“ It’s the most wonderful time of the year.”

So goes one of the top holiday songs of all time, and for shoppers this may be true. But retailers know November and December is make-or-break time, and there is intense pressure to make the most of this short, yet lucrative sales window.

At Canada Post, we understand how critical the holiday shopping season is for our partners. Each year we monitor our e-commerce customers closely to evaluate how their changes to sales and shipping promotions, deadlines and return policies affect their shipping volumes during the holidays.

This year, our analysis yielded important findings that we share in this Holiday Survival Guide to help you convert new customers, optimize sales and build loyalty during your peak season.

Holiday Survival

Guide

2016

It’s all about Cyber WeekCyber Week has become the official start of the holiday shopping period and has secured its position as the main event of this peak retail season.

22% of 2015 holiday volumes from monitored

merchants shipped during Cyber Week.1

44% YOY growth in Cyber

Week volumes from 2014 to 2015.1

To capitalize on the Cyber Week craze, merchants offered a variety of sales and shipping promotions to capture the attention of online shoppers and increase conversion.

Holiday to-do list Display offers prominently throughout Cyber Week.

Pair sales and shipping promotions, and offer free shipping with no restrictions during Cyber Week.

What worked best?

When merchants combined a sales promotion with a free-shipping-no-restrictions offer they experienced the greatest increase in holiday volumes.

2015 Cyber Week volumes increase1

61%

135%

Sales promotion + free shipping with minimum purchase

Sales promotion + free shipping with no restrictions

1. Canada Post Holiday Monitoring Research 2015.

Free is king Here’s what you already know – online shoppers expect a seamless end-to-end shopping experience. That experience is only amplified during the holiday season. Offering shoppers a variety of free options that use your entire network is an important ingredient to enhance their experience and drive new customers to click the buy button.

Critical elements that drive shoppers to complete their online purchase.1

Fresh opportunities and first impressions Consider how many shoppers will interact with your brand for the first time throughout November and December.

Retailers acquire between 29% and 59% more customers during the holiday months.2

Free shipping offers are a compelling way to acquire these shoppers, secure the sale and increase basket conversion. But don’t stop there. Round out your free offerings by providing convenient options for free pickup and free returns during the holidays. This will leave a lasting impression that will increase loyal customers year-round.

: Offer a variety of free options

Holiday to-do list Extend free shipping offers during key holiday events.

Use your brick-and-mortar network and your partner’s to extend free pickup and returns options to customers.

FREE

said free shipping

63%

said free returns to store

26% FREE

said free in-store pickup

21% FREE

1. 2016 Canadian Online Shopper Study, CPC16-202, April 2016.

2. RJ Metrics 2016 Benchmark report series – The Ecommerce Holiday Benchmark report.

Merchants keep pushing deadlinesEvery year, more and more e-commerce merchants push their holiday shipping deadlines later to capitalize on the significant spending potential from last-minute shoppers.

Average standard shipping deadline in 2014 and 20151

December

18

24% of merchants had deadlines after Dec. 18 in 2014.1

67% of merchants had deadlines after Dec. 18 in 2015.1

What is the main driver behind these later deadlines?

More sophisticated fulfillment practices. Retailers are investing in their fulfillment teams to ensure they have the resources and training to handle one last spike in the final days leading up to Christmas.

And it’s paying off. Last year, retailers that extended their shipping deadlines after December 18 saw incremental volume increases just before Christmas Day.

Percentage of total holiday volumes1

Dec. 1

6

Dec. 1

7

Dec. 1

8

Dec. 1

9

Dec. 2

0

Dec. 2

1

Dec. 2

2

12%

8%

4%

0%

Before Dec. 18

After Dec. 18

Holiday to-do list Focus on fulfillment:

• secure needed resources, • train fulfillment staff.

Use Canada Post’s suite of shipping services to ensure your parcels get delivered before Christmas.

1. Canada Post Holiday Monitoring Research 2015.

A busy and successful holiday season makes a good return strategy that much more important.

Sound return policies and convenient return processes have become critical elements that drive the perfect online shopping experience.

18% of shoppers

abandoned their purchase over concerns about

the return policy.1

84% of shoppers

said free return shipping was a

critical element to a perfect returns

experience.1

FREE

The return experience is even more important during the holiday season, when shoppers are buying gifts for loved ones. The three-week surge in returns after Christmas offers retailers a great opportunity to cement the relationship with their shoppers.

75% of merchants offered a free return option.2

Many retailers have already recognized that the return process is often the last touch point within the online shopping experience and have implemented strategies to ensure they leave a great last impression.

Holiday to-do list Offer free return shipping.

Offer convenient ways to return items:

� in store, � in a street letter box,� at a post office.

It’s not over on December 26

1. 2016 Canadian Online Shopper Study, CPC16-202, April 2016.

2. Canada Post Holiday Monitoring Research 2015.

Rely on your partners Canada Post delivers the holidays

Weekend deliveriesStarting mid-November and through to December, we

deliver parcels on weekends. We also operate our parcel

processing 24/7 in major facilities across the country.

Additional transportation

During the holiday peak season, we double our capacity

with national transportation suppliers and increase our air transport across the country.

Seasonal workersWe hire more than 3,000

seasonal workers to manage the increase in holiday parcel

volumes – adding to our existing 49,000 operational

employees.

Extended customer service support

Customer Service is open five days a week during the year,

7 am to 8 pm (ET) – and seven days a week for some call

types. Starting mid-November, we extend our holiday hours to

9 pm, seven days a week.

Bypass strategiesWe direct incoming parcels to our hubs and depots, expanding our front of the line and dedicated door service to help customers

avoid high volume areas and to enable operational capacity.

Expert consultationWe continually invest in

initiatives to understand the e-commerce market opportunity.

We work with our merchant partners to equip them with

insights and best practices for their success during the peak

season and beyond.

Enhanced delivery options

Delivered Tonight Receiving orders from last

minute shoppers? With Canada Post’s Delivered Tonight same-day delivery service, your shoppers can order an item in the morning and receive their

purchase that night.1

FlexDeliveryTM Help shoppers keep gifts under wraps. FlexDelivery lets online

shoppers select a preferred post office for delivery to keep gifts a surprise throughout the

entire holiday season. Have them up today at

canadapost.ca/flexdelivery.

1. Delivered Tonight same-day delivery service is available in Vancouver, Toronto and Montréal.

SAT | SUN

? i

2016 Canada Post shipping deadlinesDelivery standards between most major centres in Canada

Expedited ParcelTM XpresspostTM PriorityTM

Local zone December 22 December 22 December 22

Regional zone December 20-221 December 221 December 221

National zone December 12-212 December 21 December 222

1. Exceptions apply in some areas.

2. Exact delivery standards exist for every origin-destination combination. Find out the specific delivery standard for your postal code to a Canadian destination at canadapost.ca/deliverytool.

TM Trademark of Canada Post Corporation.

2016 key dates

NOVEMBERSUN MON TUE WED THU FRI SAT

1 2 3 4 5

6 7 8 9 10 11 12

13 14 15 16 17 18 19

20 21 22 23 Cyber Week

24 25 26

27 28 29 30

Weekend delivery begins1

Official peak season start

date

Black Friday

Cyber Monday

1. Weekend delivery begins by major urban centre, dependent on volume.

2016 key dates

DECEMBERSUN MON TUE WED THU FRI SAT

1 2 3

4 5 6 7 8 9 10

11 12 13 14 15 16 17

18 19 20 21 22 23 24

25Christmas Day

26Boxing Day

27Boxing Week

28 29 30 31

Average merchant shipping deadline Canada Post

PriorityTM deadline

Canada Post XpresspostTM

deadline

Wrap up a successful 2016 holiday season

To learn more about how you can maximize your 2016 holiday e-commerce strategy,

contact your Canada Post sales representative.