Every online retailer has to set a deadline after which they can’t fulfil express or next-day delivery.
But exactly when that deadline should be isn’t that obvious.
On the one hand, an early deadline ensures you can fulfil your delivery promises. On the other, setting an early order cut-off time—say, noon or before—could impact sales.
In this article, we cover what an order cut-off time is, the problem with setting cut-off times too early and several strategies you can use to set your cut-off times as late as possible.
What is a cut-off time?
A cut-off time is the latest time your store accepts an order for same-day, next-day or express delivery.
Some types of orders have much earlier cut-off times than others. International or same-day deliveries tend to have very early cut-off times due to the logistical process these orders must undergo. In other cases, brands can offer cut-off times for next-day delivery as late as 6 p.m.
Cut-off times are important for both the retailer and the buyer. Sellers need to set a deadline to manage customer expectations and ensure that products ordered well before the cut-off get to consumers on time.
Buyers, on the other hand, can use cut-off times to plan purchases in advance and ensure their orders arrive when they need them.
These aren’t the only benefits of eCommerce cut-off times, though. Others include:
- Fulfilment predictability. Cut-off times help carriers and logistics providers to plan effectively and avoid late deliveries.
- Optimised inventory. Cut-off times help brands better organise their inventories and maintain accurate stock levels.
- Align with carrier pickups. Cut-off times ensure retailers can meet carrier deadlines — something that’s especially important with international deliveries.
What are common cut-off times?
Shipping cut-off times can vary massively between retailers, carriers and countries. The products you ship can also impact your cut-off time, with big items likely to have much earlier order cut-offs.
On average, though, cut-off times are most common in the early to late afternoon. This allows consumers to place orders during and after lunch while giving carriers enough time to collect packages for next-day delivery.
Unfortunately, these cut-off times may be too early. Research by Zendbox finds that 35% of online orders are placed between 4 p.m. and 9 p.m. So, enforcing a 2 p.m. cut-off could see retailers miss out on one-third of their orders.
The problem with early order cut-off times
Won’t that one-third of orders from the Zendbox research happen regardless, even if retailers enforce an early cut-off time of 2 pm? I hear you ask.
Maybe. But maybe not.
Early order cut-off times introduce several issues that can cause conversion rates to plummet.
Take cart abandonment, for example. Slow shipping is a major driver of cart abandonment, with research by Baymard Institute finding it the fourth biggest cause, responsible for 23% of all abandoned carts.
Early order cut-off times can also damage consumer perception of your brand.
Customers won’t be happy to learn their products won’t arrive on time because they’ve missed a cut-off time. Many will shop elsewhere instead. In fact, research by CommerceHub finds that 78% of customers expect same-day or next-day deliveries. Early order cut-off times don’t give you much chance to meet that expectation.
Ultimately, though, the proof is in the pudding. It has been shown that retailers who implement a 10 p.m. cut-off time, increased conversion rates by an average of 15%.
How can you improve cut-off times?
You may not be able to match a 10 p.m. cut-off time, but there are things every eCommerce business can do to streamline operations and push back their order cut-off times by at least a couple of hours.
Improve your order processing
The level of integration between your eCommerce platform and warehouse management systems can determine how early cut-off times need to be.
Bottlenecks will occur if there’s a delay between customers checking out and the order registering in your warehouse ERP.
But issues also happen if you have an inefficient warehouse layout, which causes fulfilment to take far longer than it should. Anything else that slows down the picking and packing process can impact cut-off times, too.
Start by analysing the level of integration between your eCommerce systems and ensure native integrations are in place wherever possible.
Then, start tracking warehouse processing KPIs to identify areas for improvement. The sooner you can notify carriers and get orders out the door, the later your cut-off times can become.
Partner with multiple carriers
Different carriers have different delivery deadlines. Quite often, an easy way to delay cut-off times is to partner with multiple carriers. You can either handle this yourself or work with a carrier-agnostic logistics partner like Pro Carrier, who handles multi-carrier management on your behalf.
Partnering with multiple carriers won’t only let you shop around for the best cut-off time, it can also open up more options for your customers in general. Some carriers may offer faster or greener shipping options that can be popular choices and negate the need for industry-leading cut-off times.
Daily pickups
Another way to ensure your cut-off times are as late as possible is to arrange daily pickups with your carrier. This will increase the delivery window for express and next-day deliveries, allowing you to offer later order cut-offs for customers who want their parcel fast.
At Pro Carrier, we collect daily from all our retailers to ensure customers get the most efficient delivery experience possible. Our innovative one-label solution also optimises your warehouse processes.
Make it realistic
If you’ve done everything possible but still can’t make cut-off times later, then make sure you’re setting a realistic cut-off time for important delivery options like same-day, next-day and express delivery.
In particular, you want to strike a balance between a cut-off time that gives customers a realistic time to complete their order (i.e. not first thing in the morning) while giving your team enough time to pick and pack every order.
If you can’t meet either of these, then your deadline is too tight and you need to set it earlier. That’s not necessarily a problem, just make sure customers are made aware of any changes and that cut-off times are displayed clearly on your site.
Partner with Pro Carrier for stress-free delivery
At Pro Carrier, we can’t help you reorganise your warehouse, but our technology, carrier network and experience can help you streamline the delivery process.
Our technology integrates with every major eCommerce platform so that our shipping label is ready to print as soon as your customer pays for their order. You only need to print and attach one label, too, regardless of which carrier you use or where you are sending your product.
We also collect daily and manage our own line haul, so you can change pickup times on the fly to ship more products and keep cut-off times as late as possible.
For more information on sending products domestically or internationally with Pro Carrier, speak to one of our experts today.
