UPS 2024 Holiday Shipping Deadlines

Black Friday, Christmas, summer and winter all provide peak sales opportunities for businesses of all kinds and sizes. But what happens when those seasons and events are over?

Businesses face unique challenges due to fluctuations in demand during off-peak periods. However, by implementing effective off-season strategies and adapting to these fluctuations, businesses can maintain sales and drive growth year round. In this article, we'll explore five effective strategies to help businesses navigate the peaks and troughs of demand.

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5 Strategies to Tackle Business Seasonality

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Collaborate with Other Brands

Collaborating with complementary brands can be a fun and effective way to expand your customer base and offerings to generate revenue during the off-season. By partnering with other businesses that target a similar audience but operate in different seasons or industries, you can cross-promote each other's products. For example, a sunglasses brand could partner with a ski or snowboard apparel brand to offer a complete winter bundle. This not only increases exposure but also provides added value to customers.

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Stay in Touch With Customers

Maintaining communication with your customers is key to keeping your brand top-of-mind. By leveraging social media and email, brands can provide relevant and valuable content, along with exclusive offers to keep them engaged and interested in your brand, even when they're not actively purchasing. Combine this with the other 4 strategies in this article, and you’re well on your way to year-round success.

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Create a Loyalty Program

Loyalty programs are a powerful tool for retaining customers and encouraging repeat business. Brands can offer rewards, discounts, or exclusive perks to incentivize loyalty and keep customers coming back. For already loyal customers, implement tiered loyalty programs with special benefits and privileges to help them feel valued. Not to mention, it’s an effective way to increase customer lifetime value and average order value. 

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Offer Special Promotions and Discounts

During the off-season, brands can use special promotions such as free shipping, discounts, bundles or limited-time offers to incentivize sales. Create a sense of urgency by highlighting the savings and emphasizing the limited time on the offer. This not only helps to boost sales, but also helps to clear excess inventory ahead of the next season. However, it's important to offer limited time offers that do not affect the perceived value of the brand.

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VESYL serves up the best-in-class rates year round so you can pass those savings on to your customers, or offer free shipping without it eating into your revenue. 

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Diversify Product Offerings

Expanding your product offerings can help to reduce the impact of seasonal fluctuations on your business. For example, a womens footwear brand could focus on sandals in the summer, and boots and slippers in the winter. By diversifying your offerings, you can attract customers and generate revenue even when demand for your primary products is low.

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Conclusion

Seasonal fluctuations in business are inevitable, but with the right strategies in place, these off-peak periods can become excellent opportunities for growth. By collaborating with other brands, staying in touch with customers, creating loyalty programs, offering special promotions and discounts, and diversifying product offerings, businesses can thrive year-round. 

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Looking to lock in the most competitive shipping rates year round? Book a demo with VESYL today.

With the average return rates for e-commerce stores between 20-30%, according to Shopify,  return logistics can no longer be overlooked. Not only does smooth returns enhance the customer experience, but also removes costly and timely bottlenecks for brands. In this guide, we'll dive into the world of return logistics, exploring best practices and strategies.

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The Importance of Return Logistics

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Return logistics are the processes involved in handling product returns, exchanges, and refunds in the e-commerce ecosystem. The inability to touch, try and see items in person first, make returns an inevitable part of e-commerce. Whether it’s due to sizing or fit issues, a defective or faulty item, or a number of other potential reasons, providing a smooth returns process can enhance your brand reputation, customer loyalty and give you the competitive edge. Think of it as the brand's opportunity to shift a negative experience into a positive and memorable one. 

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Best Practices in Return Logistics

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Clear and Transparent Return Policies

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A clear and transparent return policy removes the guesswork and lets your customers know exactly what to expect if they need to return or exchange an item. This increased transparency builds trust with customers and leads to loyal customers. 

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The return policy should be easily accessible on your website. Some brands choose to include it in a drop down menu on the product listing itself along with sizing and product information. This enables customers to make informed decisions without needing to search the website or contact the CX team. 

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A clear and transparent returns policy needs to include:

• The time frame for returns and exchanges period. Most customers expect a 30 day return policy.
• The conditions required for all returned products.
• If you have different policies and requirements for different products, make sure these are clearly outlined and communicated. 
• Clearly outline any return costs. Free returns are a big draw for online shoppers. Brands can also outline different costs for different return reasons, such as the customer is required to pay the return fees if the reason for return is that they changed their mind. However, for a faulty or damaged product, the brand covers the return fees. 
• Give clear step-by-step instructions on how customers can initiate a return. Include key information about whether they need to return the item in the original packaging, where they can locate the return label and once again the condition the item needs to be returned in. (For more straightforward returns, leverage VESYL’s QR codes, allowing customers to download the QR code and take it to their local drop off point, without needing to print any labels.)

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Simplified Return Processes

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Streamline the returns process by providing multiple return options like online returns, in-store returns, or drop-off locations. This accommodates varying customer preferences and situations, ensuring convenience and flexibility. For example, Amazon's "Online Returns Center" simplifies returns with a user-friendly interface, allowing customers to initiate returns swiftly and effortlessly. By diversifying return channels and leveraging user-friendly platforms, businesses can optimize the returns experience, reduce friction, and ultimately foster stronger customer relationships. Brands can also leverage returns software to centralize return tickets in one place, provide a simple user interface for customers to use and provide detailed information on the progress of the return. 

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Within shipments on VESYL, under actions, you can create a return label on a shipment, allowing you to quickly and easily get return labels over to your customer to return an item.

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Efficient Return Handling

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To optimize efficiency in return handling, it's essential to invest in streamlined procedures that minimize processing time and costs. Automation tools and dedicated teams play a crucial role in managing returns promptly and accurately. By leveraging automated return processing systems, like ASOS does, businesses can efficiently handle high volumes of returns, mitigating manual workload and reducing processing time. This not only enhances operational efficiency but also ensures timely resolution for customers, leading to improved satisfaction and retention. Embracing technology and implementing efficient workflows are key strategies to increase efficiency in return management, ultimately driving better outcomes for both businesses and customers.

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Encouraging Exchanges Over Returns

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By offering incentives such as free return shipping labels for exchanges or store credits, businesses can incentivize customers to opt for exchanges, retaining revenue and fostering positive relationships. For example, brands can offer a gift card for a slightly higher value than the original purchase to encourage customers to continue their journey with the brand. Finally, by leveraging easy-to-use exchanges software allows customers to quickly pick the product size, color or type they wanted to exchange for. This streamlines the process by reducing the need to speak to a CX representative and providing the customer with the options at their fingertips.

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In Conclusion

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With the increase in online shopping, the demand for excellent customer service and quicker resolutions, mastering return logistics can set your brand ahead in an increasingly competitive landscape. By implementing best practices such as clear return policies, simplified processes, and encouraging exchanges, businesses can streamline their return logistics while providing exceptional customer experiences. Remember, prioritizing exchanges over returns not only reduces the strain on your team but also strengthens customer relationships, ultimately driving long-term success.

With Black Friday and the holiday season just around the corner, businesses can expect a surge of shoppers eager to get in the gifting spirit and take advantage of seasonal deals. This influx brings a great opportunity for increased sales, but it also comes with the complexities of increased shipping demands.

To keep up with the growing volume of orders, carriers like USPS have announced temporary price adjustments for the 2024 peak holiday season. Effective from October 6, 2024, through January 19, 2025, these rate changes will impact Priority Mail Express, Priority Mail, and USPS Ground Advantage shipments.

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What Are Peak Season Surcharges?

These holiday surcharges help USPS cover additional costs associated with labor, fuel, and supplies during the peak shipping months to ensure they can maintain service standards while managing higher volumes. Staying informed about these changes is key to plan accordingly and maintain a seamless delivery experience for customers, so we’ve packaged them up for you below.

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Commercial Increases

Priority Mail and USPS Ground Advantage: Zones 1-4

• $0.30 increase for 0-3 lbs.
• $0.45 increase for 4-10 lbs.
• $0.75 increase for 11-25 lbs.
• $3.00 increase for 26-70 lbs. 

Priority Mail: Zones 5-9

• $0.70 increase for 0-3 lbs.
• $1.25 increase for 4-10 lbs.
• $2.75 increase for 11-25 lbs.
• $7.00 increase for 26-70 lbs.

USPS Ground Advantage: Zones 5-9

• $0.35 increase for 0-3 lbs.
• $0.75 increase for 4-10 lbs.
• $1.25 increase for 11-25 lbs.
• $5.50 increase for 26-70 lbs.

Priority Mail Express: Zones 1-4

• $1.00 increase for 0-3 lbs. 
• $1.50 increase for 4-10 lbs.
• $3.50 increase for 11-25 lbs.
• $8.95 increase for 26-70 lbs

Priority Mail Express: Zone 5-9

$1.75 increase for 0-3 lbs.

$3.95 increase for 4-10 lbs.

$7.50 increase for 11-25 lbs.

$13.00 increase for 26-70 lbs.

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Retail Increases

Priority Mail and USPS Ground Advantage: Zones 1-4

$0.40 increase for 0-3 lbs.

$0.55 increase for 4-10 lbs

$0.95 increase for 11-25 lbs. 

$4.00 increase for 26-70 lbs.

Priority Mail: Zones 5-9

$0.90 increase for 0-3 lbs.

$1.45 increase for 4-10 lbs.

$3.25 increase for 11-25 lbs.

$8.50 increase for 26-70 lbs.

USPS Ground Advantage: Zones 5-9

$0.50 increase for 0-3 lbs.

$1.00 increase for 4-10 lbs.

$2.00 increase for 11-25 lbs.

$5.85 increase for 26-70 lbs.

Priority Mail Express: Zones 1-4

$1.10 increase for 0-3 lbs.

$2.00 increase for 4-10 lbs.

$3.90 increase for 11-25 lbs.

$9.75 increase for 26-70 lbs.

Priority Mail Express: Zones 5-9

$2.00 increase for 0-3 lbs.

$4.85 increase for 4-10 lbs.

$9.00 increase for 11-25 lbs.

$16.00 increase for 26-70 lbs.

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How Can Businesses Still Save On Shipping?

Despite the USPS price increases during the holiday season, merchants still have opportunities to save on shipping costs. By using VESYL, brands can shop the best-in-class rates across multiple carriers, streamline operations, reduce labor costs, and minimize errors through automation, further maximizing efficiency and cutting down unnecessary expenses. By streamlining shipping operations, merchants can offset the impact of seasonal surcharges while still delivering an exceptional customer experience during the busiest time of the year.

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Schedule a quick 15-minute call with us and we’ll show you how!