reducing the number of abandoned carts on your site. One thing that may discourage someone from completing their purchase is the need to make an account on your website for checkout. Not everyone wants to make an account, so having the ‘checkout as guest’ option is always a no brainer.

Another thing you can do is offer multiple payment methods which can extend into things like PayPal or Apple/Google Pay. You could also consider offering Klarna or Clearpay as a payment option, which would allow your customers to split their payment into instalments. This may encourage them to make a bigger purchase initially.

Finally, make sure you are both promoting on, and selling across multiple platforms to help increase sales and customer reach.

Returns are always going to be inevitable, so it’s important to make sure you have a clear returns policy that is beneficial to both you and the customer. Who will pay for the product to be returned? Will you provide a prepaid label for your customers if they wish to return an item? Do you offer paper-free returns? Does the customer have to pay for return shipping themselves?

Can a returns package be accepted at any post office, or will they have to use allocated drop off points? With so many things to take into consideration, it really is important to establish this first and make it clear.

This may be something you already offer, but with Black Friday and Cyber Monday falling just a month before Christmas, offering gift wrapping may be a good idea. Lots of customers will be making Christmas purchases around this time, and this is an option that is used frequently across many online businesses.

Check your inventory levels to make sure you can actually keep up with the demands of Black Friday and Cyber Monday. Making sure your order fulfilment is running smoothly is essential at this time of year. It’s necessary to know ahead of time that you have enough inventory available.

Sales data is important, particularly during peak seasons, as previous data can help you make a prediction about how many sales to expect. Which, of course, will help you with managing your inventory since you will have a rough idea of how your business is going to do.

Finally, consider joining a 3PL if you don’t currently work with one, making scaling a doddle. A fulfilment centre can help optimise all your orders seamlessly, ensuring the best order fulfilment for you and your business.

The Storage Place is your go-to fulfilment centre to ensure you have an extremely successful Black Friday. Contact us today to obtain a quote and let the fulfilment experts grow your e-commerce business.