Anyone who is anyone in eCommerce knows that the Black Friday Cyber Monday weekend is one of, if not THE busiest sales periods in the eCommerce calendar. With it’s prime position for pre-Christmas sales shopping we see a massive 69% of Black Friday shoppers completing their transactions online. With this tremendous influx of online sales brands need to be prepared to deal with a sudden increase in demand, and over the years with eCom platforms such as Shopify and Magento now offering an incredible solution to downtime over the sales period the next biggest issues that brands are facing is their fulfilment.
More orders in means more packages going out! And whilst this is amazing for brands, to put it simply a lot of businesses just cannot keep up with demands. Now… as we’ve said these extra orders are definitely not a bad thing! But when it comes to heavy sales periods you want to look at the long-term benefits that this influx of customers can have for your brand.
During the BFCM sales period, 52% of all consumers will be first-time buyers. Giving brands a whole load of new potential to tap into. And that is where your eCommerce fulfilment takes centre stage. We cannot guarantee that 100% of your Black Friday customers will repeat purchase if they have an amazing online experience, that’s just the nature of the industry. But we can almost definitely guarantee that if they have a negative one, they won’t come back…
So, how do you ensure you’re Black Friday ready? The answer is: bring in the experts!
Why use a fulfilment partner for BFCM and beyond?
Gain access to larger warehousing facilities and experts in stock management.
Firstly, and foremost, when it comes to Black Friday you need to ensure your stock levels are going to keep up with an increased demand for your products. Your marketing team have done a fantastic job of getting new customers to your site, and the eCom team are getting those products flying off the shelf…
Enter your 3PL. An experienced 3PL partner will have exclusive access to a large warehousing and storage facility which is equipped for holding high volumes of your products at one time. And can often offer additional storage options during peak sales times to keep up with increased demand.
At SCEND we have a large warehouse and storage facility situated in the heart of England. Giving us access to all major transport links feeding each corner of the UK. But that’s not where the benefits end, we also have expert stock and inventory managers on hand to keep you informed of stock levels in real-time. Using state-of-the-art technology, you will have 24-hour access to your own portal where you can be actively involved in knowing where you stand during peak periods. Having this insight into your stock can help you better manage your web sales meaning that no orders are sold that you cannot fulfil! The perfect way to avoid disappointed customers, keeping these first-time buyers on side and hopefully converting them into brand advocates.
Perfect packaging for cross-selling and encouraging repeat custom.
When it comes to Black Friday, we often see brands sending out products in boxes with very little attention to detail. We get it. If you’ve had an influx of orders, it's better to get them out on time than to sweat the small stuff! But, when it comes to working with a 3PL… it IS our job to sweat the small stuff!
That’s why, no matter what time of year it is, we always ensure that your packaging, custom inserts and everything else that’s meant to go in with your products, still does.
This includes small tokens of appreciation such as thank you cards, suggested products, vouchers and more. This will help to convert the customers who came for the sales, to stay for the service.
Create experiences with custom inserts.
More sales means more returns. Is your returns management up to speed?
An influx of orders often means an influx of returns too! Returns shouldn’t be something to worry about. There are a number of valid and necessary reasons why people return purchased goods. However, when the return rate increases, your returns process is not up-to-scratch this is when customers can become frustrated. Queue a new end-to-end fulfilment partner.
At SCEND we not only provide an exceptional fulfilment service which connects your products to your customers quickly, efficiently and with that extra flare, but we also have an amazing returns process which allows you to service your customers long after the sales journey has ended. On average 25% of products purchased online will be returned, and during peak sales times this is even higher.
Having a 3PL on your side who are experts in a friction-free returns process can be the difference again between those customers never coming back, and becoming long-serving brand advocates.
Get Black Friday ready. Make the move to SCEND.
Get ahead of the game this Black Friday and turn to SCEND. We have an exceptional operation in place which has proven time and time again to withstand the test of the BFCM influx. But don’t just take our word for it:
“They run a very smooth operation and have ensured our customers are getting the best shopping experience possible. Christmas and BFCM is without doubt our busiest period, and over this time we saw no issues with our service level at all, and in fact didn’t have to push out any SLAs.”
The last onboarding for clients for Black Friday and Cyber Monday is the 3rd of November 2023. Interested?
