Last Day to Ship Before Christmas 2020: Holiday Shipping Deadlines
It’s that time of year again! The gift-giving season is quickly approaching, and online store merchants around the world are gearing up for one of the biggest eCommerce events in history. While purchasing holiday gifts online has been on the rise for decades, COVID-19 has understandably had an effect on the future landscape of eCommerce.
During the first months of quarantine alone, US consumers spent 14.5% more than the same time last year. And by 2021, it’s expected that 2.14 billion people worldwide will be buying goods and services online.
To get your business ready for this event, check out our Holiday Season Action Plan.
In anticipation of this unprecedented rise in eCommerce, carriers are beginning to announce shipping deadlines for guaranteed holiday delivery — this way you can ensure every customer receives their order in time.
The 2020 U.S. Holiday Shipping Deadlines
Our friends at ShipStation have put together a calendar that lists holiday shipping deadlines for UPS, USPS and FedEx this year. Feel free to save it to your desktop, print it for your warehouse, or use it to inform your cutoff dates for holiday orders.
This year, December 15th, 2020 is the last day to mail packages for Christmas orders arriving Ground via USPS, UPS, or FedEx.
Holiday Shipping Deadlines for Canada, UK, and Australia
With more than 49% of US shoppers buying items cross-border, it’s inevitable that not all holiday orders will be shipped through these three major US carriers. If you operate your eCommerce business from Canada, UK, or Australia, you will have slightly different deadlines — particularly for any orders destined to the US.
Feel free to check out these individual guides on shipping deadlines for carriers like Royal Mail, Hermes, Canada Post, Purolator, Australia Post, Sendle, and more:
How to Guarantee Holiday Delivery for Every Order
The best way to guarantee customer’s holiday orders are delivered in time is to give advance (and repetitive) notice of your holiday order cutoff dates.
You’ll want to ensure that your eCommerce website has the 2020 holiday deadlines clearly outlined in the checkout process, if not front and center on your homepage.
Here are a few other ways we suggest reminding your customers:
Send an email to current customers and subscribers
Announce dates on social media
Update cart abandonment emails
Send a reminder the week and day before cutoff
Whether you’re shipping orders domestically or internationally this season, this infographic should help you and your team start prepping and promoting holiday order deadlines to your customers.
Happy holidays!
Liat Karpel Gurwicz
eCommerce Marketing
Liat has led Strategic Marketing for Wix.com since 2014, including marketing efforts for Wix's creative, professional and business audiences. She currently leads Wix’s eCommerce marketing and business activities.
