Online retailers should encourage early shopping, Forrester recommends

Online retailers facing the usual challenges of the holiday shopping season can add one more for Holiday 2001 – airlines cutting back on service means fewer cargo plans, says Forrester Research Inc. The net effect for shoppers could be that packages may not get there as fast – particularly if military action were to trigger the Civil Reserve Air Fleet agreement, which allows the government to direct both passenger and carrier aircraft to military use if needed. “Carriers UPS and FedEx together account for more than 80% of online shipment deliveries,” notes Forrester analyst James Crawford.

To help ensure timely online delivery this year, retailers must make shoppers part of the solution, says Crawford. This holiday season, retailers must encourage early shopping, using e-mail, advertising, home pages and other means to communicate changes such as cut-off dates. J.C. Penney, notes Crawford, already is sending holiday-focused e-mail and will shortly start communicating this information to shoppers.

Multi-channel retailers also should consider offering store pick-up for online purchases. That benefits shoppers who don’t want to spend time at the mall while making them less dependent on the air delivery that typically supports online shopping, Crawford says.