As March 8 approaches, we’re making a short-term, but important update to your scheduling settings. The option to adjust your shop’s opening hours on the same day will be temporarily unavailable. Any changes to your schedule (including exceptions to working hours) will take effect the next day.
Setting your holiday schedule in advance will greatly help navigate the holiday rush. In this article, we’ll explain how to manage your workload effectively with available tools.
We made these changes because..
Sudden adjustments to your schedule can impact logistics, and some intervals for accepted orders may be displayed incorrectly. While this might be mitigated during usual days, during peak sale dates, such changes can lead to interruptions and delivery delays. A temporary limit on adjusting the seller schedule protects shops from mass order cancellations and customers – from spoiled surprises.
Holidays are an exceptionally busy time – complications can arise even if we don’t expect them. On the plus side, you might get extra orders; on the other hand, it’s highly possible to run out of stock quicker or get exhausted.
To help you adjust to the holiday rush, we’ve outlined 4 most common issues and how to address them.
Holiday order management: 4 most common issues
Issue 1. Too many orders – I need to take a breather or step out for lunch.
When you need a short break, you can use the ‘Shop Hidden’ toggle. It allows shifting the delivery slots according to how much time you need. Meanwhile, your store stays visible.
For example, Store A is open from 9 am to 8 pm, and its seller needs 15 minutes to package an item. Plus, delivery requires 30 minutes. At 12 pm, the seller decides to have a 2-hour break. Since they don’t want to stop the workflow completely, they toggle ‘Shop hidden’ and select ‘2 hours’. The customers keep placing orders, but the system will change the delivery slots to include those 2 hours. So, the next available slot will be 2:45-3:15 pm.
The calculation is: 2-hour break + 15 minutes for preparation + 30 minutes for delivery.
Note: Orders aren’t paused if the shop is hidden – only the delivery time is adjusted. As usual, you will have 2-3 hours to confirm new orders. Any orders accepted before the shop was hidden must be delivered on time. Don’t forget to keep your mobile close.
How to set your shop as ‘Hidden’
If you’re using the Flowwow web version, you have 2 options. Open your personal account and go to:
- Your shop’s name. In the drop-down menu, find ‘Shop Open’ and toggle ‘Hide’.
- The ‘Opening Hours’ section. Find the ‘Shop Open’ on the right side and click on the ‘Hide’ button.
If you’re using a mobile device with iOS, the latest version of our app is useful – you can hide your shop in the ‘Opening hours’ section. On Android, you can use this feature on an older version of the app – the newest release doesn’t support it yet.
Issue 2. I just realised I can’t accept new orders tomorrow morning – only later in the day.
Sometimes, you may not be available in the morning. Let’s say you need to take stock until 1 pm, but want to continue working as usual after that. There are 2 pathways.
Option 1 – Change your schedule for tomorrow so you can start at 1 pm. Adjustments for the period between 12 am and 2 pm are applied right away. New orders will be scheduled for after 1 pm. You won’t have to confirm them.
However, your shop will be hidden from search until 1 pm.
Option 2 – Set your store as ‘Hidden’ until 1 pm. Your clients will schedule orders for slots after 1 pm, and the shop will stay visible. You will need to keep track of orders and confirm them.
Issue 3. If orders allow, I want to extend my workday.
Many shops receive extra orders during peak sale dates and may want to extend their working hours to accommodate customers. However, you’ll need to set your schedule in advance – you won’t be able to do it on the holiday itself.
In case of any issues, you can hide the shop. Choose a duration or don’t specify it at all if you’re not sure. When you’re ready, make your shop visible again.
How to prepare in advance
As the holidays approach, you’ll need 2 useful tools to manage your shop effectively: schedule exceptions and delivery limits.
Schedule exceptions
To add or remove some dates while keeping your usual opening hours intact, use exceptions.
Example: Shop A has a typical workweek. They’re usually open 5 days a week, no Saturdays or Sundays. This year, March 7 and 8 are Saturday and Sunday, respectively, but they want to stay open. After that, they want to treat themselves to a vacation from March 9 to 12.
To do this, they need to select these dates and specify the opening hours for exception dates manually.
New orders will be placed according to the new schedule – for March 7 and 8, but not on March 9-12. However, any orders placed before the changes were made must be completed on time or rescheduled, if possible.
Note: exception dates can only be set at least 1 day prior. On March 8, you can only set, adjust, or delete an exception starting from March 9 or later.
How to set an exception date:
- Open the web-version of your Personal Account on Flowwow and navigate to ‘Opening hours’.
- Click ‘Add an exception’ and select one or more dates to adjust.
- Choose a new schedule (day off, 24 hours, or specific hours) and save your changes.
Order limits
To manage your workload without adjusting your schedule or adding exceptions, you can use order limits. A limit is a specific number of orders with delivery that a seller can hand over to a courier or client in 30 minutes. Once a slot is full, it closes.
Using this feature means you need to assess how many orders per hour you can successfully complete while maintaining top quality. To adjust your limits, use the ‘Order limits’ section in settings.
How to set an order limit
Open the web-version or the newest iOS app and navigate to ‘Opening hours’ or ‘Exceptions’. Click ‘Change order limits’.
- Limits can be set in multiple ways: for example, you can set a certain limit for every 30 minutes in a day, or different limits for specific time frames.
- Limits can be applied to your usual working hours and to exception dates.
- Exception dates have a higher priority than a schedule. So, if you set a limit for an exception date, it will override the limits for usual opening hours.
Closing remarks
Use Flowwow tools to manage your workload during holiday hours – it can help you adjust to peak sale dates and successfully complete orders.
Before March 8, you need to set your opening hours, exceptions, and limits. Even better if you can do it right now – changes made on the same day won’t take effect until the next day.
In case of any issues, remember that you can hide your shop. It’s perfect for pausing the flow for as long as you need, until you’re ready to come back.
