How to Ensure Your Products Arrive in Time for the Holidays

As the holiday shopping season quickly approaches, eCommerce sellers are already feeling the pressure of shorter deadlines. Many shoppers begin crossing items off their list before Thanksgiving has arrived, leaving retailers with enormous amounts of orders to fill. Conversely, 77% of consumers wait until the last minute to order the perfect gift. This puts many online retailers in an even more difficult position when ensuring packages arrive on time for the big day. So if you're wondering how to ensure on time delivery of orders, here are some tips to avoid stress and make sure your products arrive in time for the holidays.

Ship From Multiple Warehouses

During the holidays, consumers from all over the world are making purchases from online retailers. If your business is limited to shipping out orders from a single location, you could run the risk of missing carrier deadlines and delivering packages late. You may even have to increase your overall shipping costs to pay for premium shipping options just to get your customers their orders in time for the holidays. Shipping from multiple facilities can help eliminate these added costs and potential delays. The closer your products are to your customers, the faster they can be delivered, and the less you will be spending on shipping. Working with an established fulfillment partner like Shipnetwork gives your business access to 15 fulfillment centers across the United States to help get orders to your customers fast. 

Communicate Shipping Deadlines

During the holiday season, carriers have specific shipping deadlines your business must be aware of. Some carriers need to have packages received earlier than others to ensure they arrive by Christmas. If you’re fulfilling orders from your home, it’s important to communicate with your customers the final date they will be able to place an order to guarantee delivery by Christmas. Failure to communicate these deadlines could result in unhappy customers or you footing the overnight delivery bill.

Stock High Ticket Items Early

When peak season arrives, your most popular items will be flying off the shelves. If you’re not stocked to manage this influx of orders, you can quickly sell out and cause major delays for shoppers. You will have to reorder from your manufacturer and hope they can have your inventory delivered on time. Then you will need to fulfill all of your new orders and get them out before holiday deadlines. Depending on how quickly you can turn this around, you run the risk of having your packages arrive after the holidays. Avoid these delays by fully stocking your best selling inventory long before the holiday rush has begun. 

Choose the Right Packaging

The most important part of packaging your products is not the presentation - it’s the durability. If you sell fragile products and fail to provide supportive packaging, your customers are likely to receive a damaged order. This will lead to an increase in mid-peak returns and an attempt to reship a replacement while eating the cost of the previous order. Shipping perishables? Make sure your cold packs get shipped accordingly. Get packaging right the first time and avoid shipping setbacks.

Peak season is coming, and it’s important to manage your holiday fulfillment strategy before the holidays arrive. Ensure your products are properly warehoused and can be fulfilled and delivered on-time. Wrap up your shipping now, and sleigh the 2020 holiday season.


Shipnetwork is the leader in eCommerce order fulfillment services and freight brokerage. RSL offers national fulfillment services and a network of 15 US fulfillment centers located in Anaheim (CA), Atlanta (GA), Austin (TX), Chicago (IL), Denver (CO), Houston (TX), Las Vegas (NV), Miami (FL), Olean (NY), Reno (NV), Salt Lake City (UT), and Scranton (PA). Their state-of-the-art technology allows for integration with popular shopping cart platforms and online marketplaces including Amazon, Big Commerce, Channel Advisor, eBay, Magento, ShipStation, Shopify, Volusion, Walmart Marketplace, and WooCommerce. RSL offers modern fulfillment solutions for leading eCommerce retailers focused on reducing shipping costs, improving order accuracy, decreasing shipping times, and increasing customer satisfaction.

As the holiday shopping season quickly approaches, eCommerce sellers are already feeling the pressure of shorter deadlines. Many shoppers begin crossing items off their list before Thanksgiving has arrived, leaving retailers with enormous amounts of orders to fill. Conversely, 77% of consumers wait until the last minute to order the perfect gift. This puts many online retailers in an even more difficult position when ensuring packages arrive on time for the big day. So if you're wondering how to ensure on time delivery of orders, here are some tips to avoid stress and make sure your products arrive in time for the holidays.

Ship From Multiple Warehouses

During the holidays, consumers from all over the world are making purchases from online retailers. If your business is limited to shipping out orders from a single location, you could run the risk of missing carrier deadlines and delivering packages late. You may even have to increase your overall shipping costs to pay for premium shipping options just to get your customers their orders in time for the holidays. Shipping from multiple facilities can help eliminate these added costs and potential delays. The closer your products are to your customers, the faster they can be delivered, and the less you will be spending on shipping. Working with an established fulfillment partner like Shipnetwork gives your business access to 15 fulfillment centers across the United States to help get orders to your customers fast. 

Communicate Shipping Deadlines

During the holiday season, carriers have specific shipping deadlines your business must be aware of. Some carriers need to have packages received earlier than others to ensure they arrive by Christmas. If you’re fulfilling orders from your home, it’s important to communicate with your customers the final date they will be able to place an order to guarantee delivery by Christmas. Failure to communicate these deadlines could result in unhappy customers or you footing the overnight delivery bill.

Stock High Ticket Items Early

When peak season arrives, your most popular items will be flying off the shelves. If you’re not stocked to manage this influx of orders, you can quickly sell out and cause major delays for shoppers. You will have to reorder from your manufacturer and hope they can have your inventory delivered on time. Then you will need to fulfill all of your new orders and get them out before holiday deadlines. Depending on how quickly you can turn this around, you run the risk of having your packages arrive after the holidays. Avoid these delays by fully stocking your best selling inventory long before the holiday rush has begun. 

Choose the Right Packaging

The most important part of packaging your products is not the presentation - it’s the durability. If you sell fragile products and fail to provide supportive packaging, your customers are likely to receive a damaged order. This will lead to an increase in mid-peak returns and an attempt to reship a replacement while eating the cost of the previous order. Shipping perishables? Make sure your cold packs get shipped accordingly. Get packaging right the first time and avoid shipping setbacks.

Peak season is coming, and it’s important to manage your holiday fulfillment strategy before the holidays arrive. Ensure your products are properly warehoused and can be fulfilled and delivered on-time. Wrap up your shipping now, and sleigh the 2020 holiday season.


Shipnetwork is the leader in eCommerce order fulfillment services and freight brokerage. RSL offers national fulfillment services and a network of 15 US fulfillment centers located in Anaheim (CA), Atlanta (GA), Austin (TX), Chicago (IL), Denver (CO), Houston (TX), Las Vegas (NV), Miami (FL), Olean (NY), Reno (NV), Salt Lake City (UT), and Scranton (PA). Their state-of-the-art technology allows for integration with popular shopping cart platforms and online marketplaces including Amazon, Big Commerce, Channel Advisor, eBay, Magento, ShipStation, Shopify, Volusion, Walmart Marketplace, and WooCommerce. RSL offers modern fulfillment solutions for leading eCommerce retailers focused on reducing shipping costs, improving order accuracy, decreasing shipping times, and increasing customer satisfaction.

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