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The Chinese New Year (CNY) 2022 falls on Tuesday, February 1st. If you’re dropshipping from Chinese suppliers (or thinking about it), you need to come well prepared. Since Chinese factories are absent during this long holiday, all orders are put on hold, which can be dangerous for your business.
But we got you covered! We’ll cover everything you need to know about how the Chinese New Year holiday affects dropshipping stores and how to overcome the obstacles that come with it.
Not only will you learn how to run your stores smoothly and efficiently for the CNY, but you’ll also know how to prepare for any other holiday coming up this year.
All that and a few extra perks, right up ahead!
Also known as the Lunar New Year or Spring Festival, the Chinese New Year is their most important festival throughout the year. The Chinese celebrate this public holiday by taking a week off work and spending this time with their family.
Fireworks, fancy restaurants, and beautiful decorations are all a part of this holiday for the Chinese, too.
Now that we’re familiar with the Chinese New Year basics, let’s go over the common dropshipping problems and questions that come with it.
And, of course, we won’t leave you without solutions to everything so that your business stays safe. Here’s everything you need to know about the Chinese New Year in 2022 and how to prepare for it.
Businesses and manufacturers all over China will be off work throughout the holiday. This means that you will most likely face numerous and long-lasting delays on your orders.
Additionally, Chinese sellers & agents will not be available to answer questions. There is no customer support on the other side during this time.
The Chinese New Year affects every Chinese supplier who is sourcing its products from China (AliExpress, Banggood, CJDropshipping, etc.).
Therefore, as long as you are working with at least one Chinese supplier, you’ll need to start making relevant preparations for the expected shipping delays. We’ll walk you through the process below.
Many Chinese suppliers stop working a week or two before the holiday begins. That’s why we should start preparing toward the end of January.
The earlier we begin the preparations, the smoother the whole process will work through the holiday.
First, in some scenarios, Chinese suppliers source their products from warehouses outside of China (like US/UK Warehouses).
Check your supplier page to see if there are multiple warehouses available. If so, reach out and ask if they are working during the holiday.
Furthermore, if a product is selling well, you can reach out to Chinese agents and ask if any special lines are working during the holiday.
Some agents can get a special line for your product to process your orders during the Chinese New Year.
Since the Chinese New Year holiday lasts two weeks, it’s wise to know which holidays we have in between. That’s because the Chinese New Year will affect shipping times on those holidays, too.
For one, Valentine’s Day falls on February 14th, which is around when the Chinese new year celebrations will end. Additionally, we have Family Day in Canada on February 16th.
Therefore, if you plan to sell China-sourced products for those holidays, you should start ahead of time and let your customers know about the expected delays.
So, what steps are necessary to prepare our stores for the Chinese New Year shipping delays? We’ll split this section into two parts – for those dropshipping on eBay and Shopify dropshippers.
On eBay, there are a few actions that we can take to prepare and protect our stores from the expected delays. Let’s go over each solution and how to implement them.
1. Schedule Time Away (a.k.a ‘Vacation Mode’)
One way to let your buyers know about the upcoming shipping delays is by setting scheduled time away, formerly known as ‘vacation mode.’ While this feature is on, every time a buyer enters your listing, they’ll receive a message stating the delay.
In the scheduled time away settings, you can select if you wish to allow item sales (buyers can purchase from your store) or pause item sales (purchasing temporarily disabled).
Allowing item sales is possible for up to 15 days while pausing them grants up to 30 days. If you go for this solution, allowing purchases up to 15 days is enough.
Beginning before the start date may be better as some Chinese sellers take time off before the holiday.
Additionally, you can set a custom automatic response for your buyers to read while your store is away. Let them know about the temporary delays because of the Chinese New Year.
If you don’t want to schedule time away, another option is to update your shipping policy. Instead of the traditional 11-23 business days, we’ll stretch it to 11-35 business days.
Those extra 12 business days will give us the time we need to fulfill orders received during the holiday. If your handling time is 3 business days or below, update it to 4-5 business days to get some extra time.
Remember to implement these methods about one week before the start of the Chinese New Year holiday.
On the one hand, we may notice a slight decrease in sales. On the other hand, our stores will stay protected. We’ll exit the holiday strong and with no troubles whatsoever.
If you’re using the Fulfilled By AutoDS service (or Automatic Orders), you can edit the automatic messages sent to your buyers after fulfilling their orders.
Navigate to Settings > Store Settings > Orders > Automatic messages to the clients (make sure you have your eBay store selected). There, you can update the custom messages. The ‘After Order Success Message’ is enough to let them know about the holiday delays.
To help you with this, we whipped up a message template for you to use in this scenario:
Dear {{ buyer_first_name }}, Your order is being processed and will be shipped soon. We will add a Tracking Number for your order as soon as it gets shipped, so you can track the delivery progress. Once your item arrives in satisfactory condition, please leave positive feedback and five stars for us. If there are any issues, please let us know and we will be happy to help. Thank you once again and have a great day!
Once you write your message and click on ‘Save,’ your customers will start getting this message right after AutoDS fulfills their order.
Just don’t forget to revert to your original message once the holiday is over!
Your eBay template can include additional information about your shipping policies and more. Therefore, another way to notify your customers about the holiday shipping delays is to write about it on your eBay template.
To begin, on the AutoDS left menu, click on ‘Settings > Templates.’ You’ll then see the edit template page, where you can choose which template you want to edit.
Click on the template you want to use, and add a message regarding the shipping times below the product description.
Create a message along the lines of, ‘Please note that we expect shipping delays during the Chinese New Year Holiday from X to Y (fill in the start/end dates of the Chinese new year). Thank you for your patience!’
After saving your template, we’ll need to assign it to all of the Chinese sources’ listings. To do this, on AutoDS, navigate to your Products page. Then, highlight all of the products sourced from Chinese warehouses (use the filters to display them – by tags, supplier, region, etc.).
Next, click on the ‘Bulk selection’ box on the top left. Then click on the ‘Bulk Edit‘ pencil icon to open up the bulk editor menu.
Now, click on the ‘Add item to edit‘ button and scroll down to ‘Template.’ Select the template that you just prepared, and click on ‘Save Changes’.
In the next few minutes, all of those listings will have the updated template, and your customers will be able to read it.
Just like on eBay, there are a few actions that we can take on our Shopify stores to let our customers know about the expected delays. Here are the solutions:
One of the first things your viewers see when entering your website is the announcement bar on top. This is the first section that we are going to edit.
On the Shopify store dashboard, navigate to Online Store > Themes > Customize. The Header section should have the announcement bar in it.
Once you’re in, scroll down and make sure that the ‘Show announcement’ checkbox is active.
Then, in the text, write something along the lines of ‘We Are Expecting Temporary Shipping Delays During The Chinese New Year Holiday’.
Next, click on ‘Save’ on the top right corner, and your new announcement bar will appear on your website.
The second method is by updating your product pages. Under every product description, leave a brief note, like the following:
NOTICE: We are currently celebrating the Chinese New Year, and all the factories & postal offices are now closed. Therefore, it will take longer to process and ship your order. Hang tight – you’re well taken care of!
Also, be sure to add it only on products from Chinese warehouses.
This process is easier and faster via the AutoDS platform. Simply click on the product on the products page, then click to edit.
Scroll down to the description and add your text.
Again, don’t forget to set a timer to delete this message once the holiday is over. This is why we always recommend tagging your products, so you can easily spot them later on.
An additional method to notify your customers is by adding an extra note on the email notifications. Once they place an order, they’ll receive an email with your message.
On the Shopify store dashboard, navigate to Settings > Notifications > Order confirmation.
Don’t worry about all of the HTML codes and triggers. Look for the following sentence:
Hi {{ customer.first_name }}, we’re getting your order ready to be shipped. We will notify you when it has been sent.
Create a line break, and right below this line, add the following:
NOTICE: We are currently celebrating the Chinese New Year from February 12th until 17th, and all the factories & postal offices are now closed. Therefore, it will take longer to process and ship your order. Hang tight – you’re well taken care of!
It should look like this:
That should do it! Click on ‘Save’ on the top right corner. Now, on every new order, your buyers will receive the delay notifications in their email.
As long as you didn’t change your shipping policy page location, the default placement is through your Shopify Dashboard > Settings > Legal Pages.
There, you can update your shipping and handling information according to the Chinese New Year.
No matter how hard we try, a small number of customers will simply not be aware of all of the warning signs. That’s why we need to be ready with a reply to every scenario.
When a buyer reaches out asking about the delivery time, you can use the following message template to reply:
(Note that this is a universal message template [eBay/Shopify]. Therefore, fill in the parentheses with the correct information).
Dear (Client’s name),
I apologize for the delay. Please note that we are currently celebrating the Chinese New Year. I have also made sure to adjust my shipping policies in advance. Rest assured, I will do my best to speed things up as much as possible from my side.
However, since most postal offices in China are now closed, it can take longer than usual. The holiday dates are February 1-15th.
If there is anything I can do to assist you further, please don’t hesitate to let me know!
Best regards,
(Your name/store name)
With these message templates, our jobs become easier and smoother to maintain throughout the holiday.
Working with Chinese suppliers is easy and profitable. However, we cannot afford to put all of our eggs in one basket.
For one, working with only one supplier (or suppliers from the same region) will leave us vulnerable in times like these.
For example, when there is an upcoming holiday, the supplier shuts down, temporarily putting our orders on hold. Not only that but also natural disasters can cause some sources to stop working.
That is why it’s essential to work with multiple suppliers when running your dropshipping business. For a healthy balance, one source should be from China, and the other from the U.S.
This way, when one source causes problems, we can always lean on the other and have our business continue working for us.
We recommend that you read why you should work with American suppliers. This read also gives you a list of the best US suppliers that you can work with.
Go and learn about them, and enjoy the power of diversity!
Never miss out on another holiday again! We created a free eCommerce calendar to remind you of every upcoming holiday.
This way, you’ll always have enough time to prepare for each holiday in advance.
The calendar updates every year with the relevant holidays, dates, and even product ideas to add to your store and rake in more sales!
So go ahead and grab your calendar, and stay ahead of the game.
You don’t have to sit around and just wait for the holiday to pass.
Why not take the holiday time to learn about dropshipping and return with a bagful of valuable knowledge and wisdom to grow your business?
We have a full A-Z Shopify Dropshipping Course for anyone who wants to start a successful dropshipping store. Did we mention that it’s completely free? We cannot think of a more productive way to pass the time.
If you haven’t begun eBay dropshipping yet, we recommend that you check out our eBay Dropshipping Course for a full walkthrough on starting a successful business from scratch.
By making it this far, you know exactly what you need to do to prepare for the Chinese New Year
Whether your dropshipping platform of choice is eBay or Shopify, there are creative solutions to each problem that may arise. As long as we work hard on customer service and keeping our customers in the loop, there won’t be any surprises.
Buyers appreciate good communication, and that is what you need to grow your store and customer base.
We hope you found this information useful for your dropshipping business, and feel free to empower your knowledge even more with these related articles:
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