When To Start Preparing for the 2024 Holiday Shipping Season
by Jaidyn Farar
For many small and mid-sized ecommerce businesses, the holiday season is the busiest time of the year. As people buy gifts for loved ones and stock up on holiday food and decor, online stores have a major opportunity to win new customers and welcome back old ones.
Although the holiday season comes around every year, it’s easy to let it sneak up on you. When should you start preparing to handle the rush of online shoppers? Read on to find out.
(Spoiler alert: you need to begin getting ready earlier than you might think.)
When does the peak shipping season start?
The peak shipping season—when sales and shipping volumes rise dramatically—doesn’t have hard start and end dates. However, most businesses see a significant increase in sales beginning around October and lasting through the beginning of January.
Many consumers take advantage of Black Friday, Cyber Monday, and Small Business Saturday, all of which happen near the end of November,* to get steep discounts on popular products.
However, plenty of people start their holiday shopping before that. Last year, half of consumers had started shopping by October, and 35% of people had started shopping as of September.
It’s even common for savvy buyers to begin their holiday shopping in July and August, taking advantage of end-of-summer deals.
*In 2024, Black Friday is on November 29, Small Business Saturday is on November 30, and Cyber Monday is on December 2.
When should you start preparing for the holidays?
When peak season gets into full swing in October (or even earlier), you should already have plans and processes in place for handling the increased shipping volume.
That means the best time to start preparing for holiday sales surges is now!
Although July might feel a bit too early, it’s actually the ideal time to explore new technology, ensure your current systems are working correctly, create contingency plans, and iron out flaws in your fulfillment processes.
Challenges of the holiday shipping season
Why get ready for the holiday season so early? There’s a good reason. Increased shipping volume brings many challenges, and it can take time to design workflows and create backup plans for when things go wrong.
Some of the most common peak season challenges include the following:
- Increased orders. Fulfilling more orders than usual often requires additional resources, such as extra labor and extended working hours. You also need to make sure your shipping and warehouse technology can handle the extra volume.
- Increased returns. Returns tend to spike during the holidays. You’ll need robust systems in place to handle returns quickly and restock items promptly.
- Demand fluctuations. Demand can look very different during peak season than it does during other times of the year. While you don’t want to stock out of popular products, overordering can be just as harmful. To forecast demand accurately, analyze historical data and market trends.
- Tight shipping deadlines. With many customers ordering products as gifts, it’s essential that packages are delivered by the promised date. Work closely with shipping partners to decrease the likelihood of delays, but be aware that carriers face their own peak season challenges.
Learn how you can prepare for peak season
To help you prepare, EasyPost has created several peak season resources, and we’ll be releasing even more content throughout the next few months.
Download the Peak Season Toolkit to gauge your preparedness and discover best practices.