A couple of times in the year, some special days come around.
People’s joy reaches its peak and so do your sales. These magical times are known by us in the ecommerce and logistics industries as – peak seasons.
In the UAE, peak seasons roll typically during holidays like:
For e-commerce businesses, these peak seasons can be the most rewarding periods but also the most challenging. While delivery volumes shoot up, customer expectations remain high as ever.
Unless you’re well-prepared for the drastic increase in orders, you might end up with delayed or unfulfilled deliveries, leaving a negative impact on your brand image.
So if you want to avoid that and make the most out of peak season, how do you make sure you’re well-prepared? Worry not! As an established last mile delivery service in the UAE, we have identified and compiled the key points you need to keep in mind.
Here’s a checklist to tick off before heading into peak season:
Planning must begin with data. Evaluate your delivery data from the previous year. Your data will highlight what happened, what worked and where you can improve on.
Look at data such as:
If you are a new business, prepare a prudent forecast of how much of a sales increase you expect.
Peak seasons bring unique delivery challenges. Speak to your delivery partner and get their assurance that they have the capacity to meet your peak season requirements.
Communicate your expected increase in deliveries so they can be well informed and prepared in advance too.
In the event that your primary delivery provider is unable to meet the demand, you don’t want to be caught unprepared at the last minute. This can easily lead to delayed or unfulfilled deliveries.
This is especially important in case demand increases more than you anticipated. Research and identify at least 2-3 backup delivery providers that can quickly step in to help out.
Businesses typically up their marketing spending during these holiday seasons. Attracting a stream of new customers is important, but don’t forget about budgeting to ensure you can keep them too!
During peak season, a lot of unexpected costs can come up. New hires, excess inventory, storage and so on. If you’re not prepared to meet these costs, it can either spell big losses for you or big disasters.
To ensure a successful peak season, craft a budget plan that accounts for all expenses not only in the lead-up to peak season but also during it.
Even with the best of planning, things can sometimes go wrong.
If a customer’s delivery has been delayed, damaged or messed up in any way, you should have a failover strategy in place to do damage control. These can be simple strategies such as having discount promo codes for affected customers or quicker refunds.
Keeping customer service a priority during these periods can win you invaluable loyalty.
Although peak seasons come with a lot of challenges, they are a great opportunity for growth. If done with appropriate planning, much of the challenges can be eliminated and stress reduced.
Additionally, working with reliable partners who bring peace of mind is extremely crucial during peak seasons. Hence, making sure you have the best delivery partner to head into peak seasons with.
At Shyft, we have experience serving over 500+ happy businesses through thick and thin. There’s no better partner to have by your side when your demand increases.
Get in touch with us and let’s chat!
