Holiday Order Submission Guidance

As we continue to see constraints across the production and shipping landscape due to labor and material shortages, we recommend merchants encourage their customers to shop early this year and to expect disruptions around stockouts and transit order delays. 

• Holiday Order Submission Dates
• Holiday Order FAQ

Holiday Order Submission Dates

We highly recommend encouraging your customers to order as early as possible to ensure they receive their packages on time for the holiday season. The table and link to the spreadsheet are our recommendations of when your customers should submit their orders for the holidays. Share these dates with your customers so that they have the best possible chance to receive their orders in time for the holidays.

Please be aware that there may be more disruptions than usual this holiday season regarding production and shipping. Reference our order submission document with the order-by dates by product for a more detailed view of when you should submit orders.

Holiday Order FAQ

Let's check out and answer some questions that you may have about holiday orders and these submission dates!

As part of the VIM program, Elite and Pro partners are supposed to receive tailored guidance on production times. How is this guidance provided?

• If you're an Elite or Pro partner, please get in touch with your account manager to set up a call to review the submission dates for your business if you haven't already heard from them.

How should I plan my campaigns and set expectations with customers? 

We have a few recommendations on this topic: 

• Run your promotions early and avoid offering incentives to buy from your shop on the Black Friday/Cyber Monday weekend.
• Do not offer guarantees to your customers. 
  • Be honest with your customers that production and shipping delays are likely this year.
  • Do not promise specific arrival dates or guaranteed delivery dates.
  • Lean on industry news to ensure your customers understand the industry-wide expectation.
• Keep up-to-date with Sensaria’s guidance. 
  • We will be updating our guidance regularly to give you specific advice in late November and early December. 
  • Order submission dates vary widely. We recommend you pay attention to what you’re selling and regularly connect with your Partnership Manager for the latest information on the production.

How should I read this order submission dates document? What do the conservative vs. aggressive columns mean?

• We are providing you with two dates for each shipping method: 
  • A conservative date - production or shipping is backlogged and delayed.
  • An aggressive date - production is moving along nicely and may even be ahead of schedule.
• As we get closer to the end of November, we will guide you toward one of these dates (or in the middle) depending on how our manufacturers are performing and based on our production & shipping times.

How should I prepare for international shipments and customers?

• Encourage your international customers to order even earlier this year. Throughout 2021, international shipping has experienced issues such as faulty tracking links, customs delays, and lost packages. Borders are also still closed due to COVID-19, which causes cross-border delays.

Sensaria must have an idea of what products are likely to have issues vs. perform well. What are insights can you give us?

• We are concerned about delays in apparel, cut & sew baby products, and various accessory products. Apparel stock shortages have been rampant this year, so we’ve put in place a substitution policy to keep orders flowing. We’re relatively confident in producing paper and print products and wall arts with an automated production process.
• For the below products, we recommend planning toward the conservative side of the date ranges:
  • All baby products (beanies, bibs, burp cloths, car seat covers, changing pad covers, crib sheets, infant sherpa blankets, swaddles, etc.) 
  • Porcelain ornaments
  • Accessory items (compact mirrors, cosmetic bags, cutting boards, desk mats, mousepads, pet placemats, yard flags, etc.)

Are these the dates when I need to have my order submitted in Sensaria? If my order is sitting in the “Needs Personalization” status, does it count as being submitted in the Sensaria system by these ranges?

• No, the dates shown are when your order must be in the “In Production” status in Sensaria. If your orders are in Sensaria but not moved to the “In Production” status, it does not count as being submitted within the order submission window.

How are these holiday order submission date ranges determined?

• These ranges are based on our typical production and shipping timeframes for orders.
  • The majority of orders will spend 4-5 business days in production.
  • For domestic orders (US to the US), standard shipping is a week in transit, expedited shipping is 3-4 days in transit, and overnight is 1-2 days in transit.
  • For international orders (the US to non-US), most orders spend up to 21 days in transit and can reach upwards of 30 days.

How confident is Sensaria in these order submission date ranges, production, and shipping timeframes for the upcoming holiday season?

• We've collected and analyzed months of historical data and have communicated heavily with our manufacturing partners for this upcoming holiday peak season. These ranges are our best estimate, but there may be uncertainty, risk, and expected shipping delays with the increasing shipping demand.

Does Sensaria guarantee delivery by the Christmas holiday?

• No, we do not provide any guarantees in regards to our production and shipping timeframes. All of our dates are estimates and should be used as guidance to help set promotion schedules, and with this, we do not guarantee deliver-by dates.
• We strongly suggest that you set your customer expectations upfront by:
  • Reminding your customers to order as early as possible before our suggested submission dates.
  • Not promising a guaranteed delivery date to your customers. 

What happens if my order ships late or gets delayed in transit and doesn’t arrive by Christmas? Will Sensaria refund me?

• No, Sensaria will not provide refunds for any late orders. We’re very sorry that your package did not arrive in time, but late orders are a scenario that happens every year with all major retailers. If this occurs, we suggest offering your customer a discount on their next purchase with you as a courtesy.

What can cause production delays?

There are many reasons an order will spend more time in production than expected:

• One of the biggest causes of production delays is if there needs to be an order change or update.
  
  • Sensaria does not accept changes or updates to a product in your order if it has gone into our system’s "In Production" status.
  • Please adjust your pending times if you want more time to adjust your orders before moving to production.
• Labor-intensive products typically are the first to slow down in the production process as they tend to take a longer time to produce (items that are cut & sewn).
• Stock and raw material shortages can cause delays, especially when a manufacturer is waiting on an incoming shipment or any supply chain issues or stockouts.
• Orders with only a single item tend to move through production faster because they don’t get held up at the fulfillment station. Orders with multiple items may have to wait for other items to catch up before getting packaged, which can cause the appearance of a delay.

Where can I find the most up-to-date production and shipping timeframe information?

• We update this page daily. You can also view your estimated ship dates by order on your Sensaria Orders page and check out the production stats specific to your account on your Sensaria Home page when you log in.