You've probably heard plenty of warnings by now about shopping early. You know things are serious when you're being told in early October to get started on your holiday gift list!
While many of us were hoping for a more relaxing holiday season in 2021, this doesn't look like it'll be the case. Here are 3 reasons why you need to do your holiday shopping NOW.
1. Shop early to make up for slow delivery times
While I always make sure to package and post items within 1-2 days of receiving the order, once it's in the mail it's out of my hands. Staffing shortages and cost cuts mean that both national (within the UK) and international (especially to the United States) will be particularly slow this year.
Diversions, longer shipping routes, and slower processing times are all contributing to delayed deliveries. You can save yourself some holiday stress by starting your gift shopping sooner rather than later.
2. Shop early to help small businesses (like ours!)
Most small businesses are managed by small teams. Sometimes even just one person runs the whole thing (like here at Proseposters)! Even though I'll ALWAYS reship posters if a customer requests it, it's hard on small businesses to foot the bill for added shipping costs or reshipping items when they don't arrive on the customer's timeline.
We also can't compete with the quick, last minute shipping that mega-businesses like Amazon offer. The best thing you can do this year to support small businesses is to shop with us early. We love our customers, and by shopping early you make it easier for us to get your items to you on time!
3. Remember small businesses are run by real people
Holiday shopping can be stressful and frustrating—even more so when there's so much uncertainty around it. It's important to remember that there are passionate, real people behind every small business. As much as we wish we could, we can't make any guarantees. Supply-chain issues, shipping delays, and other Covid-related problems are still cropping up for us, and we don't have the same capacity of big corporations to deal with them.
Be patient with the small businesses you choose to buy from this holiday season. And if you can't support small businesses like mine with your wallet, we'd love to have your voice! If you've already purchased from Proseposters, consider leaving a review. Follow your favorite small businesses on social media and share their content. Helping to get the word out is one of the best ways to help a small business, even if you can't buy from them at the moment.
Head over to the Proseposters store to shop our early bird Black Friday sale!
And thank you for choosing to shop early this year. <3