The holiday season is the most lucrative time of the year for eCommerce, and online retailers everywhere will soon be hit with a massive influx of orders. This is a vast opportunity for any business, but it's easy to become overwhelmed if you're not prepared. Fortunately there are several measures you can take to ensure you're ready for the large number of orders you may be shipping out during the holidays.
One crucial factor to be aware of is the deadline for shipping an order for it to arrive on or before December 25, Christmas Day. This deadline varies per carrier and service, location, and destination. A list of 2019 shipping deadlines is useful for shoppers and retailers alike. We'll list US, Canada, UK, and Australia shipping deadlines shortly, but first we want to share our best shipping tips so you don't get buried under the blizzard.
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The 2019 holiday shopping season is going to be about a week shorter than usual, because Thanksgiving is so late in November this year — November 28. This means Black Friday and Cyber Monday, the biggest sales events of the year, are taking place a full week closer to Christmas. Cyber Monday isn't even until December 2. This means customers have less time to shop, and a shorter time for packages to arrive at their destinations before Christmas.
As an eCommerce business owner, you may want to consider starting your holiday promotions a bit early this year to allow for shoppers who don't want to wait an extra week for the big sale. For example, if you normally start your Black Friday sale on Thanksgiving, you could start it on Monday of that week instead to give customers a bit more time. You may be able to come up with a unique promotional event centered on the lateness of Thanksgiving this year. Ultimately it's up to you as to whether this is right for your marketing strategy.
Before the holiday season begins, you should prepare your business as well as possible. Start by evaluating last year's sales numbers to get an idea of what you might experience this year. Identify bestselling products, note your shipping costs, and keep track of any other shipping patterns your store experienced, such as the countries or regions most frequently shipped to. Now is also your chance to correct any problems that arose during the previous season.
Of course, this year's holiday shopping season may not be identical to last year's, so don't expect it to be. Instead, use last year's information to help you with this year's strategy and be ready to handle any new variables that come up. Keep in mind how new products might change the situation, especially if you're planning on a holiday release for any new items, and make sure you can handle the potential sales volume. If you're capitalizing on a trend, you may be expecting even more sales, so be ready.
Whether a product is a known holiday bestseller or a brand new item you're sure will be popular, be sure to stock up on inventory before the holiday shopping season begins. Even less-popular products should be considered for a bit of overstock, just in case. Selling out of anything during the holidays means a lost opportunity, and you can always move remaining overstock with another sale later — New Year's Day is popular for this.
The holiday shopping season is famous for images of overcrowded retail stores and rapidly-emptying shelves, causing lots of stress for shoppers everywhere (which is why more people prefer eCommerce in the first place). You don't want to have to be out there with them, rushing to buy more packing materials to handle your orders! Instead, stock up early on any materials you use to ship your products, which could be bubble wrap, paper, Styrofoam peanuts, or other material. Some shipping carriers also offer free boxes upon request, so make sure you ask.
The holidays are not the time to skimp on packaging — you want everything to arrive in perfect shape so your customers (and their gift recipients) are fully satisfied. The more packing materials you have ready, the easier it is to ensure your shipments make it to their destinations in one piece.
If your shipping process needs improvement, now is a better time than ever to make optimizations that will help both you and your customers. If you don't use free or flat-rate shipping, display real-time shipping rates on your eCommerce website so customers aren't surprised by the costs. If you're ready to experiment with free shipping, offering it once a certain threshold is reached is proven to increase order sizes.
Delivery date estimates can also give you an advantage, since customers will be able to see the estimated delivery date of their order rather than having to do the math themselves, as they do when only given a shipping speed such as 3 – 5 days.
To make shipping easier for your business, ensure that your eCommerce software includes a full range of built-in shipping features as well as integrations with the best shipping software and best shipping refund solutions. These tools can improve the workflow for your shipping procedures and ensure your business receives the best rates.
3dcart has everything you need to optimize shipping in all the ways described above, including our FedEx and UPS Delivery Estimates feature introduced in 3dcart version 9.1. Delivery Estimates are included free on the 3dcart Pro plan and higher, and this functionality is also available through certain shipping apps like Advanced Shipping Manager.
Whether or not you use delivery estimates, you should keep your customers as informed as possible about the holiday shipping deadlines for any carriers and methods you use. You can take this information from the tables below and share the pertinent dates with customers in a few ways. You could consider adding the information directly to product pages, releasing a blog post, creating an Extra Page, or sending out an email newsletter to get the information out to your customers. We do recommend posting it prominently on your website!
Remember you want to make shopping as easy as possible for your customers, so you could also make a point to tell them on what day they'll need to switch to expedited shipping — i.e. when a standard shipping method will no longer allow the order to reach the destination in time.
Here is a list of recommended shipping deadlines for parcels sent from within the US using a variety of carriers, including USPS, FedEx, and UPS.
|
Service |
Cutoff Date for Christmas Delivery |
Within the Contiguous US |
|
|
Retail Ground |
Saturday, December 14 |
|
First Class Mail |
Friday, December 20 |
|
Priority Mail |
Saturday, December 21 |
|
Priority Mail Express |
Monday, December 23 |
To Alaska |
|
|
First Class Mail |
Wednesday, December 18 |
|
Priority Mail |
Thursday, December 19 |
|
Priority Mail Express |
Saturday, December 21 |
To Hawaii |
|
|
First Class Mail Priority Mail |
Thursday, December 19 |
|
Priority Mail Express |
Saturday, December 21 |
|
Service |
Cutoff Date for Christmas Delivery |
To Africa |
|
|
First-Class International Priority Mail International |
Saturday, November 30 |
|
Priority Mail Express International |
Saturday, December 7 |
|
Global Express Guaranteed |
Thursday, December 19 |
To Asia, Australia, Canada, the Caribbean, Europe, the Middle East, the Pacific Rim, and New Zealand |
|
|
First-Class International Priority Mail International |
Saturday, December 7 |
|
Priority Mail Express International |
Saturday, December 14 |
|
Global Express Guaranteed |
Thursday, December 19 |
To Central and South America |
|
|
First-Class International Priority Mail International |
Saturday, November 30 |
|
Priority Mail Express International |
Saturday, December 7 |
|
Global Express Guaranteed |
Wednesday, December 18 |
To Mexico |
|
|
First-Class International Priority Mail International |
Saturday, December 7 |
|
Priority Mail Express International |
Saturday, December 14 |
|
Global Express Guaranteed |
Wednesday, December 18 |
|
Service |
Cutoff Date for Christmas Delivery |
Within the US |
|
|
FedEx SmartPost |
Monday, December 9 |
|
FedEx Ground FedEx Home Delivery |
Monday, December 16 |
|
FedEx Express Saver FedEx 3Day Freight |
Thursday, December 19 |
|
FedEx 2Day FedEx 2Day A.M. |
Friday, December 20 |
|
FedEx 2Day Freight |
Saturday, December 21 |
|
FedEx Standard Overnight FedEx Priority Overnight FedEx First Overnight |
Monday, December 23 |
|
FedEx SameDay 2 FedEx SameDay City Priority 2 FedEx SameDay City Direct 2 |
Wednesday, December 25 |
To Puerto Rico |
|
|
FedEx International Economy |
Friday, December 20 |
|
FedEx International First FedEx International Priority |
Monday, December 23 |
|
FedEx International Next Flight |
Tuesday, December 24 |
To Canada |
|
|
FedEx International Ground |
Friday, December 13 |
|
FedEx International Economy |
Friday, December 20 |
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FedEx International First FedEx International Priority |
Monday, December 23 |
|
FedEx International Next Flight |
Tuesday, December 24 |
To Mexico |
|
|
FedEx International Economy |
Thursday, December 19 |
|
FedEx International First (non-documents) FedEx International Priority |
Friday, December 20 |
|
FedEx International First (documents) |
Monday, December 23 |
|
FedEx International Next Flight |
Tuesday, December 24 |
To Other International DestinationsFor other destinations not in this list, FedEx recommends you use their Rates and Transit Times Calculator which can provide complete information for dozens of countries worldwide. |
|
|
Service |
Cutoff Date for Christmas Delivery |
Within the US |
|
|
UPS Ground |
Friday, December 13 |
|
UPS 3 Day Select |
Thursday, December 19 |
|
UPS 2nd Day Air |
Friday, December 20 |
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UPS Next Day Air |
Monday, December 23 |
To Canada |
|
|
UPS Standard (from contiguous US only) |
Friday, December 13 |
|
UPS Worldwide Expedited |
Friday, December 20 |
|
UPS Worldwide Express UPS Worldwide Express Freight (select destinations only) |
Monday, December 23 |
To Mexico |
|
|
UPS Standard (from contiguous US only) |
Friday, December 13 |
|
UPS Worldwide Expedited |
Thursday, December 19 |
|
UPS Worldwide Express UPS Worldwide Express Freight |
Friday, December 20 |
To Other International DestinationsFor other destinations not in this list, UPS recommends you use their Time and Cost Calculator which can provide complete information for dozens of countries worldwide. |
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Here is a list of recommended shipping deadlines for parcels sent from within Canada using a variety of carriers, including Canada Post, FedEx, and Purolator.
|
Service |
Cutoff Date for Christmas Delivery |
Within Canada |
|
|
Expedited Parcel (National zone) |
December 13 – 20 |
|
Expedited Parcel (Regional zone) |
December 19 – 23 |
|
Xpresspost (National zones) |
Friday, December 20 |
|
Priority Xpresspost (Local and Regional zones) Expedited Parcel (Local zone) |
Monday, December 23 |
To the US |
|
|
Parcel/Packets |
Tuesday, December 10 |
|
Xpresspost |
Friday, December 13 |
To Other International Destinations |
|
|
Air Parcels/Packets (to Africa) |
Tuesday, November 26 |
|
Air Parcels/Packets (to destinations other than Africa) Xpresspost (to Africa) |
Tuesday, December 3 |
|
Xpresspost (to destinations other than Africa) |
Friday, December 6 |
|
Service |
Cutoff Date for Christmas Delivery |
Within Canada |
|
|
FedEx Ground |
Friday, December 13 |
|
FedEx Economy |
Thursday, December 19 |
|
FedEx 2Day |
Friday, December 20 |
|
FedEx Overnight Services |
Monday, December 23 |
To the US |
|
|
FedEx International Ground |
Friday, December 13 |
|
FedEx International Economy |
Friday, December 20 |
|
FedEx International First FedEx International Priority |
Monday, December 23 |
To Other International Destinations |
|
|
FedEx International Economy (Latin America, Caribbean, Middle East, Africa, Asia-Pacific) |
Tuesday, December 17 |
|
FedEx International Economy (Europe) FedEx International First & Priority (Middle East and Africa) |
Wednesday, December 18 |
|
FedEx International First & Priority (Asia-Pacific) |
Thursday, December 19 |
|
FedEx International First & Priority (Latin America, Caribbean, and Europe) |
Friday, December 20 |
|
Service |
Cutoff Date for Christmas Delivery |
|
Service to Eastern Europe, Africa, South Asia and the Middle East |
Wednesday, December 11 |
|
Purolator Ground service to the US |
Friday, December 13 |
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Service to East Asia (including China, Japan, and Thailand) |
Tuesday, December 17 |
|
Service to Mexico, Caribbean, South and Central America, Western Europe (including the UK, France, and Germany), and Australia |
Wednesday, December 18 |
|
Next Day Delivery to Canada or the US |
Monday, December 23 |
Here is a list of recommended shipping deadlines for parcels sent from within the UK using a variety of carriers, including Royal Mail, Parcelforce, and Hermes.
|
Service |
Cutoff Date for Christmas Delivery |
|
2nd Class Royal Mail Signed For 2nd Class |
Wednesday, December 18 |
|
1st Class Royal Mail Signed For 1st Class Royal Mail Tracked 48 |
Friday, December 20 |
|
Royal Mail Tracked 24 |
Saturday, December 21 |
|
Royal Mail Special Delivery Guaranteed |
Monday, December 23 |
|
Service |
Cutoff Date for Christmas Delivery |
|
Service to the Middle East and Far East (except Hong Kong and Singapore) |
Saturday, September 29 |
|
Service to Australia, Canada, Hong Kong, New Zealand, Singapore, South Africa, the US, and other non-European destinations (except the Middle East and non-listed Asian/Far East destinations) |
Saturday, October 5 |
|
Service to Cyprus, Eastern Europe, Greece, Iceland, Malta, and Turkey |
Saturday, November 2 |
|
Service to Western Europe |
Saturday, November 16 |
|
Service |
Cutoff Date for Christmas Delivery |
|
Service to Africa, Asia/Far East, Caribbean, Central and South America, and the Middle East |
Monday, December 9 |
|
Service to Cyprus and Malta |
Tuesday, December 10 |
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Service to Eastern Europe (except the Czech Republic, Poland, and Slovakia) |
Wednesday, December 11 |
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Service to Australia, Greece, New Zealand, and Turkey |
Thursday, December 12 |
|
Service to Canada, the Czech Republic, Finland, Italy, Poland, Sweden, and the US |
Saturday, December 14 |
|
Service to Austria, Denmark, Germany, Iceland, the Netherlands, Norway, Portugal, Slovakia, Spain, and Switzerland |
Monday, December 16 |
|
Service to Belgium, France, Ireland, and Luxembourg |
Wednesday, December 18 |
|
Service |
Cutoff Date for Christmas Delivery |
Within the UK |
|
|
Two Day Services Express 48, Express 48 Large |
Friday, December 20 |
|
Next Day Services Express 24 Timed Services Express 9, Express 10, Express AM, Express PM |
Monday, December 23 |
|
Service |
Cutoff Date for Christmas Delivery |
Within the UK |
|
|
Last day for courier collection |
Friday, December 19 |
|
Last day for Standard Parcelshop drop-off |
Saturday, December 21 at noon |
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Last day for Next Day Parcelshop drop-off |
Sunday, December 22 at noon |
Here is a list of recommended shipping deadlines for parcels sent from within Australia using Australia Post, or Sendle.
|
Service |
Cutoff Date for Christmas Delivery |
|
Parcel Post |
December 11 – 19 |
|
Express eParcel |
December 18 – 23 |
|
Non-metro areas of Tasmania, the Northern Territory, and Western Australia may need extra time in transit. |
|
|
Service |
Cutoff Date for Christmas Delivery |
Within Australia |
|
|
Long-haul national deliveries |
Tuesday, December 10 |
|
Short-haul national deliveries |
Monday, December 16 |
|
Same-city national deliveries |
Wednesday, December 18 |
International Destinations |
|
|
Zone 3: Rest of World Zone 2: South Pacific and Asia |
Wednesday, December 4 |
|
Zone 2: North America, UK, and Europe |
Wednesday, December 11 |
|
Zone 1: New Zealand |
Thursday, December 12 |
With these holiday eCommerce shipping tips and deadlines available, you're now more prepared than ever to have a successful holiday season. We also welcome you to check out our complete guide to holiday preparations for your online store, in which we cover promotions, marketing, and other aspects of holiday eCommerce. You can find it below as a free ebook download.