Peak Season 2024 – Tips, stats and important dates for the diary

Peak season is approaching – are you fully prepared? This time of year within the ecommerce industry is when businesses experience a higher number of orders and sales. This period is often pivotal for the next 12 months of trading for an ecommerce business.

There are several key dates that are of extra importance within this period for your online store. So, making sure you are prepared for Black Friday, Cyber Monday, and the December holidays is vital.

If your current third-party logistics (3pl) partner hasn’t already laid out an action plan for tackling peak or you don’t currently have a 3pl partner, now might be the time to contact us at e2b, before it’s too late.

We are specialists in ecommerce fulfilment and that makes us one of the best 3pl partners to be onboard with during the 2024 peak season. We aim to turn your ecommerce fulfilment challenges into opportunities, whilst helping you navigate and grow through this period.

Throughout the rest of this article, we will highlight some of the key dates for the diary, touch on key facts and stats about peak and also give some of our top tips for steering your business through peak.

Key peak season 2024 dates for your diary 

There are a lot more key dates in peak season than just Black Friday and Christmas. Whilst every date may not be relevant to your business, below are the key dates for the 2024 retail and ecommerce peak season:

Facts and stats about peak season

To help you and your online business prepare and conquer the peak season ahead, we have looked into some of the most interesting facts and statistics from various studies around the ecommerce space. These may provide you with information that could be used within your peak season and general ecommerce strategy.  

Retail Economics found that over 202bn was spent online during peak season last year, with 17.8bn of that total being from UK customers. More than half of shoppers – 57% said they planned to do most of their shopping online. This shows that online shopping is the preferred channel the majority of people buy from during peak. 

Did you know that 90% of the best-selling days in ecommerce occur during the peak season? Therefore, it will come as no surprise that Logiwa’s 2023 Peak Season Analysis, which was across 1254 companies, highlighted the most successful businesses during the peak season optimised warehouse efficiency, lead times, and fulfilment using modern technology. This emphasises why it is important to partner with a 3pl company to help with these optimisations and to drive growth. 

Parcel Monitor’s Peak Season 2023 Report states that pricing drives 80% of consumer purchase decisions. Free shipping is another influential factor, impacting product choices for 59% of shoppers. In addition to this, Parcel Monitor data reveals that 54% of customers now expect their shipments to arrive within 1-2 days of the original estimated delivery date. This shows that although customers are more likely to wait longer for their order, the price and shipping cost does affect their decision-making. 

Our top 4 tips for peak season preparation

Have a clear plan – Has your 3pl partner discussed a clear peak season plan or forecast with you yet? If not, time is quickly running out. As 3pl specialists at e2b, our first tip for tackling peak season is to ensure you have a clear plan in place. This is much easier to plan and predict if your business has gone through a peak season before as you can take learnings from that period, but even if you haven’t, a plan should still be put in place. This allows you to better manage resource and stock.

Inventory management – Our second tip for peak season is around inventory management. This goes hand in hand with having a clear plan. Collaborating with a logistics partner such as e2b is key to avoiding any delays on inventory or even running out of stock. With our experience in supply chain and our streamlined process, we are here to keep your inventory levels optimised.

Outsource your logistics – When demand surges during Peak Season 2024, the challenges of managing logistics can become overwhelming. To streamline your operations, consider outsourcing some or all of your logistics to a professional fulfilment company like ours. This allows you to free up resources and concentrate on expanding your online store!

Contingency planning – Peak season demands flexibility. It’s the busiest time of the year for everyone across the ecommerce supply chain. Therefore, our final tip is to have a contingency plan in place where possible. This could be having emergency plans for low stock levels or your 3PL provider having multiple carrier delivery options in case they are needed. Having a backup plan could save your business time and money. 

If you want to find out how e2b could help you through peak season then contact us, we’ll be happy to offer advice during the most challenging of seasons. Alternatively, you can check out all the fulfilment services we offer.