Cyber Monday is supposed to be one of the biggest days in the online shopping calendar.
Last year there was a phenomenal increase in the amount of traffic and sales that participating websites received.
Are you excited about Cyber Monday this year? How do you plan to keep up with orders?
According to Econsultancy.com, the sales on Cyber Monday were up 30% from the previous year. Some of the big beneficiaries from the day were Google, who, according to Adobe data benefitted because:
“Display ads drove 57 percent more sales [in 2015] compared to Cyber Monday last year [2014]”
If you sell through Amazon these figures might be very encouraging, in 2015 Amazon accounted for 37.5% of the days ecommerce spending.
You should even have started preparing for the Black Friday and Cyber Monday weekends already, with marketing materials, stock and staff across the organization briefed about the importance of the day and what is likely to happen.
However, are you ready for Fulfillment Tuesday?
What Is Fulfillment Tuesday?
Fulfillment Tuesday is the day after Cyber Monday, for some it’s the day of their Cyber Monday hangover, and for online businesses that have performed well over the discount weekend, it should be one of the busiest.
This is the day when you will have to ship out as many of the orders as you can to your customers.
Your target should always be to ship out every single order which is why being prepared is important.
If you haven’t prepared for this day, it can quickly go wrong.
What Can Go Wrong?
While Cyber Monday offers customers a significant reduction on prices of goods and businesses stand to gain from an increase in sales – there is a more important gain to be had from the day: long term business.
Cyber Monday is the perfect opportunity to develop your brand identity with new audiences or reaffirm your quality service with old customers.
To do this you need to offer two things: quality products and good customer service. Part of the customer service is about delivering the right goods to customers, on time and if you can achieve this, then you will increase the loyalty of your customers.
Research has shown that price is not the main factor when it comes to repeat purchasing. A customer is more likely to leave due to bad customer service than the price of the products.
How Can You Help Your Fulfillment?
There are several ways that you can help your fulfillment team on the day to meet the demands of customers and to increase the brand image. Here are some suggestions:
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Temporarily increase staff on the packaging floor
– you don’t have to hire in temporary staff or seasonal employees. Just asking for volunteers from other departments who are willing to lend a hand (and training them properly) can help you to increase your capacity.
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Start Fulfillment Tuesday at Midnigh
– just like your Cyber Monday sales are likely to start at Midnight the previous day, start your Fulfillment Tuesday at midnight. Offer staff the chance to earn extra money by coming in early to get more shipped.
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Offer Overtime
– Offer your staff rewards and pay for the extra time they are putting in on the day.
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Check your fulfillment process
– Ensure that the process from order to shipping runs as smoothly as possible. Do dry runs prior to the day and look for bottlenecks where orders are sat stationary not being processed. Then look for ways you can solve those bottlenecks to keep orders moving.
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Make it a fun day
– There is no doubt it is going to be a hard day and this can be demoralizing for your staff on the floor. So find ways to increase the excitement and fun around the whole company. Create mini competitions, rewards based on activities and a fun atmosphere.
Conclusion
Cyber Monday 2016 could be your biggest day of the year:
However, there is a lot of hard work to follow the day.
Make sure you are prepared for it by making your fulfillment process smooth. Look for problems and their solutions early to guarantee that customers receive quality care and become loyal to your brand in the future.
Get ready for the onslaught that comes after the best cyber Monday deals need to be fulfilled as all indicators for 2016 the growth in sales volume on this day will ultimately big bigger than last year.
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