Tips for the End-of-Year Peak for a webshop
Of course, every day is important for a webshop. But during the year, there are some days that stand out when it comes to the volume of orders and packages that need to be shipped. Especially if you have a webshop aimed at consumers, you may have to deal with real peak days. To give you more insight into the busiest days for an online shop and how best to deal with them, Active Ants wrote this blog for you.
The busiest days of the year according to Active Ants
As a fulfilment company, Active Ants notices it like no other. We know exactly which days the demand for webshop logistics is the greatest. We will list some of these peak days for you below.
The holidays
Not surprisingly, the busiest days at Active Ants, when it comes to order processing, are mainly during the end of year Peak-Season. Prior to these holidays, you see a huge increase when it comes to orders in webshops. The most important holidays for a webshop are:
- Christmas
- New Year's Eve
- Valentine's Day
- Easter
Discount offers
There are also so-called 'bargain festivals'. Days when there are bargain deals. Often blown over from America and increasingly popular here too. Some examples are:
- Black Friday
- Cyber Monday
- Singles Day
- Glamour day
Around the 25th of the month
Peak times around the holidays and other events are obvious. But actually, every month there is a spike in order processing. In fact, around the 25th of the month, you see an increase in the number of orders within online shops every month. The only reason to consider for such an increase? Salaries have been paid again! Many people's spending pattern is such that they want to spend money right away.
Holiday pay and 13th month
What applies to the monthly salary certainly applies to the period when holiday pay or the 13th month (an extra bonus month that employees get paid in December) is paid out. This is often the time for consumers to make bigger purchases, now that they have the money for it. Consequently, this is clearly reflected in purchases around more expensive items such as televisions, bicycles, cars, etc.
Fulfilment challenges for a webshop
The busiest days of the year can certainly benefit you as a webshop owner. But if you are not well prepared for these peaks in the logistics process, these can also be days that cause a lot of extra stress.
Webshop logistics under your own management
Especially when you still do the logistics in-house, these peak moments often cause a headache. For instance, you have to deal with the following challenges:
- More stock required
- More storage space needed
- More staff needed
- More workspace needed
Not only do you need more stock to arrive on time, you also need sufficient space to store this stock temporarily. You also need more (temporary) staff. Staff to pack and transport the parcels. But also staff to support customer service. Recruiting these extra workers requires time and money. You also need to have sufficient workspace to house all these extra staff.
In short, a web shop needs to scale up its entire operation at peak times and the owner is busier with the webshop logistics than with the online store itself.
Webshop logistics outsourced
If a webshop already has a logistics partner, the most important thing is to buy sufficient stock in time. This stock must then also be delivered to the fulfilment company on time.
In this case, too, you need extra staff, but only to support customer service. More sales automatically means extra pressure on customer service. Consumers ask more questions and more products are returned.
How can Active Ants support a webshop?
We at Active Ants can actually take away all the headaches mentioned above. By outsourcing e-commerce logistics to us, temporarily scaling up the organisation is no problem. As a fulfilment specialist, we ensure that even during the busiest days the packages are shipped complete, correct and tidy. Our well-trained employees ensure this, with the help of our robots. Our system is built to easily scale up when the number of orders increases.
If required, our fulfilment service goes a step further. For example, we can also take care of returns processing and customer service. This allows you to focus entirely on what you do best: running your online store.
Some tips to make the most of the end-of-year period as an online shop
We are happy to share our knowledge and experience in the fulfilment industry. This way, you as a webshop owner can take full advantage of the busiest days of the year. Of course, you can outsource your webshop logistics. But we have more tips:
- Buy and deliver stock on time. This way, you will be ready in time for peak moments and avoid stress and items not being in stock when needed.
- Ensure good forecasting. The better you can forecast sales, the better you can respond to changes in order numbers. This way, you will no longer be faced with surprises and you can scale up and make adjustments early, when necessary. Active Ants also uses a forecasting system. This allows us to better predict what a webshop is going to sell. This allows us to anticipate changes together with our client.
- Take the return flow into account. If your sales increase, you will also receive more returns. This puts extra pressure on your customer service. Take that into account in preparing for the end-of-year peak.
- Think about cash flow management. As the busy period approaches, pay close attention to your cash flow. Poor cash flow management can prevent stocks from being purchased, resulting in lost sales. Especially when the webshop logistics and additional matters are still done in-house, you can face real cashflow challenges.
Active Ants also thinks along with you when it comes to webshop cash flow. With us, you only receive the invoice 5 days after the full month with a 2-week payment delay. This gives you almost an extra month to make payments and allows you to buy more stock at an earlier stage (before the busy periods). With the aim, of course, of being able to generate more sales.
What developments does Active Ants see when it comes to holidays and webshops?
The (webshop) world is constantly changing and developing. This gives us new and interesting fulfilment challenges.
Coming of American holidays
There used to be a huge peak around the Holidays and Christmas. Now the buying pressure is spread more over November and December. We see a spread of peak moments due to the arrival of, especially US, holidays. Examples include:
- Black Friday
- Cyber Monday
- Singles Day
- Glamour Day
E-commerce sales continue to rise
Besides, of course, the general trend of increasing online purchases (i.e. also with the holidays), the Corona situation has further boosted online sales in recent years. As a result, we continue to see 'double digit grow'. Sales and volume growth within e-commerce is still above 10%, which we all want to benefit from.
Reducing footprint
Finally, we see another general development. Sustainability is becoming increasingly important in the world and also among our customers. We consider this an important development and are happy to contribute to a more sustainable society. Evidence of this are our new warehouses in The Netherlands, Belgium, Germany and the UK. Together with our customers, we do our utmost to reduce our footprint. We call this ActiveGreen. We see plenty of room for improvement in our industry and we will continue to develop in this area.
Is your webshop ready for Peak-Season?
Avoid stress and be sure of reliable webshop logistics. Active Ants is happy to help you cope with peak moments within your webshop logistics operations. Curious about the possibilities for your online business? Contact the fulfilment specialist today and ask about the possibilities!
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