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If you’re in Southeast Asia and the region, who doesn’t know about the double digit shopping days? It seems like there’s always a sale to look forward to every month.
It all began back in 2009, when the aptly named Singles Day was rebranded by Jack Ma’s Alibaba to become not just a day to celebrate singlehood, but a shopping extravaganza. The phenomenon only grew to include more shopping days, first with the double digit 12.12 day for smaller merchants in China, then with Shopee joining in with launching the 9.9 Super Shopping Day in Southeast Asia. This all culminated in ShopBack bringing all these shopping days together in a year-end “super sale period” called ShopFest, which consisted of 9.9, 10.10, 11.11, Black Friday, Cyber Monday, 12.12, Christmas, and New Year’s Day.
The goal was to drive e-commerce spend during these sale days, and it was such a huge success that more double digit shopping days began popping up on the e-commerce calendars.
Made popular by marketplaces like Lazada and Shopee, there’s now basically a sale every month. If 3.3 was over, all a customer had to do was wait for 4.4. These sales days set a regular cadence for consumers to come back and purchase items, and drive traffic to e-commerce sales.
If you’re prepping for a sales day, the first step not to be skipped is to forecast demands. To forecast demand accurately for your sales day, analyse your historical data and utilise predictive analytics.
Look at past promotional campaigns and the increase in sales for those periods. See what worked and what didn’t, and use that information to predict how much stock you’ll need to meet demand.
Predictive analytics provide an educated guess for demand, so you can avoid being understocked on the big day. Stock up on your best sellers, hot items and bundle deals. Be ready for an influx of new and returning customers.
With an accurate demand forecast, you’ll ensure a smooth-running operation during your sales day. You’ll have sufficient inventory to fulfil orders on time, keeping customers happy with their purchases and experience.
Types of Demand Forecasting Methods
Historical Data Analysis: Leveraging past sales data to predict future demand, its strengths, and limitations.
Collaborative Forecasting: Involving various stakeholders, including sales teams and suppliers, to gather insights and refine forecasts.
Manage Inventory to Ensure Sufficient Stock
To ensure you have enough stock on hand for your big promotional sales day, effective inventory management is key.
An efficient supply chain and strategic inventory management are instrumental to running a seamless promotional sales event. Monitor stock levels regularly, utilise forecasting tools, and stay in close contact with your logistics partners. By planning ahead and staying prepared, you’ll keep your customers happy and make the most of your sales days.
Closely track your inventory levels in the weeks leading up to the sale using inventory management software. This will allow you to see current stock numbers for each product and spot any potential shortages. If certain items are running low, you can quickly reorder more units to meet anticipated demand.
You’ll want to schedule any final reorders to arrive at your warehouse with enough time for your team to process the new stock before the sale begins. Work closely with your shipping partners to ensure quick and reliable delivery of all inventory.
Enable Seamless Order Processing and Fulfilment With Technology
Technology solutions enable a seamless order processing and fulfilment experience. As an e-commerce business, implementing order management software and partnering with a logistics technology provider like Janio can help optimise your operations.
Streamline Order Management
On big promotional days, the huge influx of orders can overwhelm operations. But with the use of the right technology and logistics support, you can scale efficiently to meet demand and deliver a great customer experience. Sales days become an opportunity to gain new customers through fast, accurate fulfilment.
To make the most of these events, it’s crucial to streamline order processing and fulfilment. Let’s explore the best practices and fulfilment strategies for e-commerce businesses to consider.
Streamlining Order Processing
From the moment your customer places an order, it’s an opportunity for you to delight them. Efficient order processing is like the heart of your e-commerce operation – it keeps things running smoothly. Here’s how to streamline it:
1. Automated Order Entry: Instead of manually entering orders, consider implementing systems that can automatically capture and process orders. This reduces human errors and speeds up the process.
2. Order Routing: When an order comes in, it needs to be sent to the right location for fulfilment. Using intelligent routing systems ensures that orders are directed to the nearest distribution centres or warehouses. This means faster delivery times, which customers love.
3. Real-time Inventory Tracking: Imagine a situation where customers order items that are out of stock – that’s a nightmare! Real-time inventory visibility allows you to keep an eye on stock levels, preventing overselling, and ensuring you can fulfil orders accurately.
Fulfilment is the process of picking, packing, and shipping orders. This is where you can truly shine during promotional sales days by meeting customer expectations.
1. Efficient Picking and Packing: Visualise your warehouse like a well-organised supermarket. Orders should be picked quickly, and items should be packed efficiently to save time. Work with your operations team to optimise these processes.
2. Shipping Options: Customers have different preferences when it comes to shipping – some want it fast, while others are happy to wait. Offer a range of shipping options, including express and standard, to cater to all customer needs.
3. Returns Management: Promotional sales often lead to increased returns. Prepare for this by having a streamlined returns process in place. It’s all about making it easy for customers to return items while also ensuring that you can quickly restock them.
4. Communication and Tracking: Nobody likes uncertainty. Keep customers in the loop about their order’s status, and provide shipment tracking information. This keeps them informed and reduces inquiries to your customer service team.
Your customers have just grabbed amazing deals on your platform during a promotional sales day. They’re excited, but now it’s your turn to shine. The right shipping solutions can turn a great deal into a memorable shopping experience.
While you’re busy planning those enticing sales campaigns, remember that shipping and logistics can either make or break the customer experience during promotional sales days.
1. Fast and Reliable: Speed matters. During sales events, customers expect their orders to arrive quickly. Shipping solutions can help you meet these expectations by optimising delivery routes and minimising transit times.
2. Have Flexible Options: Not all customers are the same. Some might be willing to wait for a few extra days if it means saving on shipping costs, while others want their packages ASAP. Offering various shipping options caters to these preferences and keeps customers happy.
3. Keep a Global Reach: Sales events often attract customers from far and wide. Expand your reach by offering international shipping options, which helps you to open up new markets and revenue streams.
4. Sustainable Shipping: Use recyclable or biodegradable packaging materials, and keep your shipping routes efficient. It’s not just good for the planet; it’s also a selling point for eco-conscious customers.
To ensure efficient and sustainable delivery operations on your promotional sales day, partner with a reliable logistics provider. A dependable fourth-party logistic (4PL) partner like Janio can optimise your supply chain through streamlined management of logistic vendors, data-driven insights, and effective returns handling.
Janio’s vendor management expertise helps oversee multiple third-party logistics (3PL) providers, ensure optimal delivery times and reduce errors. Our analytics provide transparency of shipment performance across multiple destinations and countries. An optimised logistics operations mean faster, more sustainable delivery for your customers.
The key to promotional sales success is a seamless customer experience from purchase to delivery. Partnering with a data-driven fourth-party logistic (4PL) partner like Janio helps achieve this through streamlined operations. Focus on sales - let the logistics experts handle the rest!
Running successful promotional sales days in the e-commerce landscape of Southeast Asia requires a comprehensive strategy, as we have covered in this guide.
All you really need is a well-rounded approach that blends data-driven insights, technology solutions, and eco-conscious practices.
Strategies like using accurate demand prediction, having an effective inventory management, and streamlining order processing to make it not only more efficient but more sustainable, allows you to run a double digit day sales campaign successfully - and do it all over again!
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