How couriers can prepare during seasonal trends is a crucial topic to know. Courier service stands for speed, efficiency, and safety in the delivery of a customer’s shipment during seasonal trends. Courier services understand that your time is valuable and are here to ensure that your shipment reaches its destination during the seasonal trends.
How can couriers prepare for seasonal trends like Christmas?
According to the Fedex business insights article, Never before has the Christmas atmosphere enveloped our cities like these days, and, as usual, Santa Claus will have to commit to delivering all the requested gifts on time. It will therefore be necessary for someone in the gift factory to prepare the shipments and process all the orders arriving during this period.
But have you ever thought that the famous Christmas gift factory moves just like a warehouse? So, let’s go back to reality and try to imagine what happens in a courier service during the Christmas period.
This is a rather complex period due to the increase in orders and movement of goods, as well as the delivery speed with which the entire logistical process must take place. The shops must be stocked quickly and punctually, in order to always make the goods available in a period of such high attendance and at the same time, avoid creating an excessive warehouse of stock products inside them.
We must consider that shops have very little space in which to store incoming goods before placing them on the shelves; for this reason supplies must be constant and punctual, in order to allow efficient organization of the point of sale. Added to the needs of the points of sale are those of e-commerce users, who expect the goods to arrive in a very short time, without considering the multiplicity of activities carried out by the logistics operator and the couriers who will then carry out the delivery.
The process of deliveries during the seasonal trends
- The courier accepts the customer’s product, for transportation. Delivery and transfer of cargo are carried out according to the number of cargo spaces/packages without recalculation of goods deposits during seasonal trends.
- The courier chooses the route and delivery method with Courier Software.
- The courier has the right to engage third parties for delivery in order to improve delivery conditions (including deadlines), as well as to change the data of third parties (partner carriers) without agreement with the product provider, the customer, and the store during the seasonal trends.
- The proof of delivery is the signature of the recipient in the delivery document or other internal document of the courier (including the transport consignment note) or an electronic sign in the courier’s system obtained by means of electronic methods of delivery control (including QR or barcode scanning in the courier’s specialized mobile application).
Courier Software is a solution for managing seasonal trends
Courier Software is on track and is ready to satisfy the needs of all its courier services, even the most demanding, who find themselves facing a large increase in orders during seasonal trends.
That’s right: many Courier Software’s customers, especially the delivery services have significant peaks in orders during the seasonal trends and require a great effort from the company, which is committed to guaranteeing a service that is always punctual and efficient. Consider that during the Christmas period the peaks of work can exceed 100% of the annual average, therefore, these are exponential increases.
The increase in workload, the management of a greater number of orders, and the organization of a high number of shipments with stringent delivery times are managed by Courier Software with great professionalism of the resources available to the company and thanks to advanced technologies, to the computerization of processes and automation, everything is carried out within the required times.
Courier Software is able to satisfy the needs of your customers by reaching the points of sale on time or delivering directly to the end customer within the pre-established times. The Courier Software can help with effective task management, to ensure drivers complete work during the seasonal trends within their shift times, and start and end their routes at designated places.
Also, customers can get awesome information about the date their product will arrive or when their service will arrive during the crowded seasonal trends. Customers can also get precise notifications about when the service provider or courier is on their way and when the goods have been successfully delivered. This is a stunning advantage for the courier industry as it can maintain customer satisfaction in the most extensive way, thereby helping overall courier business growth and sustainability during seasonal trends.
How courier services can prepare during the Christmas season
Many of the big holidays are already behind us, like Halloween and National Unity Day. However, Catholic Christmas, Hanukkah, New Year and Christian Christmas are still ahead. Of course, it’s likely that your customers won’t celebrate all holidays, but most do tend to celebrate a few, giving courier companies the opportunity to use the favorable season to increase sales. Never miss your opportunities. It’s time to organize your strategy. Here are some awesome things you need to consider to stand out to your courier customers this holiday season.
1. Prepare your calendar
Make sure you have each of these holidays marked on your calendar and have reminders set. It is necessary to prepare seasonal content for each of these holidays in advance and send greetings and offers in time for the corresponding holiday. Share the calendar with your team and plan ways to communicate with the courier client. Create your social media holiday calendar ahead of time because you need to remember that your team will be on vacation. So, the more planning, the better.
2. Formulate your proposal
You need to make sure that marketing materials for the courier services featured in your holiday offer are ready, changes are made, or coupons are posted on your courier website.
3. Prepare gifts
A great way to attract courier customers is to offer a gift, clarify that you are not just reducing prices, but also celebrating a holiday and giving gifts to your courier customers. This could be something as simple as an information service or a coupon. You need to make your customers feel like you are celebrating with them.
4. Decorate your window display
You need to design a courier service’s website or special banners for the website, customize the design of your courier service website and prepare holiday packaging. Courier customers should feel like they are taking advantage of a limited time offer.
5. Show off your personality!
And don’t forget that the holidays are a time of fun. You may not be able to throw a party with your clients, but you can joke with them, be yourself, and build real relationships that will lead you to success next season.
Incorporating a little holiday cheer into your courier service’s marketing strategies during these months will make you more memorable to your customers and audience. Take the time and do the extra work to make sure you and your team have strong communication channels throughout the holidays.
Why are processes necessary in courier services during seasonal trends?
Implementing standard operating procedures in the courier structure is crucial for the smooth flow of work during seasonal trends. Once you tell your couriers how they should perform their tasks and in what directions they should be guided, the probability of achieving the desired goals in a shorter period of time is high.
A standard operating procedure, which is also called SOP for short, is a combination of instructions set by the management of the courier service in order to facilitate the complex daily work during the seasonal trends. The introduction of such procedures improves the effectiveness of couriers, faster achievement of courier service’s goals, better communication between people and, an increase in the courier company’s value on the market.
Creating a standard operating procedure for couriers to follow can take time. However, once you build it and start using forms and templates, you will successfully optimize your courier business’s workflow during the seasonal trends. Defining and describing the courier company’s processes, detailed market research, combined with goal setting, and planning will form your SOP. Conversations with couriers are also important, because they are part of the processes, and can most clearly represent what is happening in services, as well as give constructive feedback.
The standard operating procedures during the seasonal trends are also used by the new couriers in the company, therefore the information in them must be systematized and accurate. It is recommended that the data in the SOP be updated at least once a year, because the market is constantly developing, and you should not be left behind during the seasonal trends.
Conclusion
Real-time visibility of courier services can ensure the timely completion of tasks during seasonal trends. Courier managers get full visibility of drivers’ locations, and can assign tasks to them while on the road. Customers can also be provided with information regarding the progress of their delivery.
So, the preparation of courier during seasonal trends is fundamental. With Courier Software for employees, courier services can ensure they have continuous communication with their employees on the road, so they can easily assign work while they’re on the road, and ensure there are no misunderstandings. Employees also feel more empowered with the software because they can easily complete tasks with less frustration when there are changes to their routes or cancellations.
