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As Christmas approaches, e-tailers are exploring multiple strategies to grab last-minute spenders, Internet Retailer reports.
Business Insider Intelligence
With order deadlines for delivering products in time for Christmas passing, this demographic is becoming increasingly important to retailers. For 20% of online retailers, the deadline was December 18, while another 16% expired on December 19 and 24% set their deadlines for December 20.
To keep consumers shopping with them despite passing delivery deadlines, retailers are offering various options to ensure that consumers can still get their purchases in time for the holidays:
- Amazon is using its Prime shipping options as well as Prime Now to take care of its subscribers. Prime’s 97 million US members have a bit of extra time just by virtue of having subscribed to the service. While the e-tailer’s deadline for free shipping without a minimum purchase for nonmembers was December 19, Prime’s free two-day, one-day, and, in select areas, same-day shipping means that members can order some products until 9:30 a.m. on Christmas Eve. Additionally, members can use Prime Now to get free two-hour delivery on orders placed by 9:15 p.m. local time for items available through that service.
- Some retailers are leveraging their stores. Merchants with large brick-and-mortar footprints are offering click-and-collect, allowing customers to order after the delivery deadline but still get their products before Christmas. Walmart, for example, is letting shoppers order online as late as 4 p.m. on December 23 for pickup until 5 p.m. on Christmas Eve. Meanwhile, Target is offering same-day pickup for orders placed by 6 p.m. on Christmas Eve.
- Others are using digital gifting as a fallback. Several retailers, like Target and Coach, are working with GiftNow, a service that allows shoppers to buy a gift that doesn’t ship until the recipient has been notified and has chosen options like size and color. If the recipient doesn’t want the item, it can be exchanged for a gift card before it ships. Other merchants, like children’s apparel retailer Primary, are pushing e-gift cards as a useful last-minute option.
Amazon will likely win among Prime members, but Target’s comprehensive strategy and accessibility may make it a favorite among late shoppers as well. Because last-minute Amazon shopping for Prime members will be as simple as just ordering later and taking advantage of Amazon’s shipping capabilities, it is likely to be the main resource for Prime members.
However, Target’s holiday shipping has been formidable this year. The retailer announced in October that it would be making free two-day shipping available to all customers, with no stipulations, between November 1 and December 22. This puts it on an even playing field with Amazon Prime’s free shipping in most cases, but also makes it more accessible because it doesn’t require a membership.
Now, with guaranteed fulfillment by Christmas for orders with free shipping placed by December 20, orders with Express shipping placed by December 21, and same-day pickup orders placed by 6 p.m. on Christmas Eve, all without a subscription, Target is poised to win big among non-Prime members.