Enhancing your shipping operations is crucial for delivering an exceptional shopping experience to your Walmart customers. Swift and reliable delivery is a key customer expectation, particularly during the holiday season. If you’re seeking guidance on preparing for holiday shipping on Walmart, we have the information you need.
Effectively navigating the holiday rush can be demanding, but there are strategies to elevate your performance this festive season and guarantee the timely delivery of products to your customers. This blog provides comprehensive insights to help you prepare your business for the anticipated surge in order volume, ensuring a seamless and efficient shipping experience during the holiday season.
Shipping Best Practices to follow during the holiday season.
As the festive season draws near, the potential for heightened sales increases, necessitating your preparedness to capitalize on this opportunity. While quality listings and securing sales are pivotal, what ensues is equally vital – Order Fulfillment. If you’re a Walmart seller aiming to streamline fulfillment during the upcoming holiday season, consider incorporating the following best practices to ensure the prompt shipping of products on Walmart Marketplace.
1. Roadmap your delivery process
Start by developing a comprehensive roadmap for your order delivery process. Plan out your shipping and delivery procedures in meticulous detail.
Conduct a thorough analysis of the time currently allocated to delivering products to customers. Take note of each step involved in the process, encompassing inventory picking, packing, labeling, and any other relevant tasks. If any specific step is identified as a contributor to delays in delivery, concentrate on improving and streamlining that particular aspect. This proactive approach is instrumental in enhancing the efficiency of your overall delivery process.
2. Stock up on shipping supplies.
Next, it’s crucial to ensure you have a sufficient supply of shipping materials and packing supplies to meet the increased demands during the festive season. Imagine a scenario where numerous orders need fulfillment, but you run out of essential packing materials.
To prevent such situations, examine your sales figures from the previous year, forecast the demands for the current year, and stock up on inventory supplies and packing materials accordingly.
Considering that many customers send gifts during festivals, offering gift-wrapping services can serve as an enticing bonus. Providing this service eliminates the need for customers to handle the gift-wrapping process themselves, making your offerings more attractive to potential customers. This thoughtful addition can enhance customer satisfaction and contribute to a positive shopping experience during the festive season.
3. Decide on your shipping costs.
After finalizing shipping operations, the subsequent task involves deciding on the shipping cost. You have three alternatives:
Free Shipping:
This alternative is effective in enhancing conversions, as the shipping cost frequently contributes to cart abandonment. Providing free shipping can incentivize customers to complete their purchases.
Flat Rate Shipping:
If you prefer a fixed shipping fee, irrespective of the product’s price, opting for flat rate shipping is a feasible choice. This simplifies the checkout process and offers transparency for customers.
Fixed-Cost Shipping:
Choosing the most suitable shipping cost model depends on factors such as your business strategy, target audience, and product range. Each option has its advantages, impacting customer satisfaction, conversion rates, and overall profitability. Experimenting with different models can help identify the most effective approach aligned with your business objectives.
4. Inform customers about the shipping options
Customers need to be well-informed about the shipping options you offer. At Walmart, you can provide the following shipping choices:
a. Walmart Standard Shipping
Walmart Standard Shipping ensures that the maximum timeframe from order placement to product delivery is 9 business days. This duration incorporates a transit window of 2 to 5 business days.
b. Walmart Free Value Delivery
Free Value Delivery on Walmart aims to have orders delivered to customers within 9 days. The transit time recommended by Walmart for this option is typically 3 to 7 business days.
c. Walmart Next Day Delivery
Walmart NextDay Delivery requires that orders reach the customer within 2 days, with a transit time ranging from 0 to 1 business day.
d. Walmart TwoDay Delivery
For Walmart TwoDay Delivery, the requirement is that orders must reach the customer within 3 days. This duration includes a transit time of 1 to 2 business days.
e. Walmart ThreeDay Delivery
For Walmart ThreeDay Delivery, the requirement is that orders must reach the customer within 4 days. This timeline includes a transit time of 2 to 3 business days.
6. Refine your return policy
Research reveals that 67% of online shoppers make purchasing decisions based on the seller’s return policy, and approximately 20% of online purchases are returned. These statistics emphasize the crucial role of having a return policy that is mutually beneficial for both you and your customers. With the holiday season approaching, it is advisable to review and potentially refine your return policy to uphold high fulfillment standards and minimize returns.
To Sum Up
The holiday season brings about a significant increase in orders, presenting various challenges for sellers in terms of efficient fulfillment. By following the recommended shipping practices mentioned earlier and optimizing your shipping processes on Walmart, you can turn the holiday season into a substantial sales opportunity.
For those who haven’t initiated selling on Walmart, Optiwise.ai is available to assist. Feel free to reach out to them if you have any questions or need support in getting started
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