Though it is difficult to remember a holiday season before Black Friday and Cyber Monday, the traditions themselves are relatively young. 

Black Friday started small in Philadelphia in the mid-1950s, where people would come to town after Thanksgiving for the annual Army-Navy football game held every year on Saturday.  Businesses were packed to the brim and sales were high, but with the extra shoppers came the extra shoplifters – and police quickly termed the day Black Friday.  

It was not until later in the 1980s, when profits were down and retailers were looking for the holiday boost that Black Friday was picked up nationally and proven to help launch holiday sales and record profits for year end.

Cyber Monday began as a new online shopping trend in the early 2000s.  They even considered calling it Black Monday to better accompany Black Friday, or Blue Monday after the blue hyperlinks.  Neither seemed to click, as black Monday references the day the world stock markets crashed and blue Monday does not exactly provide the upbeat holiday image marketers were looking to emphasize.

How It All Began

The term “Cyber Monday” was debuted in 2005 through a press release by the National Retail Federation (NRF) to highlight the recurring spike in online revenue and traffic on the Monday following Thanksgiving.  In the initial press release in 2005, claims were made that “77% of online retailers had seen their sales increase substantially since the previous year” and this trend was expected to continue to grow.  

It was believed that shoppers would eat their way through Thanksgiving, shop their way through the sales on Black Friday, and then Monday be at work and online to shop because the internet connections were much faster and the kids could not see what would be under the tree.

The New York Times report picked up the story, helping to educate consumers about online shopping opportunities on the upcoming Monday, and that Monday reached almost a half-billion dollars, a 26% increase from the prior year.

How It’s Going

It took years for it to live up to the initial claim “biggest online shopping day of the year.” In its first decade, many retailers and consumers believed it was more about the marketing gimmicks than sales. 

However, in 2014, everything changed. That Cyber Monday marked the actual biggest online shopping day in the country’s history and each year since it has been beaten.

Amidst a global pandemic, Cyber Monday in 2020 broke the nation’s record with Americans spending more than $10.8 billion online, crowning it the biggest eCommerce sales day in the country’s history. Part of this success is at the cost of brick-and-mortar stores who were closed or running at limited capacity due to shelter in place restrictions, causing a drop by more than 40% during Cyber Week.   

With so much uncertainty with the supply chain and many shoppers taking advantage of the extended holiday season, many are still predicting a strong Cyber Monday with sales more than $11.8 billion this year.  

How did you fare on the Biggest eCommerce Day of the Year?

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OPAL is the innovative solution to simplify your small to mid-sized to enterprise business fulfillment needs in today’s rapidly transforming retail world.  

As your eCommerce business looks to optimize processes for this coming new year ahead, OPAL is here to partner with you in your growth.  

To learn more about how your eCommerce business can thrive in the holiday season ahead with OPAL, click here!

Click here to book your customized demo today.  We are here to support you through this time of change and are here to help you innovate and thrive!

With the busiest single online shopping day still approaching, suppliers and retailers are feeling the pressure this year to survive and thrive through this extended holiday season and still have inventory for Cyber Monday.  

As the holiday season progresses, it’s important to stop and take note of bottlenecks and areas that are doing well so that as things calm in the new year, your business can assess what changes need to be made.  Part of the solution to bottlenecks may be finding, or changing to, a software solution that will help your organization achieve its goals.

Are you considering a new eCommerce software solution?

Why Use an eCommerce Platform—

A software solution empowers you to take your business to the next level through production almost instantaneously.  It helps streamline how your business interacts with your retailers, customers and employees.  

It also helps execute complex functions on both the front end and back end of the business with simplicity, such as reducing the time to fulfill orders and reducing errors from manually entered data at every stop in the process.

How to Select your eCommerce Software Solution—

A software solution successfully achieves the desired outcomes and objectives of your business.  Before this can happen, your organization must accurately assess how your business is handling such persistent high consumer demands and inconsistent supply chain issues.  

Inward reflection and assessment will help call out the processes and areas of the business that are excelling, as well as the bottlenecks that would be made more efficient with the implementation of a simple software solution.

Understanding the competitive landscape will also help to better select the type of software solution your organization needs.  If the products you sell have several variations, then a robust inventory management system is mandatory.  Individual SKUs and how you organize the layout of the inventory in the warehouse are all critical components for your team to pick, pack and ship to consumers in a timely manner.

Another important area to assess is your partnership and processes with your retailers.  They are under high pressure to assure that products are delivered quickly (same-day in some instances) and correctly to consumers, and suppliers who cannot keep up under this pressure are unfortunately cut from the list of suppliers when errors begin to arise and trust fades.

What Factors to Consider in your Software Selection – 

• Vendor Experience & Expertise:  When you meet with the software vendor, it is important to discuss how they have impacted and grown other eCommerce businesses.  
• Support & Scalability:  Implementation is key for the software solution to work, so a supportive software vendor will provide training custom to what your organization’s needs and goals. 
• Compliant Processes with Retailers:  Communicating who you supply products to and current processes will help the vendor to better personalize your package to your organization.  
• Unlimited Order Capacity and EDI Included:  The shift from a few bulk orders to thousands of small packages drop shipped to consumers everywhere has drastically increased the price of EDI for many organizations.  Find a software solution that includes this as part of the package to drastically reduce costs per transaction.

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EDI | Order Management | Warehouse Management | Shipping

OPAL is the innovative solution to simplify your small to mid-sized to enterprise business fulfillment needs in today’s rapidly transforming retail world.  

Your eCommerce business will be up and running quickly, with no downtime required for setup and the system syncs to all accounting and ERP systems without any customization required.  

To learn more about how OPAL has partnered with many to scale their business to new levels of success, click here!

Click here to book your customized demo today.  We are here to support you through this time of change and are here to help you innovate and thrive!

Retailers are urging consumers who have specific items in mind to shop early this holiday season, something made evident with numerous Black Friday sales launching the week before Halloween.  

Everything from face wash and home goods to toys and craft supplies are on sale at retailers across the nation and online right now.  Global supply chain disruptions around the world have increased the cost of manufacturing and shipping, forcing prices to sky rocket for consumers. 

The cost of shipping containers alone has soared in the last quarter.  A 40-foot container from Shanghai to New York cost $2,000 before the pandemic began.  However, now it runs close $16,000 and takes months to get overseas, through a port and to retailers and consumers.  This is just one of the many expenses that are being passes along to consumers.

Local stores are facing empty shelves in some areas where products were ordered more than eight months ago and still have not arrived.  Challenges could be based on shipping issues, others are based on raw material shortages.   Both force prices up for the actual product, in addition to an even more inflated price based on the increased demand and supply shortage.  

• Continued Uncertainty

eCommerce cannot seem to catch up lately, with more people than ever shopping online and several areas of the supply chain are either down or operating below capacity, causing backups down the coast and preventing ships from being unloaded and products getting shipped to retailers and consumers.

Nearly half of American companies report they are short on skilled workers, with goods-producing sector hit the hardest.  Suppliers and retailers are not able to keep up with demand, making it harder to survive against so many new eCommerce businesses ready to compete on small profit margins and similar products. 

Inflammatory holiday season is a new term for many this holiday season, resulting in fewer goods to unwrap this holiday season. Unfortunately, a speedy recovery from this looks slim as backlogs and elevated shipping costs are likely to persist through at least the middle of 2022.

• Increased Customer Expectations

Online shopping allows and encourages consumers to refine their search for more particular products, rather than perusing retail stores looking for interesting items for gifts this holiday season.  

Many consumers now demand free returns and free shipping, reliable and quick customer service, accurate and responsive websites, and varieties of payment methods, all while receiving a personalized shopping experience. In a good year, where companies are fully staffed, this is both costly and demanding.  This year, those who can rise to meet this premium standard of service will be set apart from others.

Customer retention is also incredibly challenging.  Though it is typically valued more so over new prospects, with so much competition in the market it is extremely difficult to guarantee a customer becomes a repeat customer. Suppliers are at the mercy of retailers to provide loyalty perks, discounts like black Friday sales as we approach this holiday, and doorbusters that will help promote products in store or online.

• Increased Cybercrime

With the unprecedented expansion of so many online stores, shoppers are spending more time and more money than ever online, and with this increase comes theft.  

Trends show that there’s a huge increase in hacks and breached data from sources that are common – such as mobile phones, loT devices like smart watches and remote working conditions that may not have top of the line security like an office would.

Research also suggests that smaller companies may not have the resources needed to protect data properly, making them vulnerable to data loss.  Whether it’s paying vendors or accepting payments directly from customers or retailers, having sound security practices in place is critical for ongoing success.

Simplify with OPAL’s 4-in-1 Software Solution
EDI | Order Management | Warehouse Management | Shipping

OPAL is the innovative solution to simplify your small to mid-sized to enterprise business fulfillment needs in today’s rapidly transforming retail world.  

As your eCommerce business looks to optimize processes for this coming holiday season and a new year ahead that will not slow down, OPAL is here to assist you so that you can grow your business and meet the demands of consumers and retailers.

To learn more about how your eCommerce business can thrive in the holiday season ahead with OPAL, click here!

Click here to book your customized demo today.  We are here to support you through this time of change and are here to help you innovate and thrive!

In the recent months, retailers and suppliers have done everything in their control to help stabilize the global supply chain as we approach this holiday season.  With many countries still shut down due to Covid restrictions and parts shortages for a wide range of products, it’s no wonder there are delays throughout the entire supply chain process worldwide.  

Biden announced the White House’s plan to help ease supply chain bottlenecks in the US by funding key West Coast ports to stay open 24/7, as well as ramping up nighttime operations for freight railroads in warehouse and shipping hubs. 

FedEx and UPS were first to announce expanded-hours operation plans to assist with delivering the backlog of packages that sit in the long line of cargo ships down the west coast. As this plan moves closer to execution, many other larger retailers have since joined together to help solve this crisis. 

The holidays are the most lucrative time of year for businesses.  As we enter this crunch season over the next ten weeks, and hopefully more products begin hitting store shelves, supplier warehouses, and online inventories, here are a few key fulfillment strategies to focus on to thrive this holiday season.

Effective Warehouse Management
It is key to quickly and efficiently receive the goods, process them and send them back out to the correct address on time.  eCommerce businesses that succeed typically implement a software solution that helps automate and streamline daily operations.  It simplifies and directs the team to know what to pick, pack and ship.  

Warehouse layout is also a critical component to efficiency.  After the summer and fall rushes, it is important to see what is working and what needs to be adjusted so that the holiday season can run smoothly.

Trained Employees
The holiday season is like the eCommerce championship games in sports and not the time to train new employees for their first game.  Everywhere we look there’s help wanted signs and those fortunate enough to snag talented employees need to focus on keeping everyone motivated and engaged so that they are content and not looking for other opportunities.

It is critical to walk new employees through the entire fulfillment process — from inventory to order management to the picking and packing process. Partnering new employees with seasoned employees will help keep the flow and speed needed each day, reduce common errors that are both expensive and timely, and provide on the job training to new employees.

Efficient Shipping Strategy
Consumers have high expectations and many believe the experience a company provides is as important as its products and services.  Many online retailers promote two-day shipping and provide online guarantees for shipping before December 24th.  No matter what the size of your ecommerce business, it can be daunting with all of the shipping delays across the country. Having a plan in place and communicating with your retailers will be critical during this time.

Any normal year would have retailers and ecommerce businesses ready to officially launch the holiday season at Black Friday, but with shortages and shipping delays, consumers started shopping much earlier than expected this year.  Reducing costly errors through efficient warehouse management, training employees and efficient shipping strategies will help as we enter this holiday shopping season.     

Simplify with OPAL’s 4-in-1 Software Solution
EDI | Order Management | Warehouse Management | Shipping

OPAL is the innovative solution to simplify your small to mid-sized to enterprise business fulfillment needs in today’s rapidly transforming retail world.  

As your eCommerce business looks to optimize fulfillment processes, OPAL is here to assist you in each of the strategies above with a significant Return on Investment outcome.

To learn more about how to make your eCommerce business scalable with OPAL, click here!

Click here to book your customized demo today.  We are here to support you through this time of change and are here to help you innovate and thrive!

Drop shipping came to the rescue for the eCommerce industry and consumers during this era of Covid – with the quick shift from large shipments sent to retailers to have on hand, to suppliers carrying the brunt and drop shipping to consumers across the world. 

Unfortunately, this holiday season is expected to come with its own set of challenges, but suppliers have inventory stacked high and shoppers are quickly preparing their lists for holiday gifts this season. With labor shortages and Covid outbreaks in other parts of the world, suppliers who are not ahead of the game may not fair well this extended holiday season.

With holiday sales expected to be an at an all-time high and grow at least 7% compared with last year, is your business prepared for the drop shipping frenzy ahead?

Drops Shipping Challenges
In eCommerce, customer service is paramount and there are numerous challenges suppliers will have to deal with as they approach this extended holiday season.

1. Speedy Delivery Expectations

The customer experience is top of mind for retailers and partnering with suppliers who are able to deliver on this gold standard is key to both being successful.  

Quick and efficient delivery relies upon inventory systems, order processing, and minimizing errors to name just a few.  Every portion of the process relies on accuracy to get the correct product to the correct consumer in the quickest time possible.

2. Delayed Shipping Challenges

USPS just announced that they will begin to implement new service standards for first class mail and is expected to slow its target delivery time by approximately 30%. And for those going cross-country, its expected to increase delivery time even more drastically. 

Ports, railway and airlines have all been impacted by increased covid cases around the world and worker shortages in the US, making it even more challenging for suppliers to get products into the country and to both consumers and retailers.

3. Tight Profit Margins

The expected quick turnaround time leaves little to no room for errors on the supplier’s part.  Simple errors like pulling the incorrect product or shipping to a wrong address could be the difference between having the product and not having the product this holiday season with such high demand and limited supply.

Increased shipments for suppliers could also potentially mean additional EDI expenses if it is not included in the price of your software solutions, decreasing your profit margin even more.

Importance of Software Solutions

Software solutions and self-driving automation can impact your business drastically when seeking to simplify your order management and warehouse management processes – increasing capacity for additional customer orders with no additional cost and without having to hire or train new staff.  

Not only does self-driving automation allow your business to reach additional customers, but you are able to build trust and prove dependability with your many retailers.

Simplify with OPAL’s 4-in-1 Software Solution
EDI | Order Management |Warehouse Management | Shipping

OPAL is the innovative solution to simplify your business fulfillment needs in today’s rapidly transforming retail world 

Implementing OPAL software into your businesses’ warehouse is proven to increase productivity by as much as 50%, significantly improving your chances for keeping up with the ever-increasing demand for eCommerce products this upcoming holiday season. 

OPAL is the innovative solution to simplify your business fulfillment needs in today’s rapidly transforming retail world.  To learn more, click here! 

Click here to book your customized demo today.  We are here to support you through this time of change and are here to help you innovate and thrive!

Many suppliers and retailers refer to the 2020 holiday season as a peak on top of a peak, with ecommerce sales surging even more for the holiday season after growing at unprecedented levels for the majority of the year.  But the 2021 holiday season comes with its own set of challenges.  

Many states are open and vaccinated consumers are ready to shop, both online and in person, but the world is still struggling with reopening after this pandemic, causing many logistical nightmares as we approach this holiday. 

A recent survey shows that many suppliers and retailers have worked hard to secure inventory now, in the third quarter, by ordering additional quantities from current suppliers and roughly a third are venturing to order from new suppliers just to bulk up inventory to handle the holiday season.

As your ecommerce business approaches this holiday season, here are several challenges that are ahead.

Labor & Supply Chain

Unfortunately, most of us have felt the impact of labor shortages lately – whether ordering dinner at a local restaurant, standing in long lines at the grocery or retail store, or waiting an extraordinary amount of time for online purchases to arrive at home. This labor shortage continues to strain customer patience as well as suppliers and retailers’ ability to provide products and services today.

With consumer demand at an all-time high and labor shortages only continuing to increase, finding adequate help this busy holiday season may prove to be quite challenging.

Supply chain challenges also continue to grow.  Ports across the world have idle ships with containers waiting for shipment, but due to constraints at the port, whether covid or shortage of workers related, products are slow to move. In many cases, railways are the busiest they have been in decades and in many areas of the country infrastructure upgrades are required to handle additional demand.

Shipping & Surcharges

USPS and other small parcel carriers like FedEx and UPS have been at and above capacity since March of 2020.  The current normal shipping environment is already providing several challenges to get products from online suppliers to consumers.  

With everything from delays due to illness closing down a facility, to a shortage of truck drivers across country, to a shortage of delivery trucks and drivers, consumers and eCommerce are in for a bumpy ride this holiday season.

Availability of Products

News media is prepping consumers for massive shortages this holiday season and encouraged many to begin shopping early.  This extended holiday season will exhaust both inventory and people, but may make it borderline impossible for those last minute shoppers.

Simplify with OPAL’s 4-in-1 Software Solution
EDI | Order Management | Warehouse Management | Shipping

OPAL is the innovative solution to simplify your small to mid-sized to enterprise business fulfillment needs in today’s rapidly transforming retail world.  

As your eCommerce business looks to optimize fulfillment processes and excel this holiday season, OPAL is here to assist you in each of these constraints and challenges.

To learn more about how to make your eCommerce business scalable with OPAL, click here!

Click here to book your customized demo today.  We are here to support you through this time of change and are here to help you innovate and thrive!