COVID19 Archives | Lateshipment.com

Supply Chain Crisis in the US: Causes, Effects, and Corrective Measures

Sashank Ravindranath — Tue, 26 Oct 2021 05:58:15 +0000

If you have happened to follow the news in the recent past, you might be aware of the global supply chain crisis that is happening:

The number of container ships around ports has doubled since April
Dwelling times of containers has reached 6-10 days, way above the average 4-5 days
Railyards have also been clogged, with trains at one point backed up 25 miles outside a key Chicago facility.

All of this can threaten to spoil the Holiday season joy for e-commerce retail businesses such as yours by eating into your profits.

There are more negative consequences of this supply chain crisis but before we look at them, let us find the answer to the question, what really is causing these logjams?

What is Causing This Supply Chain Crisis?

“There are going to be disruptions and shocks to the system as long as the pandemic persists and could last into 2022” – Pete Buttigieg

Americans who chose to stay home and came outside after feeling trapped at home for a long time have been equally spending dollars on shopping goods such as laptops and at places such as restaurants, triggering an unprecedented increase in demand that the nation’s unprepared logistics system was unable to handle.

Consumer goods demand is overall 22% higher compared with pre-pandemic levels (comparing February 2020 with August 2021). – BBC

This sudden increase in demand doubled with the negative consequences of the pandemic such as workers getting affected by the virus, nationwide lockdowns, shutting down of operations, etc., resulted in lower production and distribution businesses and thus businesses ended up not being able to handle the demand.

This demand > supply factor doubled down with external factors such as shortage of workers and effects of climate change, etc is said to have caused this crisis in the supply chain.

E-commerce activity has witnessed major gains and has subsequently impacted warehousing and importing, straining logistics and supply chain networks. – White House media release

Large businesses have the bandwidth to double down on their logistics operations and make sure they are least affected by this global phenomenon. But what about small businesses?

What Does This Supply Chain Crisis Mean for E-commerce Businesses?

Industry experts see momentary changes between the situation getting worse and staying at a standstill. Either way, it doesn’t look like it’s normalizing.

As the customer demand doesn’t seem to be going down anytime soon, you can expect the situation to continue into 2022 (beyond the Holiday season).

This naturally conveys that your customers’ Holiday season orders could hit a slump and would lead to a big blow on your revenue. Everything from Halloween costumes, to tech products such as computers and printers for Black Friday, Christmas decors and lights are all set to reach your customers late due to the current crisis.

The commercial pipeline that each year brings $1 trillion worth of toys, clothing, electronics, and furniture from Asia to the United States is clogged and no one knows how to unclog it. – Washington Post

If these disruptions don’t seem enough to lose revenue, your shipping and freight costs are known to increase, leading to a cut down on your customers’ discounts in order to meet ends.

Moreover, you can as well anticipate lower purchases from customers, who will shop less due to the sudden inflation.

But don’t let your hopes down. There are measures simultaneously being taken and which you can take to counter the crisis. Understand what they are and make sure that you are least affected by them.

Corrective Measures Being Undertaken and What E-commerce Merchants Can Do to Ease the Supply Chain Crisis

Even though the crisis doesn’t look to get any better, the White House primarily and others who have been affected by it have been taking appropriate measures to rectify the situation and reduce considerable damage, if not already done.

Following President Joe Biden’s urge, The White House has issued orders for congested ports of Los Angeles and Long Beach to work 24/7 and keep containers out of ports by doing doubling trips
Biden also said he’s considering deploying National Guard to help ease the stress on the US supply chain as it prompts growing concern about the economy
Retail giants such as Walmart, Target, Home Depot, Samsung, etc and shipping carriers such as FedEx and UPS have all considered committing to increase usage of nighttime hours.

Similarly, experts have some suggestions for growing businesses such as yours to overcome this disruption:

Now that road and sea cargo costs have risen considerably and the fulfillment time difference being huge, businesses can consider aircargo as a better option
This year the holiday battleground is not only the CX you provide but unexpectedly the availability of your products. Therefore, look for ways to keep your inventories stocked
Encourage customers to start shopping early as 3-4 weeks during the Holiday season days, especially right before Thanksgiving and Black Friday to avoid last-minute delays on their orders
Provide a realistic estimated delivery date of delivery even before customers make their purchase so that they become aware of the crisis and refrain from blaming you in case the delivery timeline gets extended
Keep your customers in the loop of their orders via tracking information across post-purchase touchpoints to avoid getting blamed for delays that are no fault of yours.

Bottom Line

From the experts’ point of view, the past stands for an unprecedented issue, the present stands at the situation getting worse before it gets better, and the future is the calling out of the existing logistics operations model.

The supply chain and logistics system will not and should not revert to the original model that existed during the pre-pandemic times as the current scenario calls for desperate measures in the form of modernization.

While increasing operations, availability of products, getting help from everyone possible would indeed help businesses and the economy itself circumnavigate past the Holiday season, the actual transformation of the supply chain model is the key for long-term benefits.

From your customers’ point of view, it looks like they’re indeed aware of what’s happening with their parcels as they would’ve been affected by the delay during the past few weeks. This is what led their work on permutations and combinations to understand where exactly the demand is cropping up.

They will also start shopping earlier this year and not wait for discounts during times like Black Friday. This is because they are well aware that higher demand, labor, and shipping costs will result in businesses, especially smaller ones, providing fewer discounts to meet ends. They will not risk their order getting stuck somewhere for some bargain, which would obviously be an awful gamble.

And as of now, follow the experts’ advice, understand the consumers’ buying behavior, and hope for the situation to get better or ‘normalize’ if there were such a thing.

The post Supply Chain Crisis in the US: Causes, Effects, and Corrective Measures appeared first on Lateshipment.com.

[COVID-19] Everything you need to know about eCommerce Parcel Shipping During the Pandemic

Naveen Selvaraj — Fri, 24 Jul 2020 10:26:45 +0000

The COVID-19 pandemic has had an enormous impact on the retail landscape. It has led retailers to accelerate their efforts towards digitizing their businesses and improving their eCommerce channels.

Undoubtedly, one of the main spurs behind this push has been consumers’ widespread adoption of online shopping that has led to a massive spike in eCommerce sales and home deliveries.

While initially shipping carriers weren’t prepared for a volume surge at this time of the year, they have come to terms with the situation.

Major carriers set up temporary fulfillment hubs and took preventive measures like contactless and signatureless deliveries to protect both customers and their employees from getting infected.

With the understanding that COVID-19 is here to stay, most businesses have come to terms with the new normal.

Under these conditions, here’s what you should know about shipping orders to your customers:

1. Additional surcharges mean higher shipping costs

U.S. eCommerce sales made up roughly 11% of total retail sales in 2019. That number jumped up to 22% of all retail sales in April and May of 2020.

Shipping carriers, in-order to cope with the spike in demand and the complexities of delivering parcels, added surcharges, thus increasing shipping costs.

FedEx added 30 cents to parcels delivered to homes. This surcharge is applicable to retailers who ship at least 40,000 packages a week and whose volume is higher or more than their average in February 2020. Oversized items will also include an additional fee.

UPS added 30 cents per package as surcharge for retailers who exceeded their average February weekly volume by 25,000. An additional surcharge is also levied for oversized packages shipped by businesses that ship more than 500 packages a week.

Similarly, DHL added a variable surcharge to all its Time Definite International shipments for packages between 2.5 kg and 300 kg.

Such surcharges from shipping carriers during the holiday season are not unusual but having them levied in the first half of the year presents a challenge.

However, since shipping carriers have canceled money-back guarantees only on late deliveries, you can still claim refunds for incorrect surcharges and 49+ other service failures.

2. Expect an increase in delivery delays due to shipping carrier impacts

During the pandemic, shipping carrier operations have taken a hit due to the surge in parcel volumes, especially home deliveries, and staffing shortages. As a result of this, there has been an increase in delivery delays.

Some parcels have been delayed for days and even weeks, leading to frustrated customers calling out shipping carriers on the internet.

Without a doubt, major shipping carriers like FedEx, UPS, and USPS have delivered a relatively lower number of packages on-time in recent months.

As of April 14, FedEx delivered 81.7% of its parcels on-time, UPS 86.0% of its parcels, and USPS 89.3% of its parcels.

Experts opine that this trend will likely continue in upcoming months as more consumers turn to online shopping, increasing the number of home deliveries, to get essential products while sheltering at home. So be prepared for delays with your shipments.

While you cannot control the delivery speed of your shipping carriers, you can always keep a tight grip on order processing and handling times to ensure that your packages reach as early as possible.

3. Delivery uncertainties mean a spike in delivery-related customer queries

Searches for “customer service” have been higher during the lockdown than during the last holiday season.

Also, businesses have been seeing a surge in customer queries, as customers are anxious and frustrated due to the uncertainties around deliveries.

Initially, customer support agents had limited visibility into order deliveries since updates on packages were sometimes not available or because some packages were not getting scanned or were being sent back without notifications.

But as restrictions were removed and businesses started opening up, the volume of queries dropped. On average, global weekly tickets in mid-May were down nearly 5% from their peak.

This trend didn’t last long though and the volume of tickets rose in early June, before dropping again in the middle of the same month.

With the pandemic evolving and uncertainties during deliveries still a major problem, keeping your customer support representatives on top of every issue is critical. More on that later.

4. Customers seek transparency & proactive communication on their orders

Transparency has never been more critical than now, during the pandemic. Though customers have been giving retailers some leeway with all the delays and delivery uncertainties, they expect more transparency and pro-activity.

They expect brands to communicate about delivery delays in time. They do not appreciate being left in the dark.

Many brands have put out messages on their sites, informing customers to be prepared for possible delivery delays and giving them a variable delivery time.

With the present conditions set to continue for a while, it’s in your business’s best interest to overcommunicate with customers rather than the other way round.

Here’s what you can do to navigate ‘shipping and delivery’ challenges and control shipping costs

Though costs are spiraling, there is much you can do to make every dollar go farther for you and your business.

1. Offer access-point deliveries

Access point deliveries are generally cheaper than home deliveries. Access points are usually situated near the point of delivery, where recipients can come and pick up their parcels.

In the USA, major carriers like FedEx, UPS, and USPS have over 100,000 staffed or automated access points, usually retail stores.

Apart from stores, access points can also include:

• Dropboxes

• Mailboxes

• Carrier shipping centers

• Full-service, carrier-authorized outlets

• Parcel lockers

• Third-party retail stores

You can also offer alternative delivery locations, which will be convenient and accessible to your customers.

2. Offer Curbside Deliveries

If you own an offline store, then offering a curbside delivery could be a win-win situation for both you and your customers.

From a shopper’s perspective, it is quick and convenient, and for you, it will help save on shipping costs.

While until the pandemic, only mass retailers offered buy online, pick up in-store services (BOPIS), after the pandemic hit, more and more independent retailers have started offering such services. These have received good adoption by customers. Many experts believe that this trend will stay on even after this pandemic ends.

One drawback of curbside deliveries is that offline retailers will lose the discovery aspect of shopping, wherein a shopper comes into a store and discovers and buys a product.

However, since pandemic-spurred rate increases are still in effect, this approach will help you control your shipping costs.

3. Claim refunds for over 50 service failures and billing errors including incorrect surcharges

Shipping carriers have temporarily suspended money-back guarantees for late deliveries. However, there are 50+ service errors like incorrect surcharges, misbilled packages, duplicate invoices, etc. which are still eligible for refunds.

Since porch piracy is a huge problem nowadays, you can also claim refunds for lost packages.

By auditing your shipments and claiming refunds, you can save up to 20% of your shipping spend.

4. Proactively communicate about delivery issues before customer impact

Earlier, we mentioned about the value customers place on being informed of possible delays in advance.

Since it’s a well-established fact that the delay rate is still high, you could put up a message on your website informing customers of the fact and providing them a general revised timeline.

A better alternative is to use a service that proactively notifies about packages that are likely to be delayed.

This will give you ample time to inform your customers about the delays.

This is a great way for your business to demonstrate to each of your customers that they are valued, thereby reducing the possibility of them switching over to a competitor for lack of service.

The best part is you can automate this process, while you focus on core business functions.

5. Equip your Support Representatives with Essential Tools

Times like these present a significant challenge to your support reps as many of them are working remotely and might not have the required infrastructure to deal with customer queries.

Equipping them with a tool that provides critical delivery-related information across carriers on a unified dashboard can ease their workflow, thereby helping them provide better customer experience.

Even better if the tool allows access to parcel information both broad and granular negating the need to juggle between multiple tools.

6. Offer customers a self-serve tracking page

Provide a self-serve tracking page to customers, so they have quick access to their order delivery status, thereby reducing incoming tracking queries.

A branded tracking page can help improve brand perception and allows you to re-engage with customers and cross-sell and upsell to them.

A Little About LateShipment.com

LateShipment.com is the world’s only logistics cloud tool that helps businesses of every size reduce shipping costs by up to 20% and provide memorable delivery experiences to customers at scale.

LateShipment.com is value-packed with great features to supercharge your post-purchase processes:

Save up to 20% on Shipping – Automatically audit your shipping carriers’ invoices and recover refunds for 50+ service failures & billing errors including late deliveries.
Real-Time Visibility – Monitor your outbound & inbound shipments across multiple shipping carriers on a centralized window, in real-time.
Critical Delivery Alerts – Pay attention to daily deliveries with predictive delay alerts and more on a purpose-built dashboard for support reps.
Proactive Issue Resolution – Proactively communicate with customers to prevent them from having bad experiences due to delivery failures.
Custom Delivery Notifications – Send custom or automated delivery status notifications for events like “shipped,” “attempted,” & “delivered.”
Branded Tracking Pages – Build fully-customizable order tracking pages for your customers to improve brand recall and sales.

The best part is, it takes less than 2 minutes to see LateShipment.com in action, so sign up now!

The post [COVID-19] Everything you need to know about eCommerce Parcel Shipping During the Pandemic appeared first on Lateshipment.com.

[COVID-19] How to Boost eCommerce Sales and Overcome Operational Challenges

Naveen Selvaraj — Fri, 26 Jun 2020 14:49:18 +0000

As lockdown restrictions are lifted in various parts of the world, people are showing increased enthusiasm toward coming out and spending their money, which is good for the global economy. This is particularly true in the case of Europe, where even the worst-hit countries like Italy and Spain are gradually easing restrictions.

Although the COVID-19 pandemic has not gone away for good, according to the latest report released by the Commerce Department, retail sales, comprising sales at stores, restaurants, and online shopping, has increased by a seasonally adjusted 17.7% in May.

The increase in retail sales is compared with the sales of 1992, considered as one of the highest on record.

Though the numbers paint a hopeful picture, the reality is that sales remain sluggish and below pre-pandemic levels.

Also, with warnings from scientists about a possible “Second Wave” coming and no sign of an effective vaccine for COVID-19, we are sure to be in a recession for a while.

Amp Up Sales in the Recession

All things considered, from an eCommerce perspective, it makes sense to leverage the increased online engagement of the present times to increase sales. Here’s what you can do to amplify sales:

1. Focus on your loyal customers

One of the most valuable assets that you have right now to increase sales is your existing customers. For most eCommerce stores, the top 20% of customers are responsible for 50% of overall revenue.

Make sure to align your marketing efforts and investments with this segment of customers to improve your bottom line.

Rather than merely providing discounts and deals, provide additional value. Provide free shipping, offer great customer service and highly personalized recommendations, interact with customers on social channels, and keep your messaging relevant to impress your existing customers.

2. Tighten your marketing game

It’s natural to be wary of spending your money on advertising at a time like this Obviously, you want to minimize operational expenses.

However, totally ignoring marketing will hurt your business in the long run. Totally cutting down on your ad spend now will force you to spend an increased amount to get back on track and amplify your brand recognition later.

Continuing to invest in marketing now, albeit at a smaller scale, has the advantage of leveraging cheaper ads at a time when your competitors might also be cutting their marketing spend.

Beyond spending money on advertising, there are other ways to amplify sales. Here are some of them:

Get reviews from your existing customers: With more people shopping online now, your business will get new visits from potential buyers. Since seeking validation to make a decision is core human nature, reviews from your existing customers will help a great deal.

Connect with your audience on Instagram: Many brands have successfully leveraged the power of Instagram during this lockdown to stay relevant and connected to their customers. The world’s second largest social media channel is particularly useful for shoring up the brand reputation of eCommerce-based businesses.

Make use of Referral Marketing: Nothing can compare to peer-to-peer marketing. At times like this when shoppers are calculative about their choices, a little nudge from a peer can help them make that all-important purchase from your brand. So, use a referral marketing campaign now.

Use Live Video Streaming on Your Social Channels: Live video streaming is engaging, authentic, and helps build an intimate connection with your customers. It captures eyeballs and gives you instant feedback. It lets you clearly gauge what your customers want by interacting with them.

Rethink your Cross-sell/ upsell strategy: In order to increase your sales now, you need to tap it from all the angles possible. As a general practice, this strategy is used before or after a checkout, but now you can also cross-sell and upsell to your customers whenever they check their delivery status using your own branded tracking page (You can simply create one using LateShipment.com).

Build your audience organically: SEO is more important than ever now. As people are spending more time on the internet, purchasing online and looking for more locally sourced goods, having your website well optimized can play a critical role in bringing in new traffic. Best of all, it’s free.

3. List your store on different marketplaces

If you see your sales graph on a downward curve, try listing your products on different marketplaces.

Marketplaces give you exposure to millions of potential customers, consequently helping you gain new customers.

Also, it helps that people trust these large platforms due to their reputation, availability of product ratings, and peer reviews.

Try listing your products on multiple marketplaces to diversify your risk and help you discover different sets of audiences.

Another important reason for you to list your brand on various marketplaces is that it will help you clear your inventory quickly. The sooner you clear your inventory, the better the cash flow.

If you are on a platform like Shopify, you can easily integrate your store within a few clicks.

Since the recent launch of Facebook and Instagram marketplaces, brands are considering listing their shops on these platforms.

4. Listen to your customers

Expect customer behavior to be dynamic and ever-changing during the present recession.

Since consumers now are more rational about their choices than usual, you cannot take risks by stocking up on inventory that may not click with their needs.

Take a cautious approach to be safe from unsold inventory.

5. Launch new products

According to researchers, a period of recession or the period immediately after it is a great time to launch new products.

One of the main reasons for this being the fact that there is less of a buzz in the market.

This increases the possibility of getting heard and increasing reach. It is also a great way to stay relevant and connected with your customers.

If you are not able to unearth product ideas, you can create a product like the ones that are selling the most currently.

Hawaiian Tropic is a skincare brand, specializing in suncare products, launched a limited edition aromatic candle featuring their trademark coconut scent. This was done to give their customers a sense of being on the beach while staying indoors!

6. Give back to the community

The COVID-19 pandemic has created a situation in which many people have lost their lives, businesses have folded, and breadwinners have lost their jobs.

With the recession at full strength, many people are unable to fulfill even their basic needs.

Taking measures at an organizational level to tap into the tendency of people to reach out and engage with businesses that reach out to those in need can help both your brand reputation and bottom line.

While consumers are cautious about spending their money, you being associated with a charity through sharing a part of each sale with it will give them good reason to make a purchase from you.

FRYE launched a campaign #FRYEFightsHunger to help their charity organisation, Feeding America, during the pandemic. Every time, when their customers entered their FIGHTHUNGER coupon code, FRYE donated $10 to Feeding America.

And also, for every picture shared on social media wearing a pair of FRYEs, they donated $1 to Feeding America.

This not only helped Frye build brand exposure but also gave their customers a sense of giving back to society.

Boosting sales, at the end of the day, is one part of the equation. Dealing with operational challenges in a time of recession is the other. Continue reading for insights on how to handle the operational side of your business.

Operational Challenges to Overcome in the Recession

1. Dealing with unsold Inventory

Inventory lying unsold for long enough will affect the cashflow of your business.

As the economy opens up, you can sell your inventory at full retail price and hope your sales pick up. But since the market has so much unsold inventory, discounting is going to be prevalent.

And with discounts, customers are going to be spoiled for choice. They will simply choose the brands that supply the same quality of goods at a discounted price. So you will probably need to enter the discounting game.

If you plan on holding to your inventory and selling it next season, you will need to bear the cost of the unsold inventory apart from rent and labour charges.

It’s always better to clear off unsold inventory as soon as possible as doing so will give you liquid cash that will help you invest in relevant products for the current situation.

Consider reaching out to a financial consultant for expert advice at this time as the situation is ever-changing.

2. Overburdened shipping carrier networks

Broken shipping networks during the pandemic have resulted in uncertainty over parcel deliveries. And with the lack of transparency and data from the end of shipping carriers, support agents are often in the dark when addressing customers’ queries.

Also, if you use multiple shipping carriers, it can become quite a challenge to juggle between the various dashboards while addressing customer queries.

To handle such a situation, It is incumbent upon your business to equip your support team with a Delivery Experience Management solution like LateShipment.com.

Using LateShipment.com’s Delivery Experience Management tool, you support agents can enjoy a bird’s eye view of all in-transit shipments across shipping carriers on a single dashboard along with independent real-time shipping data.

You will also be able to automate the process of sending delivery notifications to your customers by text or email, which by itself will reduce the volume of incoming customer queries.

Here are some of the benefits of using LateShipment.com:

Real-Time Visibility – Monitor your outbound & inbound shipments across multiple shipping carriers on a centralized window, in real-time.

Critical Delivery Alerts – Pay attention to daily deliveries with predictive delay alerts and more on a purpose-built dashboard for support reps.

Proactive Issue Resolution – Proactively communicate with customers to prevent them from having bad experiences due to delivery failures.

Custom Delivery Notifications – Send custom or automated delivery status notifications for events like “shipped,” “attempted,” & “delivered.”

Branded Tracking Pages – Build fully-customizable order tracking pages for your customers to improve brand recall and sales.

Best of all, it only takes 2 minutes to sign up to LateShipment.com and begin enjoying all the benefits for your business.

The post [COVID-19] How to Boost eCommerce Sales and Overcome Operational Challenges appeared first on Lateshipment.com.

Top 4 Learnings From eCommerce Businesses That Handled the COVID-19 Situation Right

Naveen Selvaraj — Fri, 12 Jun 2020 04:34:48 +0000

The ongoing COVID-19 pandemic caught eCommerce businesses on the wrong foot when it hit. While most businesses have, unsurprisingly, struggled under these extraordinarily challenging circumstances, some have managed to step up to the situation and stay relevant. The efforts of these resilient companies that have navigated the crisis well have key learnings for your business. Let’s explore these!

Hang on till the end for a great way to engage customers in the last mile!

1. Quickly Adapt to the Situation

The sudden impact of the pandemic caught businesses unaware. With shop closures being the norm in most parts of the world, and with social distancing no longer an option but a mandate, the fear of losing business has been at an all-time high. And yet, even in this situation, some businesses have managed to adapt. Nike is a case-in-point.

Nike’s Digital Push

Nike outperformed its peers with its quick move to leverage the digital ecosystem to help its customers maintain their physical and mental health while at home. According to their CEO, John Donahoe, this course of action was derived from their China Playbook.

The China Playbook: Nike Training Platform

In China, one of Nike’s key markets, when the pandemic broke, it had to shut more than 5000 of its physical stores. With most of the brand’s physical stores shut, the emphasis shifted online.

While reaching out to their customers through their digital platforms, they didn’t just push products but also came up with creative ways of connecting and engaging with customers.

Since, in this period, people are confined at home with limited opportunity for physical exercise, Nike opened their online Nike Training Platform to anyone interested and encouraged all site visitors to workout daily.

This increased Nike’s weekly sign-ups by 80% across all their activity apps and translated into a 30% growth in online sales.

The Living Room Challenge

The brand collaborated with popular athletes, including Cristiano Ronaldo, for a ”Living Room Cup” campaign in which participants were given a challenge to complete and were asked to post their videos online with the hashtags #playinside and #thelivingroomcup.

Nike’s example proves that though people are cautious now about spending their money on “non-essential” items and activities, there are still ways to connect and engage with them.

While adapting to a situation can help a business under extraordinary circumstances, being innovative is always beneficial.

2. Be Prepared to Innovate

Innovations often develop out of an intense desire to help others and find a solution when things get hard. When the present pandemic broke, retail outlets downed shutters and customers became reluctant to spend money online on non-essential goods.

Many brands were forced to bring innovation to their regular strategies and products. And according to some experts, some innovations that have come about as a result of the present situation are valuable and will last.

KREWE: Blue Light Filtering Lenses

KREWE is a fashion eyewear brand. With so many people working from home and staring at screens all day, They saw an opportunity to provide customers with something that would be relevant and useful to them at this time. So, they launched a segment of blue-light lenses to help protect themselves from digital eye strain.

Hawaiian Tropic: Aromatic Candles

Hawaiian Tropic is a skincare brand specializing in suncare products. With people staying at home and beach vacations a no-go for quite some time this year, they launched a limited edition aromatic candle featuring their trademark coconut scent. This was done to shine a light on their beachside businesses as well as to give people a sense of being on the beach inside their homes!

Hanifa: Virtual Catwalk Show on Instagram

Hanifa is a US contemporary fashion brand. With several fashion shows getting canceled due to the Coronavirus pandemic, they put on a virtual catwalk fashion show using 3D models on Instagram.

Users were allowed to tune in live and watch the show, which displayed the brand’s Pink Congo Label Collection. This show was a huge success and was applauded as “groundbreaking” for giving insights into “the future of fashion.”

3. Leverage Social Media

Before the pandemic struck, social media usage for most of January, February, and early March remained relatively flat at about 20% of overall mobile app usage.

But in the middle of March, when lockdowns in different countries started, social media usage increased markedly to 25% of overall mobile app usage.

With many people spending more time on social media, brands are using this opportunity to deliver relevant messages and to engage with their customers creatively.

Kora Organics: Hosting Master Classes

Kora Organics is a beauty brand. The CEO, Miranda Kerr, has been hosting masterclasses on makeup on Instagram Live. Every week, they feature a new guest and give wellness tips that can be implemented at home. These masterclasses have increased their engagement on social media.

Lucky Brand: #WinFromHome Challenge

Lucky Brand is a denim and lifestyle brand from Los Angeles. It ran an Instagram campaign, #WinFromHome, which urged its users to participate in daily challenges to win prizes.

Each day they would post an offbeat challenge on a richly illustrated retro-themed play card. Participants were required to post a photo of themselves completing that challenge tagging Lucky Brand and the hashtag #WinFromHome.

Rewards included gift cards, promo codes, and charitable donations on the player’s behalf. This campaign helped Lucky Brand both engage with their customers and well as gain followers.

4. Help Others Selflessly

This pandemic has seen many brands step forward to donate and provide aid to communities to help them weather the storm of Coronavirus. This has both helped brands capture the hearts of customers and also paved the way for customers to use their buying power to give back to society.

Corkcicle: #SupportLocal Campaign

Corkcicle is a retail brand that specializes in drinkware. When many of Corkcicle’s retail partners had to close their doors on account of COVID-19, this affected the livelihoods of their employees.

As a response to this, Corkcicle started the #SupportLocal campaign, which aimed at supporting local retailers who sell their products.

They added a section on their checkout page where customers could select the retailer of their choice from a list of Corkcicle’s 500 retail partners.

After the purchase, Corkcicle credited the purchased amount directly to the selected retailer as if the purchase had happened directly from them.

The Frye Company: #AtHomeWithFrye Campaign

Frye is a leading American footwear brand. Like with almost every retail brand, Due to the pandemic, they had to shutter their brick & mortar stores, with sales only taking place through their website.

They launched a charity campaign in which their customers were given a coupon code, FIGHTHUNGER, which when applied would give them flat 20% off on all their purchases and also automatically donate $10 to Frye’s charity partner, Feeding America.

To enhance their campaign efforts on their social media channels, they launched the #AtHomeWithFyre hashtag. They asked their users to post a picture of them wearing a pair of Fryes on social media, tagging them with the hashtag. For every picture posted, they donated $1 to Feeding America.

This not only helped Frye build brand exposure but also gave their customers a sense of giving back to society.

Ready to Show Customers You Have Their Back?

In these uncertain times, what can help your business moving forward is demonstrating to customers that you care about their experience with you. A quality Delivery Experience Management platform can help you do that.

LateShipment.com is the world’s only logistics cloud tool that helps businesses of every size reduce shipping costs by up to 20% and provide memorable delivery experiences to customers at scale.

At LateShipment.com, our focus has remained steadfastly on the last mile, typically the part of the logistics chain that is the most opaque.

Some of our high-impact offerings are :

Save up to 20% on Shipping – Automatically audit your shipping carriers’ invoices and recover refunds for 50+ service failures & billing errors including late deliveries.
Real-Time Visibility – Monitor your outbound & inbound shipments across multiple shipping carriers on a centralized window, in real-time.
Critical Delivery Alerts – Pay attention to daily deliveries with predictive delay alerts and more on a purpose-built dashboard for support reps.
Proactive Issue Resolution – Proactively communicate with customers to prevent them from having bad experiences due to delivery failures.
Custom Delivery Notifications – Send custom or automated delivery status notifications for events like “shipped,” “attempted,” & “delivered.”
Branded Tracking Pages – Build fully-customizable order tracking pages for your customers to improve brand recall and sales.

The best part is, it takes less than 2 minutes to see LateShipment.com in action.

COVID-19 Note: To help tide over the current crisis, we are giving all businesses full and free access to our LateShipment.comPlatform till June 30, 2020.

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COVID19 Archives | Lateshipment.com

Supply Chain Crisis in the US: Causes, Effects, and Corrective Measures

What is Causing This Supply Chain Crisis?

What Does This Supply Chain Crisis Mean for E-commerce Businesses?

Corrective Measures Being Undertaken and What E-commerce Merchants Can Do to Ease the Supply Chain Crisis

Bottom Line

[COVID-19] Everything you need to know about eCommerce Parcel Shipping During the Pandemic

1. Additional surcharges mean higher shipping costs​

2. Expect an increase in delivery delays due to shipping carrier impacts​

3. Delivery uncertainties mean a spike in delivery-related customer queries​

4. Customers seek transparency & proactive communication on their orders​

Here’s what you can do to navigate ‘shipping and delivery’ challenges and control shipping costs​

1. Offer access-point deliveries

2. Offer Curbside Deliveries​

3. Claim refunds for over 50 service failures and billing errors including incorrect surcharges​

4. Proactively communicate about delivery issues before customer impact​

5. Equip your Support Representatives with Essential Tools​

6. Offer customers a self-serve tracking page​

A Little About LateShipment.com​

[COVID-19] How to Boost eCommerce Sales and Overcome Operational Challenges

Amp Up Sales in the Recession

1. Focus on your loyal customers​

2. Tighten your marketing game​

3. List your store on different marketplaces ​

4. Listen to your customers​

5. Launch new products​

6. Give back to the community​

Operational Challenges to Overcome in the Recession​

1. Dealing with unsold Inventory​

2. Overburdened shipping carrier networks​