Let gift buyers ship to a different address, write a message that actually prints on the packing slip, and choose a gift receipt that hides the price. Then place a real test order sent as a gift.

A parcel with no name in it

A cookbook arrives at a house in another province in early December. In the box are the book and a packing slip showing the price, the buyer's billing address and their phone number.

What is not in the box is the message the buyer typed at checkout. It was saved with the order, on a screen nobody in the packing room looks at.

The recipient has a cookbook, a price and no idea who sent it. The buyer, who did everything right, finds out at Christmas dinner.

Most small online stores are set up for people buying for themselves. For about six weeks of the year, many of their orders are for someone else.

What a gift order needs

The second is the one that fails most quietly. Plenty of stores collect a gift message; far fewer have checked that it prints on anything that goes in the box.

Shipping somewhere else

Most store platforms already separate the billing address from the shipping address. The check is whether a buyer on a phone can find that option without hunting for it.

The shipping address needs the recipient's name, not the buyer's, and room for an apartment or buzzer number. A gift left in a lobby because the unit number was missing is a gift lost.

Be careful with fraud settings that flag every order where the two addresses differ. In December, different addresses are simply how presents are bought, and blocking them blocks the season.

A message that prints

A gift message box is easy to add. Some themes include one, some stores use the order notes field, and extensions cover the rest.

The work is in what happens next. The message has to appear on the packing slip or a separate card, in the box, every time, without anyone remembering to copy it out.

Show a character limit beside the box, so the message fits the card. And test unusual characters: an emoji typed on a phone can print as an empty square.

Small stores can write the cards by hand, which is charming, provided every message reaches the person writing them.

A gift receipt

A gift receipt is usually a packing slip without prices. Most platforms let the packing slip be edited, or offer a version with the prices removed.

It should still show what was sent, the order number and how to exchange it. The recipient needs enough to swap a size without asking the buyer.

Decide what an exchange means for a gift. A common answer is an exchange or store credit for the recipient, with any refund going back to the original payment only with the buyer's agreement.

If December orders get a longer return period, say so on the receipt and on the returns page. January is when gifts come back.

A worked example

A small company selling sweaters, toques and mittens knitted from Canadian wool had a checkout with an optional box for notes about the order.

Last December gift buyers used that box for their messages. The packing slip came from the store's default template, which printed the prices and both addresses but not the notes.

Several recipients opened sweaters with no message. Two wanted a different size and had to ask the buyer for the order number, which told the buyer the gift did not fit.

The message existed. The template, untouched since the store launched, simply had nowhere to put it.

This year the checkout has a box labelled gift message, with a limit, and a tick box for a gift receipt.

When that box is ticked, the slip prints the message and leaves out the prices, and an exchange card with the order number goes in the parcel.

Emails and the surprise

Order confirmations and shipping notices go to the buyer. Check that nothing reaches the recipient that mentions the price, or names the gift, before the parcel does.

If you ask for the recipient's phone number for the delivery, say why it is needed and use it for nothing else.

And never add a recipient to the mailing list. Canada's anti-spam law requires consent, and an address supplied by the buyer is not the recipient's consent.

Gift wrapping

Offer wrapping only if it can be done consistently on your busiest day. A photograph of the wrapped result beside the option tells buyers exactly what they are paying for.

Wrapping also adds packing time, so wrapped orders may need an earlier last order date than plain ones.

When to make the changes

Checkout and template changes are exactly what a sensible store leaves alone in the days before Black Friday. If yours is frozen this week, make them on the first quiet morning after Cyber Monday.

That still leaves a good part of the gift season ahead. Until then, a printed card added by hand to every order with a note covers the gap.

Then test the result as a gift buyer would: order on a phone, ship it to a colleague's home with a message and a gift receipt, and open the box as the recipient.

The counter-case

A store that rarely sells presents, such as one selling replacement parts or trade supplies, can leave its checkout as it is.

A very small store can handle the occasional gift order by hand, reading the order notes and writing the card, as long as somebody reads every note.

And a store that cannot change its packing slip this season can print a simple gift card and add it by hand until January.

For any store that sells gifts, though, a separate address, a message that prints and a receipt without prices are what make it usable for presents.

The first quiet morning

  1. Check the shipping address option on a phone.
  2. Add a gift message box with a limit.
  3. Make the message print on the slip.
  4. Create a gift receipt without prices.
  5. Put an exchange card in gift parcels.
  6. Keep recipients off the mailing list.
  7. Place a real test order as a gift.

Step seven is the one that finds every other problem. Each feature can look right in the settings, and only the box arriving at a colleague's door shows whether the message, the receipt and the emails behave together.

The dates gift parcels have to meet are covered in shipping cutoffs for Christmas delivery.

Frequently asked questions

What does a gift order need at checkout?

A separate shipping address with the recipient's name, a gift message that prints, a receipt without prices, an exchange route for the recipient, and emails that go only to the buyer.

Why do gift messages go missing?

The checkout saves them with the order, but the packing slip template never prints them, so nothing reaches the box unless someone copies it out.

What is a gift receipt?

Usually a packing slip without prices that still shows what was sent, the order number and how to exchange it, so the recipient never has to ask the buyer.

Can I add gift recipients to my mailing list?

No. Canada's anti-spam law requires consent, and an address supplied by the buyer is not consent from the recipient.

Should fraud settings flag different shipping addresses?

Not automatically in December. Different billing and shipping addresses are simply how presents are bought, and blocking them blocks the season's gift orders.

When should I make these changes?

Not during a freeze before Black Friday. Make them on the first quiet morning after Cyber Monday, add printed cards by hand until then, and test with a real gift order.

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.

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