Get ready for peak season

Get ready for peak season

The article you need to prepare for stress-free shipping this peak season

Peak season is a critical period for e-commerce, with increased order volumes and heightened customer expectations. We're here to help you navigate the peak season rush and ensure your deliveries are timely and efficient. We've collected all the most popular articles that you can use to get ready for peak season and ensure a smooth shipping experience for both you and your 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.

📚 Read more from Rob Hango-Zada, in the State of Shipping report

Preparing for peak

Start your peak period shipping preparations early.

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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 more information about packaging, see the 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. For more information about transit protection, see the About transit protection article.

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. For more information about how authority to leave helps your customers, see the Authority to leave article.

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 speciality delivery services and locations. For more information about automation, see the Rules engine article.

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, see 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, see 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. For more information about manifests, see the Manifests article.

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. For more information about pickups, see the Pick and pack collection.

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During peak season

Keep up to date on what's happening for a stress-free peak.

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. For more information about what data is available, see the Shippit insights article.

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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