Let’s be honest, there is a little anxiety that creeps in during the festive period, especially for ecommerce stores and business owners. Christmas gifting is such a big deal for ecommerce stores, and handling it all takes a lot of planning and intentionality.
The sad truth is that most businesses get it wrong. You spend so much time curating the perfect gift sets and combos without addressing the elephant in the room – shipping. Where, when and how will your customers get and send their Christmas gifts?
The stores that thrive through Christmas gifting do not have elves or a sleigh, they simply nailed logistics. Your products might be great, but customers won’t return if they struggle with sending or receiving their Christmas gifts.
If you’re just reading this, you are already too late for 2025. But you can plan better for 2026, here are 5 ways you can ace Christmas gifting for next year, through shipping and logistics.
1. Give Shoppers Clear Christmas Shipping Deadlines
Nothing frustrates customers more than realizing their gifts and packages will not arrive on time. That is why it is important for you to envisage this and solve it in advance. Building a system around delivery time is very essential. Your store needs a realistic and transparent delivery cut-off date.
Clear cut messages are needed in your marketing and promotions for your Christmas packages. This will absolve you of any drama or stress, it will also help you to stay organized. Simple clear-cut messages such as the ones listed below can go a long way.
- “Order before December 18th for nationwide standard delivery ”
- “Order before December 22nd for express delivery”
- “Same-day delivery available in Lagos/Abuja until December 23rd”
With Shipbubble, you can easily compare the delivery rates and timeline with multiple courier services. So, you can seamlessly tailor your shipping deadlines in line with it. When your shipping dates are clear, customers buy with confidence instead of hesitating.
2. Offer Fast, Flexible Delivery Options at Checkout
No matter how much you plan for deliveries, some customers will still order at the last minute. It doesn’t matter that you communicated, and you put up a system to make deliveries more efficient. How do you handle these customers and manage delivery expectations?
Well, there are various ways to go about this. But, one of the most effective ways is to offer delivery options. Do not guarantee a specific delivery date or time, because orders can be very tricky during festive seasons, rather, give them options.
There are various delivery options you can provide, from standard delivery, express delivery, same-day or next-day delivery, to pick-up locations for customers who don’t want to wait at home.
Interestingly, with Shipbubble you can explore these options because our app easily connects you to multiple courier partners in one dashboard, so you can automatically route each order to the fastest, most affordable option.
Giving customers delivery flexibility = fewer abandoned carts.
3. Use Real-Time Tracking to Ease Gifting Anxiety
During the festive season, everyone is anxious about their packages and their deliveries, especially if the package is a gift. They can be quick to transfer the anxiety to you by calling continuously about their orders, where it is, and when it will be delivered.
The most efficient way to solve this is to offer real-time tracking. That way, your customers can easily check and they don’t have to call you every minute to know where their package is. Real-time tracking comes with a lot of advantages, it helps you build customer trust, it eliminates continuous calls, and it creates a better gifting experience.
The question on your mind right now is “how will I achieve real-time tracking?”. The answer is simple – Shipbubble. Shipbubble helps you to track updates automatically. It is also centralized so you don’t have to chase updates or couriers.
4. Add Gift-Friendly Shipping Options
There is a lot of noise during the festive season, one way you can stand out is by providing gift-friendly shipping options. Make shipping itself an integral part of the gifting process. You can do this by providing personalized options for your customers.
Something as simple as the “send as a gift” option on your website can significantly elevate the gifting experience with your brand. This is because things like price tags will not be included in the package.
You can also offer free gift-wrapping before dispatch for your customers. Including a holiday packaging option that consists of a personalized note and festive decorations on the package will also go a long way. All of these makes gifting easier and more interesting for your customers.
Pair this with Shipbubble’s automated shipping workflows, and you'll be able to process more personalized gift orders without your team getting overwhelmed.
5. Simplify Holiday Returns and Exchanges Through Better Logistics
Sometimes the best gifts need to be exchanged, and this can be for many reasons. From wrong sizes, to wrong colours or even lack of interest in the gifted items. This usually has nothing to do with you, but you need to plan for these situations.
Your return process can make or break the customer’s experience. Ensuring that customers can easily return gifts, send them back or exchange items can help solidify trust and customer loyalty. You can make various offerings for returned shipments.
You can offer extended Christmas return window, simple return labels, clear exchange instructions and fast re-delivery of replacement items. These offerings will give customers better confidence when ordering items from you.
One of the hindrances to seamless exchanges is logistics, but with Shipbubble, you can seamlessly automate your return shipments, making holiday after-sales support much easier.
In 2026, gifting simplicity will come down to delivery reliability, speed, transparency, and convenience. Customers want gifts that arrive on time, with zero headaches, and the brands that invest in smarter shipping will win the biggest share of holiday spending.
With Shipbubble, ecommerce stores can:
- Automate holiday dispatch
- Compare courier rates
- Meet Christmas deadlines
- Track deliveries in real time
- Reduce failed deliveries
- Deliver gifts faster and more affordably
Next year, let shipping be your competitive advantage and not your bottleneck. Sign up now.