When parcels can no longer arrive by Christmas, switch the store to what still works: gift cards sent by email, pickup for local customers, and January orders with a printable note, announced in plain dates on every page.

The day after the cut-off

By this week, the last days for Christmas delivery by standard shipping have passed for most of the country, and the express cut-offs follow within days.

On many online stores, nothing changes. Checkout still offers standard shipping, and the customer assumes a parcel ordered today will be under the tree.

Some find out from the order confirmation. Others find out on December 27, which is worse for everybody.

Yet the people still shopping this week are some of the most motivated buyers of the year. They need something to give on the day.

What still works this late

The fifth is what makes the fourth work: somebody ordering for January still needs something to hand over on the day.

Say it before the cart

None of this sells unless the store says, plainly and early, that ordinary shipping will no longer arrive in time.

A banner across every page does most of the work: standard shipping will not arrive before Christmas; gift cards arrive by email; pickup is available until noon on the 24th.

Repeat it where the decision is made: near the top of each product page, in the cart, and beside the shipping choices at checkout.

Then switch off or rename the options that now promise the impossible. A rate still called Christmas delivery on the 21st is a refund waiting to happen.

Gift cards by email

An emailed gift card is the one product with no shipping day. It can be bought on Christmas Eve and opened on Christmas morning.

Most store platforms can sell them, some through an add-on. Where the system allows, let the buyer name the recipient, write a message and choose the day it is delivered.

Offer a version to print as well, for people who want something to put inside a card.

Most provinces have rules restricting expiry dates and fees on gift cards, with some exceptions, so check the wording before the first one goes out.

Pickup for local customers

A store with a shop, a warehouse or a workshop can offer pickup as a free shipping option, named for what it is, with the address and hours beside it.

Say when an order will be ready, not just that pickup exists. Ready the same day if ordered by two o'clock is something a customer can plan around; pickup available is not.

Send a message when each order is ready, and keep pickup orders together, labelled with the customer's name.

If the store can deliver across a small area itself, name the towns and the days, and stop taking those orders when the van is full.

Orders that ship in January

Some customers would rather give the real thing late than a gift card on time. Let them, as long as they know exactly what they are buying.

A product page can say, in its first line, that orders placed now ship on January 3, with everything else unchanged.

Include a printable page with each order: a picture of the item and a line saying it is on its way. A late gift becomes a gift opened twice.

Do not take money for anything you cannot ship in January either. If stock is uncertain, say so, or sell only what is on the shelf.

A worked example

A lavender farm on Vancouver Island sells soaps, sachets and oils from its farm shop and online across Canada, most of them as gift boxes in December.

Last year the store kept selling with standard shipping until the 23rd. About a dozen boxes arrived after Christmas, and the owner spent the week between the holidays refunding shipping and apologising.

This year, from the last shipping day, a banner says boxes will no longer arrive by Christmas, and standard shipping names its January dispatch date.

Boxes ordered from now are packed in the first days of January and come with a printable card showing what is coming.

Gift cards, emailed on a date the buyer chooses, sit at the top of the shop page, and pickup from the farm shop runs until noon on the 24th.

Nothing about the products changed. The store stopped promising what shipping could not deliver and offered what it could.

The order email does the reassuring

Every order placed from now should confirm in writing what will happen: the delivery date of the gift card, the pickup time, or the January shipping date.

That email is what the customer rereads on December 23 when they start to worry, so give the promise in dates.

Set an auto-reply for any days the shop is closed, giving the pickup hours and the day January orders ship.

What not to promise

Express services may still reach some addresses for a few more days, at a price. If you offer them, give the real cut-off for each region and the real cost.

Take the option down the moment its cut-off passes. An express rate left up overnight is exactly the one a late shopper will pay for.

And do not promise pickup times or delivery days the staff schedule cannot cover. A promise broken on the 24th is remembered longer than a sale the store did not make.

The counter-case

A store selling only digital products, or one whose customers mostly shop for their own use, has little to change beyond its customer service hours.

A store with no premises and no local customers cannot offer pickup, and one whose stock is made to order may not be able to promise January dates.

For them the list is shorter: an honest banner and gift cards by email.

But any store that sells gifts should say when ordinary shipping stops arriving, and then offer what still does.

Today

  1. Find your last delivery date for each shipping option.
  2. Put a banner on every page saying what still arrives.
  3. Rename or switch off shipping options that cannot arrive.
  4. Put gift cards by email at the top.
  5. Offer pickup with ready times and hours.
  6. Give January orders a printable note.
  7. Confirm every promise in the order email.

Step three matters most. A shipping option still offered at checkout is a promise, and the customer who picks it is entitled to believe it.

Giving people a reason to buy that is not a discount is covered in Cyber Monday without a sale.

Frequently asked questions

What can a store sell after the last shipping day?

Gift cards sent by email, pickup for local customers, local delivery where the area is small, and orders that ship in January with a printable note for the day.

How should the store announce it?

With a banner on every page saying what still arrives by Christmas, repeated on product pages, in the cart and beside the shipping choices at checkout.

Should standard shipping stay on at checkout?

Only renamed to give its real dispatch date. An option still called Christmas delivery after the cut-off is a promise the store cannot keep.

Can gift cards have an expiry date?

In most provinces, generally not. Rules there restrict expiry dates and fees on gift cards, with some exceptions, so check the wording before the first card goes out.

How should pickup be offered?

As a free shipping option named for what it is, with the address, the hours and the time an order will be ready, plus a message when it is.

Are January orders worth taking?

Yes, for customers who would rather give the real thing late. Say the shipping date in the first line and include a printable note to hand over on the day.

West Coast Media Solutions Inc. provides web design, web development, hosting, digital marketing, and business consulting to organisations across Canada, drawing on more than twenty-five years in the field.

Store still offering Christmas delivery today?

Send us the store's address. We will help change the banner, the shipping options and the order email today.

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