Delight your customers this Black Friday and Cyber Monday

Here’s how the 2024 figures for Black Friday and Cyber Monday (BFCM) stacked up (Source: Shopify):

• Global Black Friday online sales came in at US$17.5 billion
• Online e-commerce stores are the largest contributor to Black Friday sales
• Consumers are more likely to spend on Black Friday than Cyber Monday
• 67,000+ merchants on Shopify said Black Friday was their highest selling day
• Australia, Canada, Germany, UK and US are the most active and top-selling countries
• 30% of retail sales happen between Black Friday and Christmas.

Pause for a moment to consider that, during a year of rising costs of living, interest rates and uncertainty, in an unexpected turn of events, 2024 saw many BFCM sales records broken as customers shopped for bargains. Sales predictions are strong for 2025 too.

Let’s face it: the amazing opportunities presented by BFCM can be daunting. Here we unpack some of the challenges that you may face.

Our data and insights tools will give you the information that you need to make informed decisions around your stock. As part of our advanced inventory management solutions, you can use our what-if scenario planning tool to interrogate your inventory data: if your sales increase by x% in these 10 SKUs, what stock would you need, by location, in order to fulfil your orders?

Our online systems feature AI and natural language capabilities that generate responses to your queries, complete with charts and graphs for key performance indicators (KPIs) such as sales by product or category, inventory levels, transportation metrics and more.

While BFCM is a peak, we know you will also have quieter times. With DHL Fulfillment Network, our service is scalable, so you can reduce your stock levels during off-peak times or in off-peak markets. Our inventory tracking tools will allow you to have adequate stock in place for quieter periods, too.

Learn more about our Advanced Inventory Insights tools.

At DHL Fulfillment Network, we lose no time in storing your goods in the most appropriate locations so they can be immediately picked once sold. We use smart algorithms to optimize storage, packaging and dispatch. This often allows us to reduce turnaround time from 48 hours to next day. Once we receive your orders in our system, we pick and pack them quickly so that we can get them out to your customers on the same day. Our service standard is to ship all orders received up to 2 hours before the carrier’s final collection on the same day.

Follow your BFCM orders from end-to-end using the MySupplyChain portal. Our track-and-trace system provides visibility across all warehouse fulfillment centres and carriers in one place. A single login to one fully integrated system is all you need with DHL Fulfillment Network. 

At DHL Fulfillment Network, we understand the importance of fast returns handling. When your goods come back to us, we check and grade them quickly so you can refund your customers and have your stock back on the shelves ready to sell. As an integral part of our e-commerce fulfillment service, we will have your returns available for resale within 48 hours. We can often even achieve this on the same day they arrive.

Rest assured, our detailed business continuity plans take into account appropriate action in case of emergency. We can also scale our operations to meet peak volumes so that we never compromise on our service standards. As a well-established provider of choice, our plans address health and safety concerns, customer data security, staffing issues, carrier delays and more.

As we have a global network of warehouses, you can store your goods close to your end consumers. This keeps your shipment times down, but it also reduces your carbon footprint, not to mention your last-mile costs. As the world’s leading logistics provider, we constantly strive towards our goal of carbon neutrality by 2050, through measures such as heat pumps, solar panels, efficient transport planning, sustainable fuels and waste reduction.