If the enormity of eCommerce in April, May, and June, is any indication into what awaits us this Black Friday/Cyber Monday, you want to make sure you have all your ducks in a row leading up to what could be the largest holiday season yet.
That includes prepping your inventory and being ready for returns.
Klickly and Fera are back with the latest of our 5 part series to help you prep for Black Friday/Cyber Monday. Watch the video below to learn about managing your returns and inventory, find out what you can do in the next 24 hours, and get your BFCM checklist.
☝️ Refunds v. Exchanges
☝️ ️️ Shipping best practices
☝️ Inventory best practices
☝️ Things you can do in the next 24 hours to lower your ad spend
Don't forget to get your checklist after watching the video.
Stay tuned for the final episode of our weekly videos with simple, actionable checklists for you to use in order to maximize your BFCM sales.
Next week's video, September 29: 'Making Data-Driven Decisions'
Refunds v. Exchanges
- Offer an incentive to exchange rather than return
- Make your return policy clear — make it easy to find, use clear language, and cover all questions customers may have
Shipping
Make shipping times clear
- Tabs by Station or similar tools let customers see delivery times, where products ship from, keeps them up to date on delays by covid, etc
- Having this info on product page keeps people from clicking away
- Amazon has set a new standard for quick deliver
- If you’re unable to compete with Amazon, make sure you set expectations
Offer various shipping options
- Free shipping
- Expedited shipping
- Express shipping
- Consider using a 3PL
Inventory
Know your reorder point
- Make sure your best selling products are available and ready to ship
- Take into account supplier lead time — Eg how many items do you sell per day? 10? If it takes 30 days for your item to arrive then you need a safety stock of 300 items when you decide to reorder.
Shipping time
- Consider Volume of packages — more packages shipping means longer shipping time
- Using order cutoff times are helpful, especially during holiday. If you want the order by a certain date, order now or pay an expedited parcel.
- Follow up with anyone ordering between key dates, make sure the shipping option is what they’re comfortable with
Be sure to check out our previous discussions:
'How to Retain Seasonal Shoppers'