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Online holiday shopping has been increasing from year to year, but with the pandemic accelerating that surge, Q4 of 2020 is shaping up to be unprecedented in its ecommerce volume. To ensure that products reach customers in time for the holidays, Buy Box Experts is urging online sellers to prepare now to make early cutoff dates.
Buy Box Experts has provided Amazon seller consulting services to more than 10,000 retailers and directly managed more than $2 billion in Amazon revenue. Many of the company’s leaders are former Amazon employees who share their insider knowledge to help clients with channel governance, branding optimization and growth-based advertising.
When the pandemic caused e-commerce to spike earlier this year, traditional couriers like UPS and FedEx could not keep pace so Amazon began building their own courier service. According to James Thomson, Buy Box Experts Partner, Amazon’s delivery network now handles two-thirds of last mile shipping and is best suited to handle last minute deliveries.
“Trying to work through a traditional courier is going to be more risky this year because they still have not built up their infrastructure to meet the demand,” said Thomson. “Fulfillment by Amazon orders that ship through Amazon’s own couriers will have a much better chance of pulling off those 11th hour deliveries so that they are there in time for Christmas.”
Thomson cautioned third party sellers not using FBA to be vigilant about cutoff dates that are earlier than usual. UPS ground cutoff, for example, is 10 days prior to Christmas, versus the normal seven days.
Thomson shared the following recently announced cut-off dates for pre-Christmas delivery for UPS:
- December 15 for UPS® Ground
- December 21 for UPS 3 Day Select®
- December 22 for UPS 2nd Day Air®
- December 23 for UPS Next Day Air®
Thomson added that FedEx has established a December 14 cutoff date.
While merchants using Fulfillment by Amazon can rest easy knowing that Amazon will orchestrate holiday deliveries and take the fall if things don’t ship on time, those doing their own fulfillment will have to be strategic to master the situation.
“Fulfillment-by-merchant sellers — or anyone selling on channels besides Amazon — will be left to work with USPS, UPS or FedEx, and if all three are full, they’re going to be in trouble. They won’t have the bargaining power that Amazon has so they’ll be lower on the shipping priority list, and their products may be stuck in limbo,” said Thomson.
Thomson advised merchants doing their own fulfillment to keep a close eye on cutoff dates to ensure customer satisfaction.
“I can almost guarantee that if merchants cut it close this year, it’s going to backfire.”
Thomson earned his Ph.D. in Marketing from Northwestern University’s Kellogg School, specializing in B2B pricing and distributing. He served as the business head of Amazon Services and the first Fulfillment by Amazon Account Manager, before leaving Amazon to head Buy Box Experts with CEO Joseph Hansen.
As one of the few Amazon marketing agencies with both an SMB (small to medium-sized business) and enterprise division, Buy Box Experts focuses on the unique needs of each client, no matter how big or small, crafting custom strategies to help them gain velocity on Amazon while saving time and resources.
To learn more about Buy Box Experts or get more information on navigating 2020 holiday shipping successfully, visit www.BuyBoxExperts.com.
About Buy Box Experts
Buy Box Experts specializes in Amazon account management, including A+ content detail pages, Amazon product SEO, and brand equity management. Amazon sales consultants and branding strategy managers at Buy Box Experts help businesses sell more on Amazon and protect their brand equity.
