It’s the most wonderful time of the year…or not – if you aren’t prepared. Surprisingly, many e-commerce sellers throw their hands up in the air when it comes to peak periods, including Christmas.
It’s already a stressful time, therefore you don’t want to be dealing with any additional stress caused by issues and unhappy customers. Don’t worry! We’ve got you covered with some of our top tips for optimising your e-commerce fulfilment at Christmas.
This is something you probably already do, but now more than ever, you should really be analysing data from previous years. This is extremely insightful and can really help you predict upcoming seasonal trends, estimate product demand, and help you plan your stock levels.

Using an inventory management tool is a no-brainer, it will make things so much easier for your e-commerce fulfilment and for you, as you can closely monitor multi-channel stock levels and set up low stock alerts so you can keep on top of things.
While we are on the subject, it is worth using your inventory management tool to update your stock levels in real time to prevent you from overselling stock you don’t actually have. Nobody wants to deal with backorders or unhappy customers, especially at Christmas.

Have you announced your final posting dates and turnaround times? What about checking the final dates and turnaround times for couriers? If you’re using a 3PL, have you checked details and dates with them? It’s critical that you make sure they’re in place and clear to customers. Otherwise, you may struggle to hit the deadlines you need and satisfy your customer base.

Hiring extra staff may also be a good idea, without extra staff you may struggle to get orders out on time due to the increased volume of orders that peak brings. Obviously, you want to make sure you’ve picked the right fulfilment method, so let’s dive into that and what you can do to keep things running smoothly.

Are you using in-house fulfilment?
Great! You can offer faster shipping by hiring more warehouse staff to speed up, and increase pick and pack. You can also invest in order management software.

3PL user?
Hopefully your 3PL will be up to speed and can keep things moving quickly and smoothly during the Christmas period, but if not, it is definitely time to reconsider which UK fulfilment centre you partner with. (Hint: TSP is always keen to help!)

Why not offer free deli