2021 Chinese New Year Merchant Operations Guide

UPDATE: As 2021 Chinese New Year comes to an end, merchant operations and shipping speeds are gradually returning to post-holiday normal levels. For merchants who previously chose to extend their fulfillment timeline (Extension Option 1 or 2 below) or pause operations of their Primary or all warehouses during the holiday, if you are now able to ship orders normally (i.e. mark orders “shipped” within 5 calendar days, per Merchant Policy 5.1), we strongly encourage that you now update your fulfillment settings to the Standard option. Note that the Standard option is now renamed to “All warehouse(s) operational” on the new “Vacation Settings” page.

To return your vacation settings to “All warehouse(s) operational”, please navigate to Merchant Dashboard Account > Settings > Vacation Settings page. Click “Edit” on the new “Vacation Settings” page and select the “All warehouse(s) operational” option under the “Setting Type” in the popup modal that follows:

 

 

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As the Year of Ox approaches, Wish wishes everyone a Happy 2021 Chinese New Year! Thank you for your support of Wish in 2020. We wish you good health and best luck in the new year!

Wish provides various features and solutions to help merchants prepare for the holiday season. In this article, we specifically address the following to help merchants optimize operations during the holiday:

1. Fulfillment Policy Adjustments
   • Standard default timeline (no extension)
   • Extension Option 1
   • Extension Option 2
   • Secondary warehouses(s) only
   • All warehouses on vacation
2. Advanced Logistics Program, EPC, EPC Blue Preparation
3. WishPost 3PL Holiday Schedules
4. Wish Express and Overseas Inventory Operations
5. Bonus Budget for ProductBoost (applicable to select merchants)

Please note that this article will be frequently updated throughout the next few days/weeks leading up to the 2021 Chinese New Year holiday, so please be sure to check back regularly for any new information.

1. Fulfillment Policy Adjustments and Extension Options available to merchants:

Fulfillment settings available to merchants

Merchants are expected to fulfill as quickly as possible to provide timely delivery for creating the best customer experience and prevent refunds.

To accommodate the holiday schedule, for all drop-ship orders released to Mainland China-based merchants only between February 4, 2021 12:00AM Beijing Time and February 25, 2021 11:59PM Beijing Time (excluding all Wish Express, Fulfillment By Wish, and Fulfillment By Store orders), the following fulfillment options are available to accommodate the holiday time off via the Merchant Dashboard Account > Settings > Vacation Mode > Go to Fulfillment Settings page:

• By default, if merchants do not select one of the options below, they will not receive any fulfillment timeline extensions, and the Standard fulfillment timeline will apply. If an extension or adjustments are necessary and required, please review the options below.
• Extension Option 1: For orders released during the above-defined time period, merchants may designate their own fulfillment extension between 1 to 7 calendar days, an adjustment to Merchant Policy 5.1 and Merchant Policy 5.5. This means merchants can designate an extension of 1 to 7 calendar days in addition to the standard 5-calendar-day mark shipped timeline (per Policy 5.1) and 168-hour or 336-hour confirmed fulfilled timeline (per Policy 5.5). The selected extension timeline will be added to both the marked shipped and confirmed fulfilled time stamps. For example:
  • If a merchant selects a 3-calendar-day fulfillment extension, this merchant can mark an above-defined order as “shipped” within 8 calendar days after the order released time (extended from 5 calendar days, per the normal Merchant Policy 5.1). As long as the order is marked shipped within 8 calendar days, it will NOT be refunded automatically or penalized $50 per auto-refunded order.
  • In addition, if the order’s (merchant price per item + shipping price per item) is less than $100, the order can then be confirmed fulfilled within 10 calendar days after the order released time (extended from 7 calendar days/168 hours, per the normal Merchant Policy 5.5). If confirmed fulfilled within 10 calendar days, this order will NOT be penalized 20% of the order value, or $1.00 (whichever is greater).
  • Please note that by choosing Extension Option 1, your estimated arrival time that the customers see will be moderately extended; your product impressions and conversion may decrease moderately as well.
• Extension Option 2: Merchants may choose to have orders released during the above-defined time period be marked shipped by March 2, 2021 11:59PM Beijing Time without being subject to the Merchant Policy 5.1 penalties. In the meantime, if an order’s (merchant price per item + shipping price per item) is less than $100 and it is confirmed fulfilled by March 4, 2021 11:59PM Beijing Time, the order will be exempt from Merchant Policy 5.5 penalties. On the other hand, if an order’s (merchant price per item + shipping price per item) is greater than or equal to $100 and it is confirmed fulfilled by March 11, 2021 11:59PM Beijing Time, the order will be exempt from Merchant Policy 5.5 penalties as well.
  • Should merchants select this option, the Extension Option 1 described above will not be available to them.
  • Please note that choosing Extension Option 2, your estimated arrival time that the customers see will be significantly extended; your product impressions and conversion may decrease significantly as well.
• Secondary warehouse(s) only: Selecting this option (previously named Wish Express Only Mode) is helpful for merchants who are not able to fulfill orders from their Primary warehouse (previously named Standard warehouse), but can still fulfill orders from their Secondary warehouses, which are essentially overseas warehouses for Mainland China merchants.
  • • Per the recently-launched product-level shipping settings and “max delivery days” available for Mainland China-based merchants to set for their products in their overseas warehouses, merchants are able to leverage this option to sell product inventory stocked in their overseas warehouses, regardless of whether the products qualify for Wish Express or not (depending on the max delivery days that merchants set for specific destination countries)
    • Choosing this option will set all products in the Primary warehouse as not available for sale.
    • Please ensure that the operations of overseas warehouses during the 2021 Chinese New Year are effective and timely.
• All warehouses on vacation: If none of the above options sufficiently meet merchants’ needs during the holiday, merchants can select “All warehouses on vacation” option on this page. Please note that should merchants decide to select this option for their stores, all products will be disabled and will be shown as "Sold Out" to users during the vacation period.

If an extension is needed, please note that merchants are only able to choose between Extension Option 1 and Extension Option 2. If merchants do not need an extension, or merchants do not need to select the Secondary warehouse(s) only or All warehouses no vacation option, no action is required, and the standard 5-calendar-day fulfillment/“mark shipped” timeline still stands.

Based on the extended customer-facing estimated arrival time and moderately or significantly lowered product impressions and conversion for Extension Option 1 and 2 above, merchants NOT choosing one of these options may benefit from a potential increase in product impressions and customer conversion.

Note: The deadline for selecting one of the Extension Options is February 1, 2021 12:00AM Beijing Time, and merchants are able to make the selection directly in their Merchant Dashboard (see details below). Merchants may update the Extensin Option they select as many times as needed, but the Extension Option selected by the above-mentioned deadline will be final and cannot be changed.

Based on the fulfillment extension options chosen, select merchants may receive distinct badges or icons for their products shown to customers in the Wish app or wish.com throughout the 2021 Chinese New Year holiday. We will provide more information in this guide when it becomes available.

Merchants are still able to choose Secondary warehouse(s) only or All warehouses on vacation after February 2, 2021 12:00AM Beijing Time. Specifically:

• If merchants first select an Extension Option 1 or 2 before February 2, 2021 but then proceed to select Secondary warehouse(s) only or All warehouses on vacation between February 2, 2021 12:00AM and February 4, 2021 12:00AM Beijing Time, the latter selection will replace the Extension Option previously chosen by merchants.
• If merchants first select an Extension Option 1 or 2 before February 2, 2021 but then proceed to select Secondary warehouse(s) only or All warehouses on vacation after February 4, 2021 12:00AM Beijing Time when the Extension Option begins to take effect for drop-ship orders released after this time, the Extension Option selected will apply to orders released between February 4, 2021 12:00AM Beijing Time and when merchants update the setting to Secondary warehouse(s) only or All warehouses on vacation. All orders released after when the Secondary warehouse(s) only or All warehouses on vacation is selected will be subject to this latter selection.

Configure fulfillment settings for 2021 Chinese New Year store operations

To make a selection in Merchant Dashboard, first navigate to Account > Settings > Vacation Mode > Go to Fulfillment Settings page. This page previously was the Vacation Mode page.

You will then see the following details:

The “Current setting” will show “Standard (fulfill within 5 calendar days)” (i.e. no extension) if merchants haven’t already activated Vacation Mode or Secondary Warehouse Only Mode.

The “Setting types” section summarizes the five types of selections merchants can make, as outlined in detail above: 

• Standard default setting (no extension) - note that merchants can either choose this option in the popup modal shown below OR not take any actions on the Fulfilment settings page in order to maintain the standard default fulfillment timeline.
• Extension Option 1
• Extension Option 2
• Secondary warehouse(s) only
• All warehouses on vacation

Please click “Edit” on this page and select an option in the popup modal that follows. For example, merchants choose Extension Option 1 and click “Save” to confirm selection:

Merchants are then redirected to the Fulfillment settings page and will see their scheduled selection presented as below, taking effective for drop-ship orders released February 4, 2021 12:00AM Beijing Time and February 25, 2021 11:59PM Beijing Time:

If merchants select either the “Secondary warehouse(s) only” or “All warehouses on vacation” option in the modal above, merchants will see the following survey question:

Please fill out this survey as it will help us understand and improve our store operations experience going forward, especially during the Chinese New Year.

 

Indicators for your customers if Extension Option 2 is selected

For merchants choosing the Extension Option 2 above (mark orders shipped by March 2, 2021 11:59PM Beijing Time), we will show the following additional texts to your customers on Wish app and wish.com:

 

2. Advanced Logistics Program, EPC, EPC Blue Preparation

Please note that merchants are strongly encouraged to fulfill their Advanced Logistics Program, EPC, and EPC Blue orders as quickly as possible to provide timely delivery for creating the best customer experience and to prevent refunds.

To accommodate the holiday schedule, the following changes will be made for Advanced Logistics Program, EPC, and EPC Blue orders released to Mainland China-based merchants between February 4, 2021 12:00AM Beijing Time to February 25, 2021 11:59PM Beijing Time:

• Merchants utilizing Wise as the first-mile pickup carrier for Advanced Logistics Program, EPC, and EPC Blue orders during the 2021 Chinese New Year holiday can fulfill orders continuously, but must make pickup appointments with Wise or WishPost Customer Service before February 8, 2021. Note that Wise pickup services between February 8 and February 19, 2021 will be limited, so please make arrangements in advance. 
• As Yanwen will be on holiday from February 11, 2021 to February 13, 2021, merchants utilizing Yanwen as the first-mile pickup carrier regularly can instead leverage Wish’s HUB Program and the STO Express pickup services based on Wish <> STO Express special partnership during this period while Yanwen’s first-mile pickup service is unavailable.
• As the 2021 Chinese New Year holiday may cause increased traffic within Mainland China, there may be 1-2 days of delays for first-mile transportation. As such, for orders picked up by Wise or Yanwen during the holiday period, if merchants receive late arrival fees per Merchant Policy 5.11 and Merchant Policy 12.2, merchants may dispute the fee WishPost (detailed dispute process can be found in this article).

Please note that the Extension Option selected by merchants per No.1 “Fulfillment Policy Adjustments” outlined above will also apply to Advanced Logistics Program, EPC, and EPC Blue orders released during the above-defined time period.

More specifically, merchants’ corresponding parcels must arrive at the correct Advanced Logistics Program, EPC, and EPC Blue warehouses within the merchant-designated fulfillment extension timeframe (if opted in) from order release time. 

For example, a merchant selects Extension Option 1 and chooses to extend the fulfillment timeline by 2 calendar days. If Advanced Logistics Program or EPC orders released during the above-defined time period are delivered to the corresponding warehouses within 9 calendar days after the order released time (extended from 168 hours / 7 calendar days, per the normal Merchant Policy 5.11 and 12.2), merchants will be exempt from the late arrival fee outlined in Merchant Policy 5.11 (for Advanced Logistics Program orders) and Merchant Policy 12.2 (for EPC orders).

Note that for relevant orders released outside of the above-defined time period, merchants are still required to comply with the standard 168-hour delivery timeline to warehouses for their Advanced Logistics Program, EPC, and EPC Blue orders, and will be subject to the late arrival fee outlined in Merchant Policy 5.11 and Merchant Policy 12.2.

 

3. WishPost 3PL Holiday Schedules:

Please download this spreadsheet for detailed 2021 Chinese New Year holiday schedules for various WishPost shipping carriers.

 

4. Wish Express and Overseas Inventory Operations

During the several weeks around the 2021 Chinese New Year (between early February and early March, 2021), Wish products that offer fast-shipping options such as those with Wish Express enabled will likely experience increased demand from customers.

In anticipation of this potentially increased demand and sales for Wish Express products, merchants are strongly encouraged to prepare for sufficient overseas and/or Wish Express inventory now. Please plan for the inventory to arrive at your Wish Express warehouses by January 28, 2021.

Mainland China-based merchants may now provide max delivery days for their products in their Secondary warehouses (previously Wish Express warehouses, essentially overseas warehouses for merchants based in Mainland China). Based on the max delivery days set for specific destination countries, the products may or may not qualify for Wish Express, but merchants can still stock and sell them from their Secondary warehouses (this is different from how Wish Express warehouses work before). To learn more about setting max delivery days for products in the Secondary warehouses, please visit this article.

To improve first-mile logistics efficiency and lower the logistics cost for Mainland China-based merchants delivering their inventory to overseas warehouses, the Uni-Freight Program is launched on January 22, 2021 Beijing Time as an additional logistics option for merchants to consider for delivering inventory to their overseas warehouses located in the United States. To learn more about how to leverage this program for your overseas inventory operations, please visit this article.

As an additional step to encourage merchants to utilize and sell products in their Secondary warehouses, for all orders released for inventory stocked in the Secondary warehouses (Wish Express orders or not) and released between February 1, 2021 12:00:00AM UTC and March 1, 2021 12:00:00AM UTC, merchants will receive 5% of the order value as a rebate payment for each order that is confirmed delivered within the max delivery days set by merchants. Note that a cashback program of this kind was previously available to Wish Express orders only, but now will be expanded to orders placed on inventory in Secondary warehouses during the above time period.

We will soon announce more details regarding the Primary and Secondary warehouses, along with their connection to the Wish Express program in the coming days.

 

5. Bonus Budget for ProductBoost

To help merchants generate sales, maximize their product visibility, and better promote their listings on Wish, we will be launching the limited-time Bonus Budget promotion for merchants creating or auto-renewing ProductBoost campaigns scheduled to start between February 1, 2021 3:00PM UTC and February 28, 2021 7:59AM UTC. Campaigns scheduled to start or auto-renew after February 28, 2021 7:59AM UTC may not qualify for Bonus Budget.

Bonus Budget is a limited-time ProductBoost promotion available to select merchants only, at no additional cost to the merchants. If you have been selected to take advantage of this promotion, we strongly encourage you to leverage our previously announced fulfillment Extension Options to continue selling during the several weeks around 2021 Chinese New Year and take advantage of Bonus Budget to receive potentially increased impressions for your products. Merchants may also receive additional value from running ProductBoost campaigns during the above time frame due to reduced competition from other merchants. Please note that Bonus Budget also applies to ProductBoost campaigns with IntenseBoost enabled.

Bonus Budget will apply a bonus budget amount based on a Bonus Budget rate/percentage of your campaign’s original budget to your total budget, at no additional cost to you. The amount of the bonus budget spent during the campaign will be proportional to the total actual spend of the campaign (see below for an example).

 

Bonus Budget Spend Example: 

You have set a budget of $100 for a ProductBoost campaign. As your Bonus Budget rate is 10%, a bonus of $10 will be added to your original budget of $100. After clicking Save campaign, you will have a total budget of $110 available to spend on the campaign. Your campaign runs and results in $90 of your total budget being spent. The bonus budget that was initially added to your original budget will be spent to proportionally match your now lowered total budget spend. To calculate the final used bonus budget, we use the following formula:

Total Budget Spend * (Bonus Budget / Total Budget) = Final Used Bonus Budget

For the above example, this would be:

90 * (10/110) = 8.18

Your final used bonus budget amount here is $8.18. You will only be charged $81.82 (total budget spend of $90 minus the bonus budget spend of $8.18), as the bonus budget is applied to the total budget spend amount.

Per the above example, merchants will not be charged for their final used bonus budget, and will only be charged for their total budget spend amount minus the final used bonus budget amount for their campaign. Bonus Budget will automatically apply when a newly-created or auto-renewed ProductBoost campaign starts between February 1, 2021 3:00PM UTC and February 28, 2021 7:59AM UTC. No additional action is necessary to apply Bonus Budget.

Merchants can view a breakdown of Bonus Budget for their active and finished campaigns in ProductBoost > List All Campaigns in Merchant Dashboard.