The JEM Guide to Christmas Order Fulfilment

Our tips and tricks for fulfilment this Christmas…

With winter on its way, business owners know it’s never too early to start preparing for Christmas sales and fulfilment. This year, festive plans are affected by Coronavirus – from how many guests you can have on the big day, to how you shop with concerned shoppers swapping physical shops for virtual ones. Research shows that online shopping sales surged by 66% at the height of lockdown and online purchases have continued to outperform in-store sales long after lockdown ended.

Hitting the sales

Nearly half of all Christmas spend happens in November, so it pays to be prepared. The big sales events in winter focus Black Friday, which is on the 27th November this year with Cyber Monday following on the 30th November 2020.  Black Friday sales in Britain jumped 16.5% compared with 2018 according to data from Barclaycard.

Here are some things to consider ahead of the festive sales boom;

Have a strategy

How will you stand out? What products do you need most of? What marketing techniques have worked in the past? Is it worth trying something new, like pay per click ads or social media campaigns? You might consider hiring a social media guru or a digital agency.

Offer something special

Hampers and gift sets containing collations of your best products, personalisation or gift wrapping are all popular at Christmas. Plan in plenty of time to create and photograph these new conceptions so they can dazzle in your e-shop and ensure you can deliver what your promise. Bear in mind that gift wrapping without the use of a dedicated order fulfilment team can be incredibly time consuming. Here at JEM we often put in handwritten notes or gift wrap for our clients, giving them the freedom to grow their sales.

 Get technical 

• Transform your site with a festive theme and a Christmas message – it’s your shop window after all!
• Add count down timers (to show the days, hours, minutes left in a sale or the deadline to get deliveries out on time for the big day) or sales banners or pop up messages to highlight special gift packages your customers won’t want to miss.
• Make it mobile friendly! Mobile ordering accounts for nearly 50% of all ecommerce spending. Make sure your site is mobile friendly and test out any new pages you create ahead of Christmas.
• If this all sounds daunting and you need outside help, we’re equipped to help. JEM has many packages that create, manage and host your eCommerce business website.

 Guarantee on-time deliveries

It is vital that you ensure you can get those orders out and keep all promises about guaranteed delivery times. Not only is it more important at Christmas time, since everyone wants their shopping for the same big day, it’s harder for businesses too. It’s hard to adjust for a big surge in sales. Partnering with a good fulfilment order house can put you at ease. At JEM we have over 35 years experience handling sales surges – it’s our expertise and we are excellent at it – leaving you to grow your business.

Prepare for the products

Winter gets cold, wet and damp. Ensure you can store your products safely – especially if you have more than usual. If space and warehousing are an issue, you may want to consider a professional approach, such as JEM’s order fulfilment services. We have dedicated manned warehouses to keep your products safe, ordered, clean and dry.

Invest in your business

With seasonal changes, sales fluctuations and the uncertainty of a pandemic, the best way to handle deliveries, big or small, is to use a third-party fulfilment house you can rely on, like JEM.

We are set up to store large amounts of products and to handle extra sales. It’s all we focus on, so we can do it smoothly… leaving you to concentrate on your products and services. Switching to us is easy and quick and can be done in a matter of days.