As a merchant preparing for Black Friday Cyber Monday and the bustling holiday season, you may encounter significant challenges when it comes to shipping and fulfillment. High costs, peak-time shipping surcharges, and the need to meet delivery expectations can be daunting. This is where Shopify comes in, with the lowest shipping rates, a seamless experience, and a suite of powerful tools to help you succeed.

In this article, we share five reasons to use Shopify’s built-in capabilities to help you elevate your shipping strategy and ensure a seamless fulfillment process that keeps your customers happy and your business thriving.

1. Unbeatable shipping rates that save you money

As a merchant, finding the lowest shipping rates is a top priority, especially during the holiday season. With Shopify Shipping, you get instant access to the lowest, pre-negotiated, shipping rates with carriers like USPS, UPS, and DHL Express. These rates are heavily discounted from retail rates and US merchants can save you up to 88% with USPS, 82% with UPS, and 80% with DHL Express. Those in Canada can save up 76% with leading carriers like Canada Post and UPS.

Snarky Tea, a merchant that recently adopted Shopify Shipping, discovered they were saving $25,000 per month on shipping by purchasing labels directly through Shopify instead of going to USPS.

Plus, our built-in solution offers an added financial benefit: $200 USD of shipping insurance is automatically included on each eligible label at no cost. This insurance protects your shipments from damage, loss, and theft. Managing and processing claims for USPS and UPS shipments can be done directly from your Shopify admin, powered by Shipsurance.

🎁 Did you know? This year, the window between Thanksgiving and Christmas will be shorter. Thanksgiving falls late in 2024, on November 28, which means there will be fewer days to get all those Black Friday orders delivered in time for Chrstmas.

Check shipping rates

2. Transforms your shipping strategy into a competitive advantage

Creating a shipping strategy that sets you apart from the competition is crucial during Black Friday Cyber Monday and the holidays. Consider these tips to optimize your shipping strategy with Shopify:

Plan your shipping strategy

Decide which shipping strategy you want to use and how much you want to charge for shipping. Here are three main strategies to offer shipping rates at checkout, along with their pros and cons:

Flat rate shipping

Flat shipping rates are specific shipping amounts that you charge a customer based on their order.

Pro: This strategy allows you to offer affordable and predictable shipping rates, which can help increase conversion and offsets part of the shipping cost to your customers. You can offer a single flat price for all products or set price-based or weight-based conditions that display a specific shipping cost at checkout. Keep in mind that when you use this strategy, you need to calculate your shipping fees yourself. To avoid charging too much or too little for shipping, consider the average price for shipping a package.

Con: As the merchant, you will pay the difference between the shipping rate your carrier charges and the flat rate paid for by your customer.

Free shipping

Free shipping is an increasingly-popular option where customers do not have to pay an additional shipping charge.

Pro: 47% of online shoppers abandon their carts due to unexpected additional costs, such as shipping, taxes, and fees. To attract and convert more customers, offer free shipping on all orders or consider offering a free shipping threshold (e.g free shipping on all orders $50 or above) to increase average order value.

Con: Shipping fees must be accounted for elsewhere, potentially affecting profit margins. Including shipping costs in product prices is a common practice, however you don’t want to overprice your products compared to your competitors.

Carrier-calculated shipping

Calculated shipping rates are determined at checkout by the shipping service based on the details of the order. This helps you charge your customers the exact amount that a shipping carrier will charge you when you purchase a shipping label.

Pro: This strategy offsets the cost of shipping to your customer, reducing your overall costs. To cater to consumer preferences, consider offering a mix of delivery options, including expedited shipping, as research shows that 41% of consumers are willing to pay a charge for same-day delivery. Another pro tip is to offer free shipping for standard and slower shipping services and charge for expedited shipping, providing buyers multiple options.

Con: You won’t be able to display carrier-calculated shipping rates before checkout (i.e. your product page), which may lead to increased abandoned checkouts. Charging merchants for shipping can sometimes have a negative impact on conversion, especially if the buyer views the shipping costs as too expensive.

Show shipping rates at checkout

74% of consumers want to see shipping rates up front. Whether you choose to offer flat rate shipping, free shipping, or carrier calculated rates, you'll want to show these rates at checkout, so buyers know exactly what they are paying for and have no surprise costs.

Another common practice is to show buyers multiple shipping options at checkout (e.g free shipping for standard shipping and carrier calculated rates for expedited shipping), providing them the flexibility to choose the shipping option that's best for them.

Display expected delivery times

Show expected delivery dates at checkout by setting up order processing times. Businesses that display these at checkout see a 25% uplift in conversions, as it instills confidence and encourages timely purchases during the holiday season.

Offer Buy Online, Pick up In Store (BOPIS)

Enhance your delivery strategy by offering alternative delivery options like Pickup in store, often referred to as \"click and collect.\" This is typically used by merchants who operate both an online store and physical retail stores. However, non-retail merchants also offer pickup at local warehouses.

In a world where consumers increasingly seek instant gratification, in-store pickup offers faster fulfillment times than shipping options, often with lower or no fees, making it a compelling alternative for your local customers.

Did you know? Online shoppers who select in-store pickup are not only 13% more likely to complete a purchase, but they also tend to spend 23% more through in-store purchases, than those who choose traditional shipping.

Set up your shipping rates and methods

3. Faster delivery through prioritized fulfillment locations

Efficient order fulfillment is essential for customer satisfaction. With Shopify, you can leverage smart order routing to prioritize the best fulfillment location based on a set of ranked rules. These rules include staying within the destination market, minimizing split fulfillments, choosing the closest location, and using ranked locations.

By implementing smart order routing, Element Brooklyn was able to reduce overall delivery time by 1.2 days, achieve next-day delivery for 94% of orders, and save $1.14 on shipping for every order. Streamlining your fulfillment process not only speeds up delivery, but also reduces shipping costs.

Start routing orders

4. Seamless returns experience for enhanced customer satisfaction

Returns are inevitable, especially during the holiday season. To drive customer loyalty, it’s crucial to provide a fast and reliable returns experience, so you can ensure a smooth process for both buyers and your fulfillment staff.

Shopify offers a self-serve returns experience, enabling your customers to easily request and track returns directly from your online store. This tool allows you to efficiently process and track returns, create return labels, and restock inventory—all within Shopify.

Don’t forget to communicate your holiday return policy clearly on your online store, as research shows that 44% of consumers are less likely to shop with brands that have complicated returns.

🎁 Did you know? To avoid ineligible returns when using self-serve returns, you can set up return rules to establish a custom return window, define restocking fees, and outline product-based and final-sale exceptions. Return rules helps ensure a seamless returns process and keeps your operations running smoothly.

Set up self-serve returns

5. Efficiently streamline your fulfillment process

With an increased volume of orders during the holiday season, streamlining your fulfillment process becomes critical. Shopify offers tools like bulk purchase labels, automatic package suggestions, pick list apps, and USPS manifests to help you get orders out the door more quickly.

Organize your orders

Organize your unfulfilled orders with search, filters, and tags within Shopify. You can even create saved order views if you want to create a process for fulfilling similar items together.

Fulfill orders in bulk

You can bulk purchase and print up to 100 shipping labels and packing slips at once. If you’re buying labels with Shopify Shipping, the best packaging will be suggested automatically for each order based on historical data.

Pick and pack faster

For picking and packing, you can print Shopify’s built-in packing slips to speed up the process. To further automate the experience, consider using picking and packing apps to automate the process further.

Streamline USPS pickups

Once your orders are packed, if you are using USPS, you can print a shipping manifest directly in Shopify. This feature enables the USPS delivery team to scan a single form containing all the shipping details for your packages at once, rather than having to scan each package individually. In addition, you can schedule a pickup time with USPS directly from your Orders page.

Once your packages are ready for delivery, easily track their status directly from the Orders page.

🎁 Did you know? You can use the Shopify Flow app to further automate your fulfillment process. From flagging high-risk orders to drafting shipping labels, Shopify Flow helps you cut out time-consuming tasks with automated custom workflows.

Start fulfilling orders

Shopify offers unmatched benefits for merchants seeking the best shipping options this holiday season. From the lowest shipping rates and no peak time surcharges to turning your shipping strategy into a competitive advantage, prioritizing fulfillment locations, creating a seamless returns experience, and streamlining your fulfillment process, Shopify has you covered.

","excerpt","Discover how Shopify can help you optimize your holiday season with the lowest shipping rates, transformed shipping strategies, faster delivery, seamless returns, and streamlined fulfillment processes for customer satisfaction and cost savings.","excerptHtml","

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Discover how Shopify can help you optimize your holiday season with the lowest shipping rates, transformed shipping strategies, faster delivery, seamless returns, and streamlined fulfillment processes for customer satisfaction and cost savings.

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Looking to maximize sales for your apparel business? These 10 tips will help optimize your apparel business so you can meet customer demand, cut costs, and drive sales with Shopify's order management solutions.

Table of contents

1. Expand your customer base

Given that apparel is one of the most competitive industries in ecommerce, selling on top marketplaces such as Amazon, Walmart, eBay, and Etsy can be a game-changer for your brand. Easily list your products and centralize order management across all channels using Shopify Marketplace Connect. Automatically populate apparel fields to easily list your products on Amazon.

✅ Install the Shopify Marketplace Connect app

2. Forecast inventory demand

Once your sales channel strategy is in place, use Shopify’s inventory reports to analyze historical data and forecast demand during promotional periods. Identify bestselling products, and maintain optimal stock levels to avoid overstocking or missing out on sales opportunities.

✅ Check your ABC analysis by product report

3. Replenish inventory in advance

Engage with suppliers proactively to secure inventory in advance, allocate stock according to demand forecasts, and streamline replenishment across channels using purchase orders within Shopify.

✅ Start a purchase order

4. Avoid stock-outs

Popular apparel items drive sales but also lead to frequent stock-outs, posing challenges for brands and disappointing customers who may turn to competitors. To counter this, maintain safety stock levels to handle sudden spikes in demand during promotional periods or unforseeable supply chain disruptions.

✅ Mark inventory as unavailable

5. Offer fast and affordable shipping

Now that you have your inventory plan in place, reduce costs by optimizing your shipping and fulfillment strategy. 90% of US consumers expect delivery in two- to three-days, while 30% now expect same-day delivery. Use Shopify Shipping to integrate with multiple carriers, giving your customers access to faster and more flexible shipping options at the lowest rates.

✅ Set up shipping

6. Reduce shipping delays

With such high expectations for fast shipping, fulfilling your orders efficiently is key. Customize your fulfillment allocation to suit your business needs using smart order routing. Automatically prioritize fulfillment locations, assign orders to the nearest facility, and minimize split shipments to decrease shipping delays and expenses.

✅ Manage order routing settings

7. Improve inventory accuracy across markets

If you sell across multiple markets, you can further expedite fulfillment, reduce overselling, and avoid manual order cancellations with Shopify’s fulfillable inventory feature. Sell globally with confidence, ensuring customers see and purchase only items ready for shipping to their location from your Shopify store.

✅ Manage fulfillable inventory

8. Automate for faster fulfillment

Another way to eliminate manual tasks when processing orders is by leveraging automation. Shopify Flow, Shopify’s automation tool, helps you efficiently categorize orders by shipping method to speed up fulfillment during busy promotional periods. Use a pre-built template to automatically tag orders by shipping method, allowing you to easily prioritize fulfillment for customers opting for expedited versus standard shipping.

✅ Get started with the template

9. Keep customers coming back

When bought online, apparel experiences the highest return rates, potentially reaching up to 26%. Despite the challenges this brings, offering seamless returns can set you apart competitively. Implement Shopify’s self-serve return solution for customers to easily initiate and manage returns on your online store, enhancing brand credibility and driving repeat purchases.

✅ Turn on self-serve returns

10. Scale your business efficiently

If you’re experiencing substantial growth in order volume or anticipate significant spikes in sales, consider outsourcing fulfillment to a third-party logistics partner. Shopify makes it easy to outsource fulfillment with our trusted logistics partner, Flexport, through the Shopify Fulfillment Network app.

Benefit from competitive storage rates, tap into an extensive network of distribution hubs, and provide customers with dependable 2 and 3-day delivery options.

✅ Install the Shopify Fulfillment Network app

Feature image by Midjourney

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’Tis the season once more when we find ourselves amidst the holiday shipping frenzy! Although the peak season seems to start earlier each year, the ultimate goal remains the same: delivering gifts by December 25.

Fulfilling shipping expectations plays a pivotal role in enhancing customer satisfaction and fostering loyalty. It’s important to keep in mind that customers may not be aware of these crucial deadlines, so it’s up to your business to proactively communicate delivery shipping cutoffs on your online store. By prominently displaying these dates, you can keep customers well informed and prevent any potential negative reviews or returns caused by delayed packages.

To help you prepare, we’ve compiled the most up-to-date information on 2023 holiday shipping deadlines for carriers available through Shopify Shipping.

Jump to deadlines for:

United States

USPS

Here are the recommended last days to ship for December 23 delivery with USPS:

USPS® holiday shipping deadlines for contiguous US (lower 48 states)

USPS Ground Advantage™: Saturday, December 16

First-Class® Mail: Saturday, December 16

Priority Mail®: Monday, December 18

Priority Mail Express®: Wednesday, December 20

USPS® holiday shipping deadlines for Alaska and Hawaii

USPS Ground Advantage™: Saturday, December 16

First-Class® Mail: Saturday, December 16

Priority Mail®: Monday, December 18 (Alaska), Saturday, December 16 (Hawaii)

Priority Mail Express®: Wednesday, December 20

USPS® holiday shipping deadlines for international mail

\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n

\n Destination \n	\n First-Class Package International Service \n	\n Priority Mail International Service \n	\n Priority Mail Express International Service \n	\n Global Express Guaranteed Service \n
\n Africa \n	\n Nov. 29 \n	\n Nov. 29 \n	\n Dec. 6 \n	\n Dec. 15 \n
\n Asia/Pacific Rim \n	\n Dec. 6 \n	\n Dec. 6 \n	\n Dec. 13 \n	\n Dec. 15 \n
\n Australia/New Zealand \n	\n Dec. 6 \n	\n Dec. 6 \n	\n Dec. 13 \n	\n Dec. 15 \n
\n Canada \n	\n Dec. 6 \n	\n Dec. 6 \n	\n Dec. 13 \n	\n Dec. 15 \n
\n Caribbean \n	\n Dec. 6 \n	\n Dec. 6 \n	\n Dec. 13 \n	\n Dec. 15 \n
\n Central & South America \n	\n Nov. 29 \n	\n Nov. 29 \n	\n Dec. 6 \n	\n Dec. 15 \n
\n Europe \n	\n Dec. 6 \n	\n Dec. 6 \n	\n Dec. 13 \n	\n Dec. 15 \n
\n Mexico \n	\n Dec. 6 \n	\n Dec. 6 \n	\n Dec. 13 \n	\n Dec. 15 \n
\n Middle East \n	\n Dec. 6 \n	\n Dec. 6 \n	\n Dec. 13 \n	\n Dec. 15 \n

To learn more, read USPS’ announcement.

UPS

Here are the recommended last days to ship for December 23 delivery with UPS:

US domestic

UPS® ground shipping: Check ups.com/ctc for details

UPS 3 Day Select®: December 19

UPS 2nd Day Air® services: December 20 (December 21 with Saturday delivery options)

UPS Next Day Air® services: December 21 (December 22 with Saturday delivery options)

US to Canada and Mexico

UPS® Standard services (from the 48 contiguous states only): Check ups.com/ctc for details

UPS Worldwide Expedited®: December 19

UPS Worldwide Express® services: December 20

US to other destinations

For last days to ship from the US to other international destinations, please calculate time and cost at ups.com/ctc.

✏️Certain destinations may require an earlier ship date. Check ups.com/ctc for details.

DHL Express

Pick up and deliver DHL Express services will operate until 4:30 p.m. on December 24, 2023. Here's the important DHL Express deadline you need to be aware of for delivery on or before that date:

DHL Express Worldwide: December 22 (transit time 1–2 days). This applies to all Worldwide supported destinations.

DHLeCommerce (this service is available only for merchants on Shopify Markets Pro):

\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n

\n DHL eCommerce Parcel International Direct—SMB (OLT) - Duty Delivery Paid \n This service includes a USPS pick-up or drop off in the USA and requires no minimum volume. Please note those deadlines below are country averages. Depending how rural buyers destinations are, we recommend adding 2-3 business additional days or suggesting buyers at checkout to select an Express method to meet an imperative date. \n
\n Australia: Nov. 28 \n
\n Canada: Dec. 6 \n
\n France: Dec. 8 \n
\n Germany: Dec. 5 \n
\n Hong Kong: Nov. 28 \n
\n Ireland: Dec. 5 \n
\n Israel: Dec. 5 \n
\n Italy: Dec. 4 \n
\n Netherlands: Dec. 5 \n
\n New Zealand: Nov. 28 \n
\n Rest of EU*: Dec. 1 \n
\n Singapore: Nov. 28 \n
\n South Korea: Dec. 4 \n
\n Spain: Dec. 4 \n
\n United Kingdom: Dec. 11 \n

*Rest of EU: Austria, Belgium, Bulgaria, Croatia, Cyprus, Czech Republic, Denmark, Estonia, Finland, Greece, Hungary, Latvia, Lithuania, Luxembourg, Malta, Poland, Portugal, Romania, Slovakia, Slovenia, Sweden.

\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n

\n DHL eCommerce Parcel International Standard—SMB (OLY) - Duty Delivery Unpaid \n This DDU service is not being used as default on Markets Pro and only here FYI in case you happen to have DDU labels. Please refer mainly to the table above for your DHLeCommerce Markets Pro packages. \n
\n African countries: Nov. 3 \n
\n Australia: Nov. 27 \n
\n Brazil: Nov. 10 \n
\n Canada: Dec. 4 \n
\n Eastern Europe: Nov. 28 \n
\n France: Dec. 1 \n
\n Germany: Dec. 4 \n
\n Hong Kong: Nov. 27 \n
\n Israel: Nov. 27 \n
\n Japan: Dec. 1 \n
\n Mexico: Nov. 7 \n
\n New Zealand: Nov. 27 \n
\n Rest of Asia: Nov. 24 \n
\n Rest of Latin America: Nov. 7 \n
\n Thailand: Nov. 28 \n
\n United Kingdom: Dec. 8 \n
\n Western Europe: Nov. 28 \n

Canada

Canada Post

Below are the most up-to-date shipping deadlines to guarantee your customers receive their orders before December 24:

\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n

	\n Priority™\n	\n Xpresspost™\n	\n Expedited Parcel™ or Flat Rate Box™\n	\n Regular Parcel™\n
\nLocal zone	\nDec. 21	\nDec. 21	\nDec. 20	\nDec. 19
\nRegional zone	\nDec. 21	\nDec. 21	\nDec. 18–20	\nDec. 14–19
\nNational zone	\nDec. 20	\nDec. 20	\nDec. 12–19	\nDec. 8–18

View dates they recommend sending your holiday packages and cards by to ensure they arrive in the U.S.A. and other international destinations on time.

You can use Canada Post’s online delivery standard tool to find the expected delivery times between Canadian addresses.

UPS

Below are the recommended last days to ship for a December 23 delivery with UPS in Canada:

Canada Domestic

UPS® Standard: Check ups.com/ca for details

UPS Expedited®: December 20

UPS Express®: December 21 (December 22 with Saturday Express delivery options)

Canada to the US

UPS® Standard: Check ups.com/ca for details

UPS 3 Day Select®: December 19

UPS Expedited®: December 20

UPS Express®: December 21

Canada to other destinations

For last days to ship from Canada to other international destinations, please calculate time and cost at ups.com/ca.

✏️Certain destinations may require an earlier ship date. Check ups.com/ca for details.

Australia

Sendle

Below are the latest dates to send orders to arrive at your customer’s doorstep before Christmas Day:

Domestic

Long-haul National: December 5

Short-haul National: December 14

Same City: December 19

Sendle Express

Long-haul National: December 18

Short-haul National: December 19

Same City: December 20

International:

Zone 2 & 5 (Asia Pacific and rest of world): November 30

Zone 3 (US/Canada): December 6

Zone 1 & 4 (NZ & UK): December 13

United Kingdom

DPD: December 21

Evri:

Last day for courier collections: December 19
Standard delivery from a ParcelShop or Evri Locker by 11 a.m.: December 20
Next Day delivery from a ParcelShop or Evri Locker by 11a.m.: December 21

France

Here are key delivery deadlines for carriers to deliver your products by December 23:

Colissimo: December 20

Chronopost: December 22

Mondial Relay:

At PUDO: up to and including December 19
In agencies: up to and including December 20
In hubs: up to and including December 21
In hubs with MR Express: up to and including December 22

Italy

Poste Italiane - learn more about key dates here!

Spain

There are no holiday shipping cut-off deadlines to ship with Correos in Spain.

Stay tuned for more updates on this page as we receive them from our trusted carriers. In the meantime, if you're seeking to enhance your shipping and fulfillment experience for the holiday season, check out our article on 5 Reasons to Ship and Fulfill with Shopify This Holiday Season. Happy holidays and happy shipping!

Feature image by Midjourney

","To help you prepare for the holiday shipping frenzy, we’ve compiled the most up-to-date information on 2023 holiday shipping deadlines for carriers available through Shopify Shipping.","

$\"Person$

To help you prepare for the holiday shipping frenzy, we’ve compiled the most up-to-date information on 2023 holiday shipping deadlines for carriers available through Shopify Shipping.

",{"_2116":2143,"_1858":-5,"_1477":2206},{"_2116":2147,"_2148":2149,"_2150":2151,"_2152":1670},[-5,-5,-5,2211,-5,-5,2213,-5],{"_2116":2156,"_2157":2212,"_2159":2160,"_2161":-5},"{\"en\":\"https://hk81.mmros.shop/blog/holiday-shipping-deadlines\",\"en-ca\":\"https://hk81.mmros.shop/ca/blog/holiday-shipping-deadlines\",\"en-gb\":\"https://hk81.mmros.shop/uk/blog/holiday-shipping-deadlines\",\"en-au\":\"https://hk81.mmros.shop/au/blog/holiday-shipping-deadlines\",\"en-id\":\"https://hk81.mmros.shop/id/blog/holiday-shipping-deadlines\",\"en-nz\":\"https://hk81.mmros.shop/nz/blog/holiday-shipping-deadlines\",\"en-za\":\"https://hk81.mmros.shop/za/blog/holiday-shipping-deadlines\",\"en-ng\":\"https://hk81.mmros.shop/ng/blog/holiday-shipping-deadlines\",\"en-ph\":\"https://hk81.mmros.shop/ph/blog/holiday-shipping-deadlines\",\"en-sg\":\"https://hk81.mmros.shop/sg/blog/holiday-shipping-deadlines\",\"en-hk\":\"https://hk81.mmros.shop/hk-en/blog/holiday-shipping-deadlines\",\"en-ie\":\"https://hk81.mmros.shop/ie/blog/holiday-shipping-deadlines\",\"en-my\":\"https://hk81.mmros.shop/my/blog/holiday-shipping-deadlines\",\"en-in\":\"https://hk81.mmros.shop/in/blog/holiday-shipping-deadlines\"}",{"_2116":2156,"_2157":2163,"_2159":2164,"_2161":-5},"3 Nov 2023",{"_2116":2117,"_1752":2216,"_1833":2217,"_1858":2218,"_2121":2219,"_2123":2220,"_2133":2225,"_2019":2227,"_2138":2228,"_2140":2229,"_1936":2230,"_2145":2231,"_2153":2232,"_2165":2221,"_2166":2222,"_2167":-7,"_2168":-7,"_2169":-7,"_2170":2236,"_2172":2219},"gid://shopify/Article/559523561506","built-in-inventory-management","Master Inventory Management With Shopify","2023-06-13T15:00:00Z",{"_2116":2125,"_1472":2221,"_2127":2222,"_2129":2223,"_2131":2224},"https://cdn.shopify.com/s/files/1/0070/7032/articles/Asset_2_-_Solutions_1_2207353e-5c5b-4926-9083-916690cd74a6.jpg?v=1729527389","User is shown selecting inventory management actions, such as Bulk edit, Update quantities, Create transfers, and Create purchase orders",3840,2160,[2135,2226],"Inventory Management","Nothing's more frustrating for a customer shopping in your store than when they see that the product they want to buy is out of stock. The chances of customers seeing an out-of-stock message increased by 235% in 2022, rising from one in 200 to one in 59. In 2021, 7.4% of retail sales—valued at $82 billion—were lost due to out-of-stock items. By investing in inventory management, you can reduce these losses, improve your bottom line, and protect one of your biggest investments. \n

The good news is that Shopify offers a built-in inventory management system to help you keep track of inventory across multiple warehouse locations, streamline the procurement process, keep inventory quantities accurate, and easily move inventory across your supply chain. Read on to learn how you can optimize your inventory investment and streamline inventory related processes with Shopify.

Table of Contents:

Keep tabs on your inventory with real-time tracking

No matter your size or stage, it’s a good idea to establish an efficient way of tracking inventory as soon as possible to help you:

Reduce the risk of errors and inefficiencies down the road
Scale more easily when your business starts to grow
Rely on established processes rather than having to overhaul them later
Make informed purchasing decisions and avoid stockouts and/or overselling

Shopify automatically tracks inventory levels across up to 1,000 different locations and warehouses. But before you can view or adjust inventory levels for a product, you need to set up inventory tracking for your products.

\n\n

To track inventory for a product or variant in Shopify, go to the Products page in your admin, select the product and variant, if applicable, and enable “Track quantity” in the Inventory section. You can add inventory quantities from that page as well.

Track inventory

Once tracking is set up, you can leverage your Inventory page to view stock levels across all locations. Having an accurate view of inventory across locations is essential for you to guarantee timely fulfillment of customer orders, reduce shipment turnaround times, and minimize stockouts, oversells, and markdowns.

\n\n

Navigate to Products > Inventory to see a detailed view of your stock levels, showing you whether an item is on hand and available for sale, committed to an order, unavailable, or part of an incoming shipment. You can also customize your experience to work more efficiently by creating inventory views for your workflows. These are created with saved filters, column choices, column order, and sort order, and are displayed at the top of your inventory page.

View inventory

💡 If you don’t want to see a specific inventory state (such as on hand, committed, etc.) you can choose to hide it from your inventory page.

Streamline procurement with purchase orders

Purchase orders (POs) are useful for managing inventory procurement from suppliers. They can help you track incoming inventory, monitor your spending, and make better purchasing decisions.

Shopify’s built-in purchase orders tool can help you streamline this process and improve efficiency.

\nTo create a purchase order in Shopify, go to Products > Purchase orders, select a supplier and destination, and add the desired products and variants in the “Add products” section. You can include the quantity, supplier's SKU, individual product cost, and any tax percentages for each product. When inventory is in-transit via a purchase order, it is displayed as part of the incoming quantity at the destination location on the Inventory page. \n

Once the inventory arrives from your supplier, use the purchase order to receive everything that made it to the location. You can head to Products > Purchase orders, select the order, accept or reject items, and click “Save”. Once the inventory is received at the destination location, it becomes part of the on hand and available quantities.

Create a purchase order

Seamless inventory audits with bulk editing and adjustments

Inventory counts (also known as stocktakes or stock counts) help you keep accurate inventory levels, identify tracking errors or discrepancies, notice and manage slow-moving inventory, and comply with accounting or tax requirements since inventory is considered an asset on your balance sheet. Depending on your industry it is generally recommended to count stock at least once a quarter.

\n\n

With Shopify you can perform these counts or make ad-hoc inventory quantity adjustments easily. You can do so in the following ways:

Update individual variants in the Inventory page\n
Use the bulk editor to update multiple variants at once
Export the inventory CSV file and import once quantities are updated in the file
Use the inventory scanner with the Shopify mobile app to scan a barcode and update its quantity
If you have or are building a custom app, you can leverage our Inventory management APIs to adjust inventory quantities

You can also adjust your inventory so it’s unavailable to sell. This is useful if you want to set aside safety stock or if you have damaged items you can’t sell anymore. Keeping safety stock can be a useful practice to ensure you always have buffer inventory to meet unexpected increases in demand or supply chain disruptions. Navigate to your Inventory page to add unavailable stock, or move available inventory to unavailable, by updating the relevant column.

Update inventory quantities

💡 To keep a more detailed record when adjusting your quantities, click the adjustment icon next to your on hand or available values to select a reason for the quantity adjustment, like “Damaged”, “Theft or loss”, and more.

Stay on top of inventory movements with transfers

If you have multiple physical stores, warehouses, or different locations where you hold inventory, you should account for inventory movements across them. Transferring inventory across stores and storage locations helps you optimize storage capacity, enabling faster inventory handling during high workload periods.

Creating and receiving transfers in Shopify is simple. To create a stock transfer in Shopify, go to Products > Transfers in your admin. Click “Create transfer” and select the origin and destination locations. Add products and variants, enter quantities, and optional shipment details. Finally, save your transfer as a draft. Note that inventory in-transit via transfer is displayed as incoming quantity at the destination location on the Inventory page.

\n\n

Once the inventory arrives, use the transfer to receive everything that made it to the location. To receive inventory in Shopify, go to Products > Transfers, select the transfer, accept or reject items, and click “Accept and save.” Accepted items increase the available and on hand quantities for your items.

Create an inventory transfer

Make better decisions with inventory reports

Inventory reports are essential for monitoring the most significant and costly asset of your business. Shopify’s inventory reports are valuable for keeping track of your inventory levels, identifying trends in sales performance, and making informed decisions about restocking and inventory management.

\n\n

There’s a variety of inventory reports you can start leveraging today:

Month-end inventory snapshot and value: These reports show the quantity of each product variant you had in stock at the end of each month. They are useful for identifying slow-moving products and for making informed decisions about restocking.

Average inventory sold per day: This report shows the average number of items of inventory sold per day by product variant, so you can identify sales trends and forecast future demand.

Percent of inventory sold: This report shows the percentage of each variant's inventory sold from the total starting quantity during the selected period. You can learn how much of your inventory is being sold and how quickly it's moving.

Product sell-through rate: This report shows what percentage of your total inventory you’ve sold during the selected time period. Sell-through rate is valuable for understanding how well your products are selling and for identifying trends in sales performance.

Days of inventory remaining: This report gives you an overall sense of how long your tracked inventory is estimated to last, based on your average sales rates for each variant and the amount of inventory you have left. This report lets you know how long your current inventory levels will last and for forecasting future demand. It's also a great tool to help you identify slow-moving products so you can make better merchandising and reordering decisions.

ABC analysis by product: This report gives each product variant a grade based on the percentage of your revenue that each variant contributed to over the past 28 days. It helps you understand which products are contributing the most to your revenue, and for identifying trends in sales performance and popular products.

Explore inventory reports

💡 The ABC analysis by product and Days of inventory remaining reports are available on the Shopify plan or higher.

Ensure optimal inventory levels and meet customer demand with Shopify’s solutions

Shopify's inventory management solutions can help you optimize your inventory management processes from the start. By leveraging these capabilities, you can improve your operational efficiency, maintain accurate inventory records, avoid stockouts, and make more informed decisions about your procurement and inventory planning activities.

","Inventory management tools help you optimize stock levels, purchasing decisions, and profitability. Learn how to master inventory management with Shopify's built-in solutions so you can streamline inventory processes and improve your bottom line.","

$\"User$

\n\n

Inventory management tools help you optimize stock levels, purchasing decisions, and profitability. Learn how to master inventory management with Shopify's built-in solutions so you can streamline inventory processes and improve your bottom line.

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The returns process can be complex and even introduce friction to the buyer journey, which can cut into profitability. But businesses that embrace returns can turn them into an opportunity to delight customers, improve their product offering, and increase customer lifetime value.

Having a proper system for handling returns is key, since these requests can take up a lot of time and money, with hours spent on customer service emails and calls. To transform returns into an advantage, you need to have the right return management process in place.

Shopify’s built-in tools can help you design a returns management process that’s simple, reliable, and focused on your customers’ needs.

What is returns management?

Returns management is the process of managing the flow of returns between customers and businesses. This involves connecting with customers, managing returned orders, receiving the returned products, dealing with returned inventory, and more. Many parts of the retail supply chain are impacted by returns, such as warehousing, inventory management, and profitability.

Why is returns management important for your business?

Returns have become an integral part of business operations, especially for ecommerce stores. The returns experience a retailer provides can strongly influence a customer's likelihood of buying from that store again.

In a world of rising costs, retaining customers is more important than ever. You can spend five times as much on attracting new customers versus keeping existing ones. This is why it’s important to invest in the returns experience—you can retain more customers, improve loyalty, and increase customer lifetime value.

What are the benefits of managing returns on Shopify?

With Shopify, you can manage returns and refunds, pinpoint common reasons customers return products, and improve your product assortment, all from one powerful back office.

Manage your returns and refunds in one place

The first step is making sure you have return management functionality in place to help you handle all returns and refunds seamlessly in your store.

Shopify’s return management solution can help you improve the post-purchase experience for your business and your customers. These free, built-in tools are at your disposal:

\nCentralized returns: Create manual returns and manage buyer-initiated returns from your sales channels, in one central place.\n
\nExchange management: Create, track and manage exchanges all within your Shopify admin, helping you retain more revenue.
\nAutomated notifications: Keep your customers up-to-date with fully customizable email notifications sent automatically throughout the return process.\n
\nReturn fees: Set up, track and report on fees associated with returns, such as restocking or return shipping fees, helping you minimize the impact on your bottom line and refine your return policies.
\nReturn shipping labels: If you’re in the US, use Shopify Shipping to email a return shipping label to your customer, as soon as the return request is created. You can even generate return labels and include them in the box at time of fulfillment. Merchants who use Shopify Shipping also benefit from discounts with carriers for both outbound and return shipping. Return labels are “pay on scan,” which means they are only charged once they’ve been used. If you’re in a region that doesn’t support Shopify Shipping labels, you can upload your own label and email it to your customers. You can also generate return labels with our very own 3PL, Shopify Fulfillment Network .\n
\nRestock inventory: You can track the return from your customer, restock the returned inventory, and make it available for sale again on your online store.\n
\nRefund the customer: Once the product is returned, you can refund the customer to their original payment method with the click of a button.\n

\n\n

Make returns easy for your customers

Shopify’s self-serve returns let customers initiate returns whenever it’s most convenient for them, without the hassle of contacting a representative over the phone or email.

With Shopify’s self-serve returns, your customers can:

Easily manage and initiate returns from their customer accounts page
View a convenient list of all their orders in one place
Choose the products they want to return from the order
Share a reason for returning the products
Keep track of the returns process

Transforming the returns process into a consistent and hassle-free experience can help your business in multiple ways:

\nReduce friction: Easy and customer-centric returns make for a smoother customer experience.\n
\nImprove buyer trust: Buyers are more likely to purchase from an unknown brand when the returns process is easy and clearly communicated.\n
\nBetter visibility of incoming products: Track what your customers are sending back ahead of time.\n
\nReduce customer support cost and time: Your business can save significantly on support costs, and you can use their time for the more complicated requests that genuinely need live support.\n
\nBuild customer loyalty: 92% of consumers said they’d buy from a business again if returns were easy. When a customer has a simple, positive returns experience with your brand, they’re more likely to come back for another purchase.\n

One great example comes from Phenom Boxing, a high-quality boxing and coaching gear store. It streamlined its returns experience with Shopify’s self-serve returns by allowing its customers to initiate returns without the hassle of filling in details by email or contact forms. With this solution, it’s able to provide its customers visibility of the return’s status, from beginning to end.

\n
Shopify's customer self-serve returns save me so much time. I no longer need to respond to requests via email and ask for missing order details. I also have visibility into all open returns at various stages.
\n
Saheed Akhtar, Director, Phenom Boxing
\n

\n\n

Activate self-serve returns

Retain more revenue and streamline returns management with exchanges

You can create, manage, and track product exchanges all within Shopify, empowering you to optimize revenue retention while efficiently handling returns.

This capability allows you to:

\nEffortlessly create exchanges: With just a few clicks, you can initiate an exchange, select the replacement product, and automatically notify your buyer at every step. This streamlined process saves you valuable time and resources, allowing you to focus on your business growth.
\nManage and track exchanges from one place: Gain full visibility into the status of each exchange and manage them efficiently, all from your Shopify admin. This centralized approach allows you to stay organized, monitor progress, and a better customer experience throughout the exchange process.
\nProvide flexible options for customers post-purchase: You can offer exchanges across your full product catalog. Whether it's a net zero, net refundable, or net payable scenario, Shopify provides the flexibility you need during the returns experience.
\nSeamlessly manage inventory: Restock products back into your Shopify inventory effortlessly when needed. This ensures that your stock levels remain accurate and up-to-date, preventing any discrepancies or delays in fulfilling future orders.

Start an exchange

Improve efficiency and customer satisfaction with return rules

If you are offering self-serve returns, it's a great idea to set up return rules to avoid receiving return requests on ineligible items, saving you valuable time and improving the customer experience.

With return rules you can:

\nDefine a custom return window: Specify a custom return window in addition to selecting from a list of common return windows, giving you greater control over your returns process.\n
\nSet final sale items: Easily mark specific products or collections as final sale, meaning customers cannot request a return with these items.\n
\nDefine your return shipping strategy: You have the flexibility to offer free shipping, charge a flat shipping rate, or have the customer pay for shipping.\n
Set a restocking fee: Set a restocking fee as a percentage of the item's price. This allows you to recover some of the costs associated with processing returns.

An estimated refund amount for eligible items will also display during the self-serve returns process, promoting transparency and helping you build trust with your customers.

Set up return rules

Create customer-friendly return policies

A return policy is a set of rules to help you manage how customers can return products they’ve purchased from your store. Return policies tell customers how they can initiate returns, what items can be returned and for what reasons, and the time frame over which returns are accepted.

It’s important your policy is clear, helpful, and honest, so you set the right expectations from the get-go. Return policies not only assist you in quickly handling returns, but they also encourage customers to make informed purchasing decisions.

Make it easy to find! Sixty-seven percen t of customers often check out your return policy before making their first purchase. You also want to make sure the policy is easily accessible in your site by adding it to the footer and even your product pages.

\n\n

Set up your return policy

\nLearn from your returns\n

Use returns data to improve your business. Analyzing your returns can tell you a lot about your customers' buying habits and what they think about your product. Data can also help you optimize your assortment offering and pinpoint issues, like product defects, early on.

A great way to get started is by collecting return reasons and reviewing them often. Feedback from shoppers is a critical component of success in ecommerce. Compare these reasons with Shopify’s return report to help you identify your most returned products.

\n\n

View your store’s return report

Manage your returns and refunds with ease from Shopify

Implementing simple changes to make your returns management process more efficient can help you delight your customers and improve their trust with your brand. The returns experience should get as much attention as all the other parts of the buyer journey, and getting it right can set you apart from competitors.

","Shopify’s built-in tools can help you design a returns management process that’s simple, reliable, and focused on your customers’ needs.","

$\"Returns$

Shopify’s built-in tools can help you design a returns management process that’s simple, reliable, and focused on your customers’ needs.

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Tasks like fulfilling orders, reconciling payments, and managing inventory makes taking control of your time that more challenging. Good time management is critical in being able to grow your business without impacting day-to-day operations, but how do you find more time in your day?

This is where Shopify Flow, our powerful ecommerce automation tool, can help you take care of day-to-day back office tasks with less effort, and win you back valuable time. Flow allows you to build workflows that lets you put repetitive tasks on autopilot, without needing to touch a single line of code. You can use out-of-the-box templates that are ready to go, or quickly create your own customized workflows that solve your unique business needs.

Get Shopify Flow

Note: This app is only available to customers on Advanced and Shopify plans.

Here are 10 Shopify Flow workflows to streamline your inventory management and order fulfillment tasks:

1. Prepare draft Shopify Shipping labels

Based on data from Shopify’s Future of Commerce report, 37% of online shoppers are frustrated when shipping takes too long. It’s more important than ever to ensure that your fulfillment process is as efficient as possible.

A great way to speed up fulfillment is by identifying orders that you’re consistently fulfilling in the same way and preparing their shipping labels automatically. For example, you might use the same label attributes for orders with certain products, shipping methods, or their fulfillment country. Use these templates to automatically prepare draft shipping labels for specific orders, so all you have to do is review and buy.

Prepare draft Shopify Shipping labels

2. Notify your fulfillment team of expedited shipping

To meet your customers’ shipping expectations, it’s a good idea to flag orders with expedited shipping to your fulfillment team so they can prioritize them and get those orders out the door faster.

This template sends an email notification to your fulfillment team for orders that have paid for expedited shipping and adds a tag for easy organization.

Email logistics team when orders need to be expedited

\n3. Manage inventory and reordering for low-stock items
\n\n

Inventory automation is crucial for growing brands. Not only does it help your team run more efficiently, but it also helps improve the customer experience.

You can use this workflow to automatically reorder any product that reaches low-stock volumes.

Your team will automatically receive a notification, and Flow will send a reorder email to your vendor. Flow will also add a tag so it can display low stock at your store to create urgency for the customer.

Get notified when inventory is low and hide products when out of stock

4. Tag and organize products

When importing new products to your store, it’s important that they’re properly tagged and organized in the right collections. Taking the time to do this is key to improving searchability for your team and your customers, but as your business scales this can become a cumbersome task.

This workflow helps you automatically tag products to ensure they are properly labeled and show up in the right places, speeding up inventory management and ensuring your customers can find what they’re looking for.

Standardize tagging for new products

5. Hide, pause, and republish products

It’s important that when products are out of stock you communicate this to your customers. There’s nothing more frustrating than reaching a product page and finding it’s not, in fact, available for purchase. To avoid this experience and increase your chances of making other product sales, consider this workflow that hides and republishes products at the right time.

When an item goes out of stock, this workflow automatically hides the product from your online store and notifies your marketing team to pause any marketing efforts that include that item. When the item is back in stock, it will republish the product to the online store and let your marketing team know to reactivate the ads.

Hide and republish products based on inventory level

6. Review high risk orders

Dealing with high risk orders is complicated. This process often requires verifying orders manually, contacting facilities, and paying product costs and chargeback fees. Custom clothing retailer Shelfies found an efficient way to deal with this problem.

Using Shopify Flow, they set up a workflow that immediately identifies orders flagged as high risk and automatically sends an email to the appropriate printing manufacturer requesting that production be halted and the order be canceled.

To help you flag high-risk orders, use this template to set off an action that sends an email or Slack notification to your customer service team to review high-risk orders before capturing payment.

If the order risk is medium or low, it will automatically capture the payment. For this workflow to execute properly, you must have manual payment capturing setup for your store.

Review high risk orders before capturing payment

7. Cancel, refund, and restock orders from known bad actors

Bots and fraudsters are an unwanted side effect of having flash sales or exclusive and unique products. You also want to be ready for these bad actors during busy seasons, such as Black Friday Cyber Monday or the winter holidays.

Flow is there to help you take them on. Set up this template where all you need is the email or IP addresses of known resellers. Then, if a blocklisted shopper places an order, Flow automatically cancels it and restocks the item in your inventory, so that your customers have a higher chance of buying your products.

Cancel, refund and restock orders from known bad actors

8. Check fulfillment status after a set number of days

According to the 2022 Future of Shipping and Logistics report 58% of online shoppers expect free next-day delivery. This means brands have to fulfill faster than ever before. And if something goes wrong, you need to resolve the issue quickly and reach out to the customer to keep them in the loop.

The Check on Fulfillment Flow template helps you manage this process more efficiently. With this template, you are automatically alerted via Slack message when a fulfillment is not completed within two days. The details of delayed orders are also tracked in a spreadsheet. As a result, you’ll always be made aware of slow and late fulfillments, and have the opportunity to proactively reach out to your customers to manage or remedy the experience.

Track and send a message if an order isn't shipped within 2 days

9. Track special orders based on conditions

Managing and tagging special orders manually can be time consuming and inefficient, and at times it requires coordination from multiple parties, leading to human error.

The Track special orders based on powerful conditions template automatically adds order tags when a certain kind of order is created and notifies you of it. You can use operators and conditions for use cases such as these:

Customer’s email address includes “.edu” or your domain name\n
Segment-specific discount code is used (or not used)
Orders that come from a certain sales channel
Orders that come from a particular billing country (or not)
Customers whose purchase is tax exempt
Shipping method price is free
Specific payment gateways are used
Discounts on the order totaled above a set threshold

You can customize this workflow in numerous ways to fit your business needs.

Track special orders based on powerful conditions

10. Gain insights into your returns

Returns provide an opportunity to improve your brand’s customer experience and build a loyal customer base. In fact, 96% of buyers who are satisfied with a merchant’s return process said they were likely to purchase from them again.

With this workflow, you can tag customers who have refunded over $100 in an order. You could then create a support ticket to follow up specifically with that customer to see why they weren’t happy with the products or the experience and figure out how you can improve.

Tag and create a support ticket after a refund template

Shopify Flow's purpose-built, easy-to-use customizable templates will help you streamline your back office operations and win back the most valuable resource—your time. Start using Flow today to automate your day-to-day tasks so you can get more done and focus on building your business.

","When you grow your business, tasks like fulfilling orders, reconciling payments, and managing inventory makes take precedence. Here's how to automate those processes.","

$\"Flat$

When you grow your business, tasks like fulfilling orders, reconciling payments, and managing inventory makes take precedence. Here's how to automate those processes.

",{"_2116":2143,"_1858":-5,"_1477":2272},"As you scale your business, tasks like fulfilling orders, reconciling payments, and managing inventory makes take precedence. Here's how to automate those processes.",{"_2116":2147,"_2148":2149,"_2150":2151,"_2152":1670},[-5,-5,-5,2275,2277,-5,2280,-5],{"_2116":2156,"_2157":2276,"_2159":2160,"_2161":-5},"{\"en\":\"https://hk81.mmros.shop/blog/back-office-automations\",\"en-ca\":\"https://hk81.mmros.shop/ca/blog/back-office-automations\",\"en-gb\":\"https://hk81.mmros.shop/uk/blog/back-office-automations\",\"en-au\":\"https://hk81.mmros.shop/au/blog/back-office-automations\",\"en-id\":\"https://hk81.mmros.shop/id/blog/back-office-automations\",\"en-nz\":\"https://hk81.mmros.shop/nz/blog/back-office-automations\",\"en-za\":\"https://hk81.mmros.shop/za/blog/back-office-automations\",\"en-ng\":\"https://hk81.mmros.shop/ng/blog/back-office-automations\",\"en-ph\":\"https://hk81.mmros.shop/ph/blog/back-office-automations\",\"en-sg\":\"https://hk81.mmros.shop/sg/blog/back-office-automations\",\"en-hk\":\"https://hk81.mmros.shop/hk/blog/back-office-automations\",\"en-ie\":\"https://hk81.mmros.shop/ie/blog/back-office-automations\",\"en-my\":\"https://hk81.mmros.shop/my/blog/back-office-automations\",\"de\":\"https://hk81.mmros.shop/de/blog/shopify-flow-workflows\"}",{"_2116":2156,"_2157":2278,"_2159":2279,"_2161":-5},"[{\"title\":\"6 Creative Ways to Start a Business With No Money in 2024\",\"url\":\"blog/start-business-without-money\"},{\"title\":\"The 13 Best Dropshipping Suppliers in 2024\",\"url\":\"blog/dropshipping-suppliers\"},{\"title\":\"6 Ways to Reduce Shipping Costs for Small Business\",\"url\":\"blog/competitive-shipping-as-a-small-shop\"},{\"title\":\"11 Best Vision Statement Examples + How To Write One\",\"url\":\"blog/vision-statement\"},{\"title\":\"Shopify Flow for Businesses With Advanced Plans Is Here\",\"url\":\"blog/flow-available-advanced-plans\"},{\"title\":\"Get to know and engage with your audience with customer segmentation\",\"url\":\"blog/customer-segmentation\"},{\"title\":\"How to Create an Operational Plan You’ll Actually Use\",\"url\":\"blog/operational-plan\"},{\"title\":\"Shipping Trends: How To Deliver on Your Customers’ Shipping Expectations\",\"url\":\"blog/shipping-trends\"},{\"title\":\"Business Banking- What Every Entrepreneur Should Know Before Getting Started\",\"url\":\"blog/business-banking\"},{\"title\":\"Cash Flow Statement- The What, Why, and How\",\"url\":\"blog/cash-flow-statement\"}]","interlinkings_json",{"_2116":2156,"_2157":2163,"_2159":2164,"_2161":-5},"21 Mar 2022",{"_2116":2117,"_1752":2283,"_1833":2284,"_1858":2285,"_2121":2286,"_2123":2287,"_2133":2291,"_2019":2292,"_2138":2293,"_2140":2294,"_1936":2295,"_2145":2296,"_2153":2297,"_2165":2288,"_2166":-5,"_2167":-7,"_2168":-7,"_2169":-7,"_2170":2303,"_2172":2286},"gid://shopify/Article/556150620194","backoffice-bfcm","Getting Your Back Office Ready for the Holiday Selling Season","2021-09-09T17:30:00Z",{"_2116":2125,"_1472":2288,"_2127":-5,"_2129":2289,"_2131":2290},"https://cdn.shopify.com/s/files/1/0070/7032/articles/a-man-holding-up-packages-for-fulfillment.jpg?v=1729517040",4460,2977,[2135,2136],"With customers shopping online more than ever before, the 2021 holiday season is shaping up to be a big year for ecommerce. Online sales in the US are predicted to rise 11.3% from 2020 numbers to $207 billion, accounting for a record 18.9% of total holiday season retail sales.\n

Getting a spike in orders is exciting, but keeping up with the demand can be challenging. What if you run out of inventory or you can’t ship your products fast enough? A negative experience during the holidays can damage your brand’s reputation and potentially lose you customers. It’s important your back-office and fulfillment strategy is ready for the influx of orders, so you can maximize on growth while delivering a great customer experience.

There’s still time to make sure your operations and fulfillment processes are in great shape. To help you prepare, here are some tips to ensure a successful holiday season.

1. Hire seasonal staff

\nConsider hiring seasonal staff who can help keep up with the demand and boost your back-office efficiency. You can adjust the size of your workforce to meet your specific holiday needs and save you money, instead of continuing to pay for full-time employees after the holidays. For Devin Montgomery, one of the owners of Skiis & Biikes, expanding their workforce during the holidays is essential to their business.
\n

\n
We add about 35% more staff every holiday season. This year, especially, it's been very hard to find new team members. I feel every business is experiencing this. The main roles we are hiring are fulfillment (shipping, picking, drivers for transfers between stores, and receiving), customer service and online merchandising.
\n

Don’t forget to onboard your new team so they perform at the same level as your full-time staff. Have a training plan ready to get them up to speed as quickly as possible. Create a checklist they can follow during orientation, with details about your products and brand, inventory and fulfillment processes, return policy, and what is expected of them.

2. Optimize fulfillment processes

It’s important to plan how, when, and what you will need to fulfill orders.

Prioritize orders

First, determine the best way to prioritize orders, so you don’t waste time figuring out where to start when you get a spike in sales. For example, you can prioritize orders on a first come, first served basis, and sort orders by date so you can quickly find your most recent ones. Another popular alternative is prioritizing by customer status. You might want to set up order or customer tags to identify orders from your VIP customers and fulfill them first. Or you can base it on the delivery method (ship, local delivery, or local pickup) or destination (international vs. domestic), so you know exactly what to do with those orders once they are packed. Once you know how you want to organize and prioritize your orders, save this view for the holiday selling season.

\n\n\n

💡TIP: Learn more about how to prepare for holiday shipping demands.

Stock up your fulfillment station

Prepare your pick and pack stations with all the necessary materials to package your products.

Make sure your printer has enough ink and paper to print packing slips and shipping labels. Have refills ready in case you run out.\n\n
Stock up on holiday-themed gift wrapping materials, stickers, and other promotional materials to offer a memorable unboxing experience.\n
For a personal touch, write thank-you notes ahead of time to include in your packages.
Provide packaging instructions for your staff to follow, especially if you have a variety of products that require different packaging and care.

Ensure order details are accurate

Make sure you have the information you need to fulfill orders as they come in. A best practice is to add the weight and dimensions to your products ahead of time. That way, when it comes to fulfilling an order you can easily pick the right packaging for the products in that order.

You may also want to double check product, customer and payment details. This is a good opportunity to reach out to the customer and make necessary changes to the order if something looks incorrect. Once all details are confirmed, add shipping and tracking information for each order.

Pick and pack orders more efficiently

Optimize your space for efficiency when it comes to picking and packing.

Keep your station clean and organized, with top-selling products closest to your packing station and position them at eye level for easy access.
If you know certain products are often sold together, keep them close by to one another.
You should label your inventory with the product name, SKU and variant details such as size and colour.
Store your products in separate shelves or bins so you can easily find the products you need to pick and pack.

Consider picking and packing many orders at once instead of one at a time. A great way to do this is to bulk select the group of orders you wish to fulfill, based on your prioritization process, and print packing slips. You can then use these packing slips to walk around your warehouse and pick the inventory you need for packing. Alternatively, you can use the Shopify mobile app to see product details from the order. With the same group of orders selected, purchase and print shipping labels.

\n\n

Once you have your inventory picked and labels printed, create an assembly line of your packing slips, products, extras (branded materials, thank-you notes, promotions), and shipping labels, and get to packing your orders.

From there, you can schedule a pickup or drop-off with your courier to put the packages out for delivery. If your carrier is USPS, use the Shipping manifests app, so USPS can scan one document and receive the shipping details for a large group of orders.

\n\n

💡TIP: Schedule recurring pickups to have carriers pick up your packages every day at your preferred time, or at your chosen intervals.

\n\n

If you offer local delivery, set those orders aside and leverage our local delivery app to drop-off products in your community.

For local and curbside pickup orders, Montgomery says Skiis and Biikes optimize their space for these types of orders during the holidays.

\n
Dedicating more showroom space to in-store pickup allows staff to find products faster.
\n

3. Prepare your inventory

Your inventory must be sufficient and accurate. But not all your inventory performs the same way. To make informed decisions when ordering inventory for the holiday season, use an ABC analysis report to better understand which products drive more revenue. This report grades the value of your stock based on a percentage of your revenue:

A = % of stock that represents 80% of your revenue
B = % of stock that represents 15% of your revenue
C = % of stock that represents 5% of your revenue

Your A stock represents your most profitable and valuable products. Make sure you have these products on hand during your peak season so you don't miss out on sales. Your C stock is your slow-moving or dead stock. BFCM is a great opportunity to sell these products at a discount to reduce excess stock. You'll also want to order your inventory well in advance, to get ahead of any delays or disruptions in the supply chain.

You will also want to make sure you have an accurate count of inventory ahead of the holiday selling season. Consider doing an audit or a stock count of your existing inventory and be sure to update your inventory quantities as new inventory arrives. A great way to do this is with the scanning feature on the Shopify mobile app.

\n\n

💡TIP: Implement a pre-order system in case you run out of stock, that way customers can still purchase the product but receive it only when you have it back in stock.

4. Expand your fulfillment capacity with a 3PL

Having a back office that’s connected to your inventory and order tracking is crucial for a successful fulfillment strategy. If you’re worried you won’t have enough storage space or your team won’t be able to handle the surge in demand, it might be time to trust a third party logistics (3PL) provider, like the Shopify Fulfillment Network. By outsourcing your fulfillment, you can hire experts that will pick, pack, and ship orders to your customers easily and quickly. As you explore bringing on a 3PL, look for a partner that has a vast network of strategically located fulfillment centers so you can save time and costs to ship your orders faster.

\n
Learn more about 3PLs and how to determine if your business is ready to outsource fulfillment.\n

5. Use returns to create a memorable customer experience

Returns are an essential part of the online shopping experience. 68% of shoppers check the returns page before making a purchase and 52% have left a shopping cart out of fear of a difficult return process. As sales increase during the holiday season, so do the volume of returns. According to the National Retail Federation (NRF), merchants can expect the highest volume of returns in December, January and February.

First, put together a holiday-specific return policy that can help attract and convert customers. You probably already have one that goes over what products are eligible for returns, how soon returns need to be made, and the conditions products need to be in. Tweaking your return policy and extending the return window until after the new year is a great way to incentivize sales. For instance, if a customer buys a gift in October, they’ll want to feel confident that the person receiving the gift will be able to return the product after the holiday season. This temporary extension is a simple way to improve your customer experience and get them across the line.

Also make sure your return policy is clear and easy to find. This could mean creating a banner on your online store driving to your Shipping & Return Policy page or FAQ page. You could also include a link to your return policy in order notification emails and even on your product pages using the Dawn theme.

Next, become familiar with managing returns in Shopify, and put a plan in place to efficiently receive and process returns. With returns in Shopify, you can create return shipping labels, keep track of return reasons, restock inventory, and issue refunds, all in one place.

Finally, you will want to set aside an area in your warehouse to store returned orders, and dedicate a time of day or week to process them all at the same time. It’s a good idea to train specific staff to handle your returns as a way to avoid potential errors. You could display helpful guidelines in your returns area that go over how to check for damages and how to classify each order with a return reason, so you can continue improving your fulfillment processes over time.

Manage the holiday rush effectively

You still have time to optimize your fulfillment strategy for speed and accuracy. Plan ahead and continuously monitor processes that are within your control so that you can keep delivering a great customer experience, despite the challenges that come from a potentially stressful time of the year. Revise your fulfillment workflows, inventory availability, return strategies, and prepare your staff to ensure your peak fulfillment and shipping season goes smoothly.

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1. Unbeatable shipping rates that save you money

2. Transforms your shipping strategy into a competitive advantage

Plan your shipping strategy

Flat rate shipping

Free shipping

Carrier-calculated shipping

Show shipping rates at checkout

Display expected delivery times

Offer Buy Online, Pick up In Store (BOPIS)

3. Faster delivery through prioritized fulfillment locations

4. Seamless returns experience for enhanced customer satisfaction

5. Efficiently streamline your fulfillment process

Organize your orders

Fulfill orders in bulk

Pick and pack faster

Streamline USPS pickups

1. Expand your customer base

2. Forecast inventory demand

3. Replenish inventory in advance

4. Avoid stock-outs

5. Offer fast and affordable shipping

6. Reduce shipping delays

7. Improve inventory accuracy across markets

8. Automate for faster fulfillment

9. Keep customers coming back

10. Scale your business efficiently

United States

USPS

USPS® holiday shipping deadlines for contiguous US (lower 48 states)

USPS® holiday shipping deadlines for Alaska and Hawaii

USPS® holiday shipping deadlines for international mail

UPS

US domestic

US to Canada and Mexico

US to other destinations

DHL Express

Canada

Canada Post

UPS

Canada Domestic

Canada to the US

Canada to other destinations

Australia

Sendle

Domestic

International:

United Kingdom

France

Italy

Spain

Keep tabs on your inventory with real-time tracking

Streamline procurement with purchase orders

Seamless inventory audits with bulk editing and adjustments

Stay on top of inventory movements with transfers

Make better decisions with inventory reports

Ensure optimal inventory levels and meet customer demand with Shopify’s solutions

Table of Contents:

What is returns management?

Why is returns management important for your business?

What are the benefits of managing returns on Shopify?

Manage your returns and refunds in one place

Make returns easy for your customers

Retain more revenue and streamline returns management with exchanges

Improve efficiency and customer satisfaction with return rules

Create customer-friendly return policies

\nLearn from your returns\n

Manage your returns and refunds with ease from Shopify

1. Prepare draft Shopify Shipping labels

2. Notify your fulfillment team of expedited shipping

\n3. Manage inventory and reordering for low-stock items\n\n

4. Tag and organize products

5. Hide, pause, and republish products

6. Review high risk orders

7. Cancel, refund, and restock orders from known bad actors

8. Check fulfillment status after a set number of days

9. Track special orders based on conditions

10. Gain insights into your returns

1. Hire seasonal staff

2. Optimize fulfillment processes

Prioritize orders

\n3. Manage inventory and reordering for low-stock items
\n\n