The pandemic’s impact on the global supply chain means holiday shoppers are getting higher than average “out-of-stock” notifications for items they want to purchase, while also experiencing price hikes and shipping delays. 

These hurdles make it even more challenging for pure play e-commerce retailers to compete with the likes of Amazon and Walmart for holiday sales. What to do?

While e-commerce retailers can’t fix the supply chain problem, they can help alleviate shipping costs for shoppers.

The unfortunate reality is that online retailers lose billions of dollars in sales revenue each year due to shoppers abandoning their carts over unexpected shipping costs and other triggers. The average rate of online shopping cart abandonment is close to 70%, and almost half of U.S. consumers who recently abandoned their online shopping cart said they did so because extra costs — such as shipping — were too high.

Following are three strategies for e-commerce retailers that want to reduce cart abandonment rates, convert more shoppers into customers, and increase revenue during the holidays and beyond.

Implement BOPIS at all brick-and-mortar locations, and actively promote it. Out of necessity in 2020, many retailers began offering customers the option to buy online, pick up in store (BOPIS). However, when strict COVID-19 restrictions were lifted, shoppers continued to use BOPIS for reasons such as safety, convenience, and — you guessed it — cheaper shipping. Having shipments delivered to a storefront is cheaper than residential shipping, and consumers have shown that they’re willing to pick up orders in stores to save on shipping.

Not all online retailers have a physical location. However, those that do should aim to put BOPIS in place at all of their stores, then promote it as an option to customers. Mentioning BOPIS in promotional emails, and prominently on a website and at checkout, helps ensure that consumers are aware of the pickup option, and incentivizes shoppers to buy. 

Offer delivery to alternative pickup locations. As mentioned earlier, e-commerce retailers without brick-and-mortar locations are unable to offer shoppers traditional BOPIS. Using alternative delivery locations is a solution that enables these retailers to provide a BOPIS experience and extend free or low-cost shipping to customers. They can save on shipping and retrieve their shipped packages at nearby retail locations, such as the grocery stores, convenience stores or pharmacies they already frequent.

Businesses with one or even a few brick-and-mortar stores might also want to use alternative delivery locations to offer the benefits of BOPIS to shoppers across a larger region, or even nationwide. Doing so can help online merchants attract new buyers that might not have considered purchasing from them otherwise.

Some customers will always prefer residential shipping to their home. Pickup at alternative delivery locations isn’t a replacement for residential shipping. Offering it as an additional option allows shoppers to choose what works best for them, so there are fewer barriers to buying.

Test and refine shipping offers. Finding the right combination of offers that are both appealing to shoppers and profitable for e-commerce retailers takes some experimentation. E-commerce businesses should try out different shipping offers, including subsidizing cheaper delivery options, and building shipping costs into the price of products.

The right shipping strategy changes from business to business. For example, adding a $10 shipping fee to the purchase price of a $500 product has a different impact than adding it to a $20 product. A/B testing is important to help determine which fees customers will tolerate at different price points, and what’s profitable for the business. Including shipping fees in product pricing means customers will have to pay more. However, it makes costs clearer to buyers, and they might feel more comfortable making purchases if unexpected additional costs are removed. Testing and determining what customers prefer is key.

For some sellers, it makes sense to consider subsidizing all shipping. In order to determine if offering free shipping to customers drives a large enough revenue bump, businesses can alternate free shipping days for a week or two — turn free shipping on one day, off the next, then on again — and analyze the impact on sales.

Americans know prices have increased, and are expecting to pay more this holiday season. Deloitte found that nearly seven in 10 shoppers expect to pay higher prices this year. Giving online shoppers the chance to cut costs with affordable shipping options can help businesses draw more sales.

Santa isn’t the only one with shipping issues this holiday season. E-commerce retailers have their own shipping woes, but they can take solace in the fact that they can tap into a network of alternative delivery locations to give shoppers a gift that keeps on giving: more affordable shipping options.

Mitchell Nikitin is founder and chief executive officer of Via.Delivery.