How to prepare for holiday shipping on Walmart?

Streamline your shipping operations to deliver the best shopping experience to your Walmart customers. When customers order your products, what they expect is quick delivery. So how to prepare for holiday shipping on Walmart? If that’s your concern, we have got you covered.

While it can be uneasy to handle the holiday rush, there are ways to be up the notch this holiday season and ship the products to your customers on time.

In this blog, you’ll discover all you need to know to prepare your business for increased order volume and offer the best shipping experience during the holiday season.

Shipping Best Practices to follow during the holiday season.

With the arrival of the festive season, the prospects for better sales increase, and you need to buckle up to make the most of it. Quality listings and attaining a sale are the two things; what comes next is- Timely Order Fulfillment. So if you are a Walmart seller and want to simplify fulfillment during the upcoming holiday season, below are the best practices that you can work on to ship products quickly on Walmart.

1. Roadmap your delivery process

You first need to prepare a roadmap of the order delivery process. So plan for your shipping and delivery processes and make a roadmap.

Analyze how much time you currently spend delivering the product to the customers.

You undergo many processes, like picking the inventory, packing, labeling, etc., to deliver the product to the customer. Note down the time you spend in each of these steps. If any step is causing a delay in delivery, work on its improvement and streamline it.

2. Stock up on shipping supplies.

Next comes the stocking of sufficient shipping supplies and packing materials to meet high festive demands. Imagine you have loads of orders to fulfill, and in between, you are left with no more packing materials.

So do not let this happen. Look into your last year’s sales figures, predict the demands for this year accordingly, and stock up the inventory supplies and packing materials.

During festivals, most customers send gifts to their loved ones. Offering gift wrapping can work as a cherry on top if you offer it too. It helps you attract potential customers as they don’t need to indulge in the gift-wrapping task and can hand it over to you.

3. Closely monitor your Carrier’s shipping deadlines.

Each carrier has a set shipping deadline. Look into it and analyze the probable delays that may happen so you can buckle up and craft your shipping strategy accordingly.

The following tables from ShipStation, represent the shipping Cutoff dates in the US for 2022:

USPS Holiday Shipping Deadlines in the US for 2022

Shipping Service	Shipping Cutoff Date
USPS Retail Ground™	December 17th, 2022
USPS First Class Mail®	December 17th, 2022
USPS Priority Mail®	December 19th, 2022
USPS Priority Mail Express®	December 23rd, 2022

UPS® Holiday Shipping Deadlines in the US for 2022

Shipping Service	Shipping Cutoff Date
UPS 3 Day Select®	December 19th, 2022
UPS 2nd Day Air® services	December 21st, 2022
UPS Next Day Air® services	December 22nd, 2022

FedEx Holiday Shipping Deadlines in the US for 2022

Shipping Service	Shipping Cutoff Date
FedEx Ground® Economy	December 8th, 2022
FedEx Ground®	December 14th, 2022
FedEx Home® Delivery	December 14th, 2022
FedEx Express Saver®	December 20th, 2022
FedEx 2Day® Services	December 21st, 2022
FedEx Same Day	December 23rd, 2022

Hence, offer your best by carefully working per the above-mentioned Cutoff dates.

4. Decide on your shipping costs.

Now all the shipping operations are done. The next task is finalizing the cost of shipping. Here you have three options:

Since the cost of shipping is often the cause of cart abandonment, you can offer free shipping to boost your conversions.

You can offer flat rate shipping if you want to charge some fixed amount as a shipping charge, irrespective of the product’s price.

You can also offer fixed-cost shipping if you want to charge differently for different products, and customers will pay the shipping cost.

5. Inform customers about the shipping options

Customers should be aware of the shipping options you offer. At Walmart, you have the following shipping options:

a. Walmart Standard Shipping

Under Walmart Standard Shipping, the maximum window from when an order is placed to the product delivery is 9 business days, with a window of 2 to 5 business days of transit.

b. Walmart Free Value Delivery

Under Free Value Delivery, orders must reach the customer within 9 days, with a Walmart-recommended transit time of 3 to 7 business days.

c. Walmart Next Day Delivery

Under Walmart NextDay Delivery, the orders must reach the customer within 2 days, including 0 to 1 business day in transit.

d. Walmart TwoDay Delivery

Under Walmart TwoDay Delivery, the orders must reach the customer within 3 days, including 1 to 2 business days in transit.

e. Walmart ThreeDay Delivery

Under Walmart ThreeDay Delivery, the orders must reach the customer within 4 days, including 2 to 3 business days in transit.

To learn more about Walmart shipping and delivery options, read Everything on Walmart Shipping Services: Next Day, 2-Day, SWW, and More.

6. Refine your return policy

As per research, 67% of online shoppers shop for products after being aware of the seller’s return policy. Also, 20% of the online bought products are returned. All these figures state that the return policy should be such that it favors you along with your customers. So revisit your return policy for the holiday season, and see if any refinement is needed to keep fulfillment up the notch and returns at the minimum level.

Also read:

• How to reduce Cancellations and Returns on Walmart?
• How to grow your business with Walmart Marketplace Capital?
• How to start selling on Walmart.com and use it to your benefit?
• What is Every Day Low Prices or EDLP policy that Walmart follows?

To Sum Up

The holiday season means increased orders, and their timely fulfillment presents several challenges for sellers. Abiding by the above-mentioned best shipping practices and shipping efficiently at Walmart will help you convert the holiday season into an enormous sales opportunity.

However, if you are not yet selling on Walmart, you can start by filling up this Walmart marketplace application form. You can also connect with CedCommerce if you need any help.