Navigating peak season

‍The essential guide to effectively managing peak season

We are here to help you navigate the challenges of this busy period and ensure you meet customer expectations this peak season, with reliable and transparent delivery experiences. We’ve curated a selection of key articles and insights to help you navigate peak season and ensure a seamless shipping experience for both your business and customers.

"Looking ahead to the peak period of 2024 ... the stakes are higher than ever. Retailers must be prepared to handle increased volumes and heightened expectations. Success in these peak times will hinge on the ability to provide seamless, reliable, and fast delivery options."

- Rob Hango-Zada, Shippit Co-Founder & Joint CEO in the State of Shipping Report 2024

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Checklist for peak season

Have your packing workflow ready to go: well packaged parcels have fewer delays, so make sure your staff are well versed on packing procedures, and know how to meet carrier packaging requirements. For further insights into packaging, explore our Packaging guidelines article.

Protect your parcels: you can also consider transit protection to ensure that orders arrive in the same condition they left your warehouse. Learn more about transit protection here.

Enable authority to leave on all orders: make it easy for customers to receive their deliveries the first time around, without having to visit collection points or wait for redelivery.

Take control of shipping costs and complex deliveries: set automatic business rules that allocate orders based on everything from weight, dimensions, and parcel count, to specialty delivery services and locations. Learn more about shipping automation here.

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When peak season starts

Be across deadlines, and get ready for the influx of orders to start.

Know your deadlines: we use a combination of historical Shippit transit time data, and carriers' indicative dates for cut off to provide you with a single set of deadlines to use for shipping across town, across the country, or across the world. For more information about shipping dates, read the 2024 shipping deadlines article.

Avoid international delays: for international shipments, make sure you have the correct labelling and required documentation on the order before you ship. This helps to avoid delays with customs clearance. For more information about international shipping, read the International shipping collection.

Manifest in the morning: manifest goods early in the day to avoid missed collections and delays with data transfers which can result in surcharges from carriers.

Organise your pickups by carrier, early: you can also separate packages by carrier in an easy-to-access dispatch location. This helps to avoid confusion when drivers arrive to collect their packages. Make sure you have carrier pickups organised ahead of time where you can, and prioritise dispatching interstate orders before intrastate and local metro orders, so that they are collected by the carrier and on their way sooner.

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During peak season

Stay informed to ensure a smooth and stress-free peak season.

Keep an eye on your carriers: stay ahead of what's happening with your carriers, by watching our Carrier updates collection.

Watch shipping times: Shippit carrier experts keep an eye on the entire network, so that you don't have to. Find out how each shipping lane is performing right now, with regular updates in the Carrier transit times article, updated at least weekly.

Watch your store performance: keep a close eye on how your warehouse is performing, so that you can spot inefficiencies early and ensure your carrier mix is optimised. You can do this with the data provided in your Shippit dashboard. Learn more information about what data is available here.

We're here if you need us: if things start going sideways, we have your back. Get in touch with us whenever you need it. For all the different ways you can get help from the shipping experts, see the Get help collection.

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