The festive season is fast approaching, and online shoppers should start their Christmas shopping early to ensure their parcels arrive in time for the big day!
COVID restrictions, higher-than-usual parcel volumes, labour shortages, and industrial actions have recently caused shipment delays. This has been a major concern for merchants, especially now that peak season has arrived earlier than ever.
We've put together some tips to help you reduce shipment delays during the holiday season:
How to Reduce Parcel Delivery Delays
1. Prepare Your Parcel
Properly packaging and labelling your parcel can help ensure your orders ship without disruptions:
- Choose the right box size to secure your products. If you use satchels, make sure they're not overloaded, and attach the label to a flat surface.
- Use sturdy boxes to protect items from impact, wrap products securely, and fill empty spaces to prevent movement inside the box.
- Seal the box with strong tape, but avoid over-sealing it in case it needs to be inspected by customs or during collection.
- Ensure your shipping label is securely attached. Wrinkled or damaged labels can affect transit times if they cannot be scanned. If you'd like to print your labels with a 6x4 Thermal Label Printer, check out this video:
- Before booking, review our Prohibited and Restricted Items guide to avoid surcharges, delays, or confiscations by authorities.
- Sort parcels by Standard or Express Delivery and size to ensure they reach the appropriate facility.
2. Allow Time for Fulfilment
Transit times are longer than any previous peak season. Consider the time needed for preparing parcels and fulfilment. If a parcel hasn't arrived on time, allow approximately 4-5 extra business days before raising an enquiry. With high volumes of chats, calls, and emails, customer service queues are longer. Consider emailing our customer service team for non-urgent queries.
3. Communicate with Your Customers
- Effective communication and transparency are crucial during this time of year. Make cut-off dates available so your customers know the latest possible order dates for Christmas delivery. Be upfront about potential delays and set realistic expectations.
- Set realistic expectations. If standard delivery used to take 2-3 days, it may take longer now. Keep customers informed about processing times, transit durations, costs, and return policies, and update them if necessary.
- Show the human side of your business. Explain why fulfilment times are longer. If you're a small team working through Christmas orders, let your customers know and ask for their patience.
- Offer live tracking information to help customers monitor their parcels, reducing enquiries about shipment delays and easing their concerns. Our Branded Tracking tool lets you customise the tracking page to align with your brand. Watch how to customise your tracking page here:
Use these communication strategies as a digital marketing tool to create urgency and boost sales. You can launch banners, posts, and email reminders to encourage early orders.
4. Offer a Variety of Courier Services
Offering multiple courier options will increase your ability to ship on time. Using a multi-carrier solution like Interparcel allows you to select the best courier based on parcel size, location, and service type, saving you the hassle of dealing directly with couriers.
We’ve already done the heavy lifting, so take advantage of our pre-negotiated rates for everything from satchels to freight. If you don’t have an online store, use our Australian Postage Calculator to get a quote from a wide choice of courier services.
5. Fulfil Your Orders from One Place
Reduce shipping time by using Interparcel’s Shipping Manager to streamline your orders from one platform. You can import orders from multiple eCommerce platforms like Shopify, WooCommerce, eBay, and Amazon, and manage them from our platform without extra fees or subscriptions. Our Shipping Manager automates carrier allocation to optimise time, cost, and reliability.
Offering Live Shipping Rates provides transparency on transit times and shipping costs, allowing customers to select express delivery for faster orders.
Sending Presents Worldwide
With ever-changing airline regulations, it’s no wonder that many are opting not to travel abroad this summer. If you need to send a gift to Europe or fulfil an order in the US, we offer a range of trusted international couriers such as DHL eCommerce, UPS, and FedEx for door-to-door delivery.
Sending parcels internationally requires some extra paperwork, but we simplify the process. When you book with Interparcel, we provide all the customs documents needed. All services include $100 transit cover, but consider upgrading to protect expensive gifts. Note that Prohibited and Restricted items are excluded from coverage.
Watch Out for Those Cut-Off Dates!
Don’t wait until the last minute! Each courier has slightly different requirements, and international shipments need to be sent earlier than domestic deliveries. Check our last posting dates to ensure your parcel arrives in time!
Get ahead this festive season and create an account with us today. It’s simple, quick, and free!
Facebook
Twitter
Instagram
Linked In
YouTube