Preparing for Black Friday & Holiday This Season

Updated on Sept 18th (Originally post November 23, 2022)

Black Friday and Cyber Monday is now a standard global phenomenon that kick-starts peak season and often launches weeks before the ‘official day’. As a result, thousands of merchants are in the midst of peak season and will be shipping orders internationally and domestically until the end of the year. As of Black Friday 2024, online global sales on Black Friday climbed to 74.4 billion, up 5% year-over-year.  

This year, due to softening markets and regulation change there might be a change in BFCM abundance. According to PwC’s 2025 Holiday Outlook, Americans plan to spend 5% less this season compared to last year—the first decline since 2020. With this in mind, FlavorCloud is here to help you prepare for the holiday storm and use international sales to avoid losing on your margins. See our 7 essential steps for merchants to gear up for a Holiday win in 2025, with the least stress possible.

1) Localize Your International Markets

Localized market pricing is the practice of setting product prices in each destination country to already include duties, taxes, and import fees. Instead of showing a base USD price and tacking on costs later or leaving shoppers to face surprise charges at delivery (as happens with DDU). Localized pricing displays a single, all-inclusive price in the customer’s own currency right from the start. 

During BFCM, when competition is at its peak and checkout drop-off can make or break sales, this approach is especially powerful. For merchants, it ensures that the price reflects the actual landed cost of delivering the product into the customer’s hands, aligning operations with customer experience. For shoppers, it eliminates uncertainty and hesitation at the exact moment when speed and confidence matter most. The price they see is the price they pay—removing friction, protecting margins, and maximizing conversions in the busiest shopping season of the year. 

2) Run Shipping Promotions and Encourage Faster Shipping 

Through FlavorCloud, you can offer pricing on par with domestic for your international customers to wish them a Happy Holiday. Or just use it in a few specific markets. 

If this offer boosts sales, you may expand it to additional countries or regions and set it to continue indefinitely in the regions it’s truly having an impact. 

However, it is smart to advertise that express shipping is always the best Holiday choice to avoid  any shipping delays. 

Customers can place orders at a later time with fewer delays. Try monetary rewards and promotions to support the option, such as money off express shipping before a specific deadline.  

3) Ensure your supply chain reliability 

Supply chain reliability remains a top concern for merchants heading into the holiday season. While global logistics networks have improved since the pandemic, recent events highlight just how fragile they can be. In late 2024, the Canada Post strike left roughly one-third of holiday parcels delayed, forcing merchants to shift volume to more expensive private carriers. At the same time, ongoing disruptions in the Red Sea created rerouting challenges and added costs for ocean freight. 

These disruptions underscore the need for resilient supply chain planning. Reliable supplier relationships, diversified carrier networks, and contingency planning are essential to ensuring seasonal shoppers receive the products they want—on time and without unnecessary surprises.

Plan ahead

Planning before the busy holiday shopping season is one of the most important steps to avoid supply chain problems. 

If you know you’ll be ordering large quantities of a certain item, make sure you lock down your vendor relationships well in advance. 

This way, you won’t find yourself scrambling around to secure enough inventory just days before Christmas.

 Don’t cut corners

As tempting as it might be to cut corners, don’t do it. Cutting costs now could lead to long-term issues later. 

For example, if you use lower-quality material, such as plastic, rather than metal, you could end up with a product that breaks easily and needs frequent repair. 

Start early

Don’t wait until the last minute to start planning for the holidays. 

Instead, start early and begin researching potential vendors. You’ll save money and plenty of time by determining what type of materials your preferred vendors require upfront.

Ensure you have access to carrier diversity

Relying on a single carrier network leaves you vulnerable when strikes, weather, or geopolitical disruptions occur. Diversifying across multiple carriers and service levels helps maintain delivery continuity and protects your business from sudden outages or surcharges.

5. Check on your server’s capacity 

The holiday shopping rush comes with its own set of challenges. One of the biggest challenges is keeping shoppers engaged while navigating through your website. 

To keep customers from leaving, prioritize a fast-loading site with simple navigation and payment options. 

Keep an eye on the server’s activity and transactions to monitor how it handles the influx of customers. You might consider upgrading to a larger server, adding additional servers, or switching hosting providers. 

5) CROSS BORDER BUY NOW, PAY LATER ADOPTION 

The “Buy Now, Pay Later” (BNPL) payment method is a deferred payment option that lets consumers pay for the total amount of the goods they purchased in installments. 

Many finance providers have made the application process for BNPL easy and quick. As a result, consumers would only need to submit minimal information about themselves. Then the application process is approved within days. 

Although the BNPL model primarily targets local markets, a few BNPL providers have started to broaden their target markets. 

While merchants adopting the BNPL model may have to pay something similar to credit card interchange fees to the finance provider, consumers buying products across borders may find it more secure to use than the classic credit card. 

With FlavorCloud and our largest cross-border carrier network, we automatically calculate guaranteed duties, taxes, and fees, so your customers can receive a total price projection for their BNPL payment. 

6) Add a Gift Certificate Option 

Gift cards make great gifts for your customers to give their loved ones this Holiday season. 

They’re also a good way for businesses to generate new revenue and win the loyalty of new customers, boosting sales and creating new opportunities for repeat business. 

You can even offer cashback promotions with gift cards. For example, customers who buy above a certain amount get free gift cards as a reward. This promo comes at little cost to you and ensures customer loyalty. 

7) Optimize you mobile and social commerce experience 

Mobile shopping and social commerce have become essential, with almost everyone having a mobile phone. Globally in 2024, about 69% of Black Friday purchases were made via mobile devices. 

Many merchants have developed their own mobile applications, allowing buyers to make purchases on the go, with their debit or credit card seamlessly integrated with their account. 

On the other hand, social commerce refers to using social media to sell products. For example, brands have their online shops integrated with their social media accounts so buyers can browse social media content and shop simultaneously. 

Social commerce is becoming increasingly common for brands to turn their online activity into sales. 

FlavorCloud supports your business’s online presence by handling all the hairsplitting details so that you can focus on growing your online presence and social commerce. 

As Importer of Record (IOR), we are legally responsible for import documentation, clearing customs, paying all duty, tax, and import fees, and ensuring you have the correct import declarations. 

Embrace the Chaos Gracefully 

Have you ever had a peaceful Black Friday and Holiday season as a merchant? Exactly. Yet, you survive every year! 

So, don’t try to control every aspect of your business during the upcoming Holiday period. Instead, focus on creating an experience that makes your customers happy. And let FlavorCloud make your international shipping a breeze amidst the chaos. 

Let’s make the best of this busiest time together. If you need support or to review your international peak plan, book a meeting with one of our consultants.