SA Courier Integration Software provider ScrubBill shares their inside guide to being well-prepared and maximising your Black Friday Weekend sales efficiency.
The South African ‘silly season’ is nearly here – with Black Friday week kicking off a six-week high sales period for physical stores and online retailers alike. ScrubBill has prepared an essential checklist of Black Friday preparation must do’s to ensure the sales, despatch and delivery process is a smooth one and to prevent post Back Friday Weekend customer hangovers in the run up to Christmas.
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PACKAGING PRIORITIES
You don’t want to be rushing to your stationers to stock up on boxes or packaging tape on the eve of Black Friday. Aim to have all your packaging delivered by the start of the week so you can top up on anything that’s missing and don’t forget to have your courier-specific stationery sorted.
Tip: Take advantage of bulk orders and discounts for packaging, stickers and courier sleeves especially if you have the space since you’ll be able to use the packaging stock for Christmas sales.
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PICK & PACK
More website traffic is going to require more staff to process orders as well as more warehouse space for stock. Efficient storage, stock layout and labelling and are a must for Black Friday and Cyber Monday. Don’t forget to double check despatch systems and factor in time to integrate casual warehouse staff to ensure efficiency.
“Whether you have a small stock room or a massive warehouse, the same principles of efficiency and a smooth customer experience apply. Don’t forget to ensure your helpdesk has been prepped for customer queries and that your tracking email system is bug free”, says Scrubbill CEO and founder Alan Ball.
Tip: Heavily discounted and loss leader stock items are going to fly – place these in easily accessible areas so they can be fulfilled and despatched quickly.
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SMART STOCK
When it comes to high traffic sales periods, stock is everything! By week two of November your loss-leader stock should have arrived in the warehouse and you will have planned your sales margins, stockholding and minimum quantities needed. This will give you a little time to adjust stock items should you have any glitches.
Tip: Ensure you have a clear idea of all stock (sales and otherwise) so that you can fulfil orders and prevent buyer disappointment.
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TIME IS MONEY
You may well need extra staff over the sales weekend period but efficient planning, stock management and a smooth despatch process will help you to cut down on unnecessary staff and weekend overtime costs.
“Just a few tweaks can help improve warehouse efficiencies hugely and that all feeds back into your profit margin – every single extra hour comes off your bottom line”, explains Alan.
Tip: Save time by preparing a Frequently Asked Questions (like delivery and returns policies) dropdown on your website as well as quick-fire customer responses for your Facebook, Instagram and WhatsApp inboxes.
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HOME SWEET HOME
Did you know that up to 40% of South African addresses are incorrectly captured on online websites – by shoppers themselves? That human error affects retailers enormously, causes courier confusion and leads to increased re-deliveries and returns. All of this affects your profit margin and more importantly your brand, as unhappy customers won’t recommend you to others and probably won’t return to the shop on your store again.
Tip: Consider including reminders on site for customers to double check their postal addresses to avoid disappointment, or better yet make use of courier integration software like ScrubBill so that waybill error is eliminated altogether.
With just days until the Black Friday sales surge kicks in, there is a buzz of anticipation in the air and ScrubBill is poised to help online retailers make the most of it. Their unique, efficient integration into this space is changing the way businesses build customer loyalty and repeat sales.
HOW DOES SCRUBBILL WORK?
ScrubBill’s tested solution provides a seamless integration layer between the eCommerce Store and Courier. Silently placed in between these two, ScrubBill validates all address data before passing orders through the delivery process.
For more information on how ScrubBill can help your business become more efficient, contact us today.