6 tips for solving peak season international shipping and returns challenges
Samir Kamnani
·December 2, 2025
Scaling your brand internationally can unlock tons of new opportunities, especially during peak shopping season – but it poses challenges as well.
Logistical hurdles can add cost, complexity, and uncertainty to your ecommerce transactions. Packages may be held up by shipping delays or customs issues – which can result in a poor customer experience, especially if shoppers don’t receive their deliveries in time for the holidays.
And it’s not just getting your products from here to there – consider the fact that up to 30% of ecommerce orders end up as returns. If a shopper decides to return your product or exchange it for another one, you’ll need the infrastructure in place to get the product back in inventory quickly and affordably – and deliver a replacement product in a timely manner if the shopper wants an exchange.
These logistical challenges are compounded during peak season times, particularly during the holiday rush that extends from Black Friday through the end of December. In this article, we’ll showcase some key tools and tactics you can use for optimizing your cross-border logistics this holiday season.
Make the most of the Shopify ecosystem
First of all, don’t force all of your customers to shop at the same generic store – by segmenting your customers by geography and developing a customized experience for each region, you’ll be able to create a more consistent brand experience that generates increased sales and loyalty.
As a Shopify brand, you have access to a powerful suite of tools to power your cross-border commerce experience. Shopify’s global commerce features help you adapt your shopfront to each locale, so that you can customize your language, currency, payment options, and more for every market, helping you build brand trust and boost conversion rates. Shopify’s Managed Markets tool handles the red tape, like duties and tax compliance, customs pre-clearance, and restrictions management, so that you can sidestep legal hurdles and ensure a smooth delivery journey for your customers.
As a Shopify Premier Partner, Loop integrates seamlessly with Shopify, giving you the tools to effortlessly automate returns management for your store. Through the Shopify App store, you can also add on complementary cross-border commerce apps to streamline your journey, including tools for customer segmentation, GDPR consent, language translation, chatbots, and more.
Provide accurate delivery estimates
We’re entering the peak shopping season for holiday gifting – which means time is of the essence.
As an international brand, shoppers don’t necessarily expect that you can offer same- or next-day deliveries. It’s more important that you can stand behind your delivery timeline: 44% of shoppers say they won’t purchase an item if they’re not confident that it will arrive in time for a planned event.
By using Loop’s Delivery Promise tool, you can give cross-border shoppers more confidence in making a purchase, with delivery timing insights that are customized to each shopper. Shoppers can enter their postal code on the checkout page to receive an accurate estimate of when the product would arrive at their door. Presenting your customer with an up-front estimate helps you reduce cart abandonment rates, as they’ll have all the info they need to make a decision around their holiday purchases before they check out.
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Get the guideEnsure consistent communication through the delivery journey
Once your package is en route, keep your customers informed with regular order tracking updates. By sharing order tracking updates via SMS and email at key points of the delivery journey (order confirmation, shipped, out for delivery, and delivered), you’ll help them stay on top of any changes to the delivery timeline, with clear explanations around what’s going on (i.e., “your order’s been held up at customs”).
Be proactive in making adjustments in case of delay: For instance, if a shipment is delayed en route, you could ship out a replacement order to ensure timely arrival, or offer the shopper a bonus credit to apply towards any item in your store.
Use return fees to provide peace of mind around returns
The thought of a difficult returns process often stops shoppers from committing to a purchase in the first place – especially if they think they’ll be responsible for the hefty cost of restocking goods overseas. By using Loop’s Checkout+, you can offer them the chance to pay a small upfront fee during checkout in exchange for a free and convenient return later if they need it. They’ll feel more confident making a purchase knowing they have an easy returns option later – and your brand will be able to build a cash buffer to cover the rising costs of returns, as well as your software subscription fees.
Customize workflows to automate return rules by region
When shoppers do need to return items, you may need to set up different policies for different regions, based on factors like return shipping costs or regional compliance requirements. But don’t put the burden of managing these policies on your CX team: Instead, by setting up customized Workflows segmented by region in Loop’s self-serve returns portal, you’ll be able to automate policy management – helping your customers return products faster while preserving your CX team’s time for high-touch support needs.
Leverage regional partnerships
As you grow your brand across borders, look for strategically-located partners that can help you optimize your fulfillment, shipping, and reverse logistics processes. By choosing regional 3PLs, you’ll be able to stock inventory in countries where you have strong market share – helping you get products to customers faster, curb shipping costs, and streamline the returns process by keeping returned items in the region, for easy resale. Building a network of international shipping partners can also help you optimize your shipping costs and choose the most efficient route for any delivery. Loop’s network of logistics partners can help you set up the right pathways to help you generate profitable, efficient sales and returns, no matter where you’re shipping your products.
When it comes to peak season shopping, it’s important to build a customized experience for every region you serve that will help your customers feel comfortable with your brand and streamline the sales and returns processes. By taking advantage of the powerful pre- and post-purchase tools that Shopify and Loop offer, you’ll be able to set up a seamless customer journey that will make every customer feel right at home – no matter where in the world they are.
Ready to learn how Loop can improve your cross-border logistics journey? Book a demo today!
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