5 Key 2020 E-Commerce Trends For The Holiday Year-End Sales Season & How to Prepare For It, Logistically

Believe it or not, the holiday season is right round the corner! The festive season often always means more gatherings, parties, celebrations and gift-giving. It's also the best time for businesses to offer promotions and plan for campaigns to boost sales. This Holiday 2020 is a little special and will be unlike any other Holiday Season. No matter what though, the holiday season remains essential to retail sales and for those who've been affected this COVID-19 season, your sales this season could be crucial in helping your business recover. Unsurprisingly, the key is to start preparing and planning for Christmas and the New Year early. Read on to learn some of the key e-commerce trends we can expect from this year's holiday sales season and tips on how you can prepare for it logistically and potentially increase your business' revenue!

In Q2 of this year, global digital revenues grew by an unprecedented 71% over the same period in 2019 because of COVID. With consumers becoming more and more familiar with making purchases online, many will opt to do so and have the items delivered to their doorstep. An unprecedented increase in e-commerce sales is predicted across Singapore and the world. How can you prepare for this? 1. Start planning early and find the right couriers for your business, especially if you need support from more than 1 company! You know what they say about not putting all your eggs into a single basket. If you’ve your own fleet, it’s important to consider if they’ve the capacity to manage expected peak in volumes during this sales season. Nobody likes it when their deliveries are late, especially if it’s a gift for someone. If you think your current fleet may not be able to handle a sudden surge in deliveries, it’s best to consider alternative delivery options. 2. Don’t forget to also look at historical data! Data about past sales, such as which inventory stock were best sellers, average order size, origin/channel of maximum orders (e.g. online or in-store) and other variables will help inform the right order fulfilment strategy. Measuring sales trends as they change will show spikes and curves in your sales data. By identifying what happened historically, you will be able to better forecast and prepare for your sales. P.S. If you’re using Pickupp’s delivery services, you can always analyse your delivery data from the 2019 peak season using our digital dashboard!

On top of huge spikes in e-commerce sales, shipping delays have been felt across the world as a result of lockdowns, curfews and measures put in place by governments in response to COVID-19. Supply chain constraints due to a lack of capacity to respond to these processes is expected. How can you prepare for this? 1. Starting your sales promotions at an earlier stage and setting the right customers expectations will give you an edge over other retailers! While it is ideal to find fulfllment and delivery companies that are reliable and will always meet the stipulated delivery timings, it’s always better to underpromise and overdeliver. Communicating longer delivery lead times to customers will help to manage expectations, where faster deliveries will be a happy bonus! In line with the above, we would also like to emphasise the importance of preparing for back-up courier services that can meet your on-demand and urgent delivery needs. Very few courier companies in Singapore offers express delivery services that will meet your on-demand delivery needs. Pickupp is one of them!

Statistics have shown that 40% of shoppers will wait until the last 10 days before Christmas to buy gifts. A lack of time and knowledge on what to buy are often reasons why many gift-givers make last minute Christmas purchases. This year is unlikely to be any different. How can you prepare for this? Merchants can better cater to these customers by offering: 1) Curated options that removes the guesswork for gift-givers 2) Same day delivery as an option to cater for last minute christmas shopping. Such fast delivery lead times will certainly give your business an edge over others!

Since the onslaught of COVID-19, which had left many traditional brick and mortar stores closed, drastic discounts and promotions have been offered on an ongoing basis. How can you prepare for this? 1. Offering new products, specially bundled and curated items as well as partnerships with other retailers are some of the ways you can stand out and increase your sales! Consumers may be faced with promotion fatigue and to stand out, retailers must offer something special and better. Price slashing should not be the sole driver of your upcoming year-end sales campaign. It would be important to innovate your products, removing products that may not be relevant anymore but offering new items that may be higher in demand. For example, with the inability to travel this year-end, items that can only be found overseas would be high in demand. On the other hand, the sale of travel accessories in this season would no longer make sense.

Although, an increase in digital and online sales is expected, do not neglect your retail store! People still need their retail therapy and will continue to visit stores! How can you prepare for this? 1. Focus on enhancing your customers’ experience While social distancing can cause long waiting times and make it a little tiresome for customers to shop in-store, there are certain services you can offer to enhance their experience. For example, a queue number system will reduce crowds and allow your customers to use their wait times freely. 2. Ensure that you’ve a variety of stocks in-store and also support deliveries to stores when necessary. While customers may choose to purchase the products online eventually, your store would be the only platform for them to try and explore your products.

1. We're a Flexible Delivery Solution that can be Customised to Your Business Needs 2. Important & Transparent Tech Features 3. Reliability & Scalability

Pickupp believes in using technology to solve the last mile delivery problem and give consumers greater delivery convenience at lower cost but faster delivery speeds. With the rise of the gig economy, many consumers are already familiar with the concept of crowdsourcing. Pickupp's crowdsourcing technology connects directly with local couriers who use their own transportation to make deliveries, and also supports our ability to provide on-demand and scheduled deliveries.

Our core products and services – 4-hour Express and Standard (1-3 Days) delivery services has enabled many companies to scale their business without breaking the bank. By offering a 4-hour on-demand timeframe for same day deliveries instead of 1-hour express, Pickupp has been able to keep costs affordable and better fulfil our promise to deliver on time. In fact, we promise a 99% delivery success rate – where missed or late deliveries are rare and exceptional. For businesses that prefer not to have on-demand delivery services, Pickupp provides Standard (1-3 Days) delivery service as an alternative. In comparison to businesses that only provide 3 - 5 days delivery services, our next day deliveries are faster and will help businesses gain an edge over their competitors.

If you're not convinced, click and read more to understand why we're the best courier company to support your peak sales season. We currently also have a special 20% delivery rebate promotion for new users that will run from 1 November to 31 December 2020 only. Receive $200, 75 and $30 free delivery credits when you pre-pay with us. Other Good Reads: Adapting Customer Experience in the Time of Coronavirus