Delivery during a sales peak

Malaysian ecommerce runs on peaks. Double-digit date campaigns, festive periods, year-end sales. A store can do several normal days of volume in one, and the whole chain behind the order feels it simultaneously.

The delivery part is where it becomes most visible, because a parcel that does not move is something a customer can see.

What actually happens at peak

Five effects, arriving together.

The whole market peaks at once. Your volume rises on the same day as everyone else's, so carriers are absorbing an industry-wide surge rather than yours alone. Capacity is the constraint, not your relationship with them.

Collection windows slip. Pickups run late or get missed, and a parcel not collected on the day it was packed is a delivery promise already behind.

Delivery times extend, sometimes substantially, and the published service level is a normal-conditions figure rather than a peak one.

Peak surcharges apply. Additional charges during high-volume periods are normal and they appear on the invoice afterwards — see courier invoices and how to reconcile them.

Failed deliveries rise. More volume, more pressure, more attempts made at difficult times — see failed deliveries and what they cost.

None of this is a carrier performing badly. It is a network at capacity, and planning around it works better than escalating during it.

Preparing the delivery side

Six things, all before the peak rather than during it.

Talk to your carriers early. Volume expectations, pickup arrangements, and what their peak surcharges will be. Carriers plan capacity in advance and a merchant who has told them what is coming gets better handling than one who has not.

Book pickups rather than relying on routine. A scheduled collection is a commitment; an expected one is not.

Pack ahead where you can. Anything predictable — pre-orders, bundles, known best-sellers — packed before the peak converts the bottleneck from packing to handover.

Spread the dispatch. Not everything has to go on day one. Communicating a realistic dispatch window is better than promising next-day and missing it, and customers accept a stated delay far better than an unexplained one.

Have a second carrier ready. If your primary carrier is at capacity, an existing second account is the difference between rerouting and waiting — see choosing couriers by destination.

Set customer expectations at checkout. A visible note that delivery may take longer during the campaign prevents most of the support contacts that would otherwise arrive.

The cash side, which is the underrated one

Peaks are a cash event as much as an operational one, and the direction surprises people.

Settlement withholding rises with volume. A rolling reserve is a percentage, so your biggest week has the largest amount withheld — see payment gateway holds and reserves.

Risk-triggered holds become more likely. Unusual volume and transaction patterns are exactly what fraud systems flag, so a successful campaign can produce a hold on top of the reserve.

Delivery costs land later. The surcharges and corrections from peak arrive on an invoice weeks afterwards, in a month when revenue has returned to normal.

Returns follow the peak. Campaign purchases return at higher rates than considered ones, and they arrive after the sales figures have been celebrated — see returns on your own store and what they cost.

So the cash sequence is: buy stock ahead, sell heavily, receive less than proportionally because more is withheld, then pay peak delivery costs and absorb returns in the following month. The best trading week produces the tightest cash position, which is the pattern that turns a good campaign into a difficult quarter — see settlement timing and your cash forecast.

Forecast the peak as its own event with its own conversion profile rather than applying your normal assumptions to abnormal volume.

Reconciling afterwards

The peak's reconciliation is different from a normal period and should be planned as such.

The exception queue will be larger. More volume, more edge cases, more failed payments and failed deliveries. Expect it rather than treating it as a failure, and resource it — see the exception queue and how to size it.

Do not defer it. The temptation is to catch up after the rush. A peak's worth of unreconciled transactions is far harder to work through in a month than in the days after they occurred.

Accrue peak delivery costs at period end, because the invoice will not have arrived — see reconciling across a period boundary.

Measure the campaign properly afterwards. Incremental margin against total discount given, including the peak delivery surcharges and the returns that followed. Gross sales during a campaign always look excellent, and the honest figure often differs — see discounts, vouchers and what they really cost.

That final measurement is what makes the next peak better planned, and it is the step most often skipped because by the time the data is complete, everyone has moved on.

Common questions

Why do delivery times extend during campaign periods?

Because the whole market peaks simultaneously. Your volume rises on the same day as every other seller's, so carriers are absorbing an industry-wide surge rather than yours alone, and network capacity becomes the constraint. Published service levels describe normal conditions rather than peak ones.

How should a store prepare its delivery for a peak?

Tell carriers volume expectations early since they plan capacity in advance, book pickups rather than relying on routine collection, pack predictable orders ahead, spread dispatch across a communicated window rather than promising next-day, have a second carrier account ready for rerouting, and set delivery expectations at checkout.

Why does a successful campaign tighten cash?

Because stock is bought ahead, rolling reserve withholding rises proportionally with volume, risk-triggered holds are more likely on unusual transaction patterns, peak delivery surcharges arrive on an invoice weeks later, and campaign returns follow after the sales figures have been reported. The strongest trading week converts to cash both more slowly and less completely.

What should happen after a peak?

Work the enlarged exception queue immediately rather than deferring it, since a peak's unreconciled transactions are far harder to resolve a month later. Accrue delivery costs that have not yet been invoiced, and measure the campaign on incremental margin against total discount including peak surcharges and subsequent returns — not on gross sales during the period.

Related: settlement timing and your cash forecast · failed deliveries and what they cost · discounts, vouchers and what they really cost