The Last Mile Lens Featuring Ben Cronsberry, Head of GTM & Partnerships at Parsel

Planning for Cyber Week starts months before the first deal goes live. 

For small and mid-sized e-commerce businesses, this five-day stretch from Thanksgiving through Cyber Monday represents the biggest, most critical sales opportunity of the year. 

In 2025, the period generated $44.2 billion in U.S. online sales, according to Adobe Analytics. That’s up 7.7% year over year, with Black Friday alone hitting a record $11.8 billion in sales. If the last five years are any indication, these numbers will continue to grow. 

With growth fueling heightened delivery network complexities and consumer expectations, sellers need flexible, connected delivery strategies that adapt as demand spikes. 

To dig into what this looks like in practice, we sat down with Ben Cronsberry, Head of GTM & Partnerships at Parsel, a leading company building modern delivery infrastructures that connect retailers, carriers, and technology partners to create smoother delivery and return experiences. 

Here, Ben shares his insights on peak-season planning and creating resilient delivery networks.

As e-commerce brands kick off Cyber Week planning, what should be top of mind?

The first priority is forecasting demand, and not just at a high level. Brands should forecast down to the destination level by looking at the key geographic markets where their shoppers are located. This becomes especially important if they’re fulfilling from multiple locations or running promotions in specific regions and sales channels with higher concentrations of customers.

Then, it’s about making sure operations are aligned. Understanding a manufacturer’s lead times, comparing them against available inventory, and ensuring first-mile transportation timelines are tightened when launching new SKUs or working with new suppliers.

Brands also need to understand the service level agreements (SLAs) required by each sales channel. Some marketplaces require a first scan within 48 hours of an order being placed, so it’s important to confirm carriers and fulfillment partners can consistently meet those requirements.

Finally, customer support shouldn’t be overlooked. Shoppers will inevitably have questions about a delivery status, address changes, gate codes, and other delivery issues. Having the right team and processes in place to respond to exceptions quickly will help maintain a high-quality customer experience, even as shipment volumes surge.

What separates brands that consistently execute well during Cyber Week from those that struggle when volumes spike?

It all comes down to who can minimize exceptions. One of the worst shopper experiences is discovering a product you want is out of stock. Or purchasing a product, seeing that a label has been generated, but then the tracking doesn’t move for three days. Or being told an order is arriving on the 15th, but it’s the 18th and there are no updates and no way to get in touch with the brand or delivery company for information. 

Things are going to happen during peak season. The brands that consistently execute well are the ones that minimize those negative shopper experiences. They keep customers informed, resolve issues quickly, and ultimately create repeat buyers and higher lifetime customer value.

What’s changing about how brands collaborate with carriers, technology providers, and 3PLs ahead of peak?

We’re seeing more brands and 3PLs wanting to work with multiple carriers. In the past, many shippers relied solely on the postal service, UPS or FedEx. Now, they’re diversifying their carrier mix, which has a number of benefits but also adds complexity.

Managing multiple partners means setting up the right technology, communication channels, support processes, and exceptions management across every carrier. This is becoming a key strategy for Cyber Week and beyond. The brands that can successfully coordinate multiple delivery partners will be in a much stronger position than those relying on a single carrier.

With brands having more delivery options than ever before, how should they think about building a network that’s both resilient and flexible?

There’s no one-size-fits-all answer. It depends on the brand, who their customers are, what they’re shipping, how valuable the product is, and the delivery experience shoppers expect.

Some products justify next-day delivery, while others are perfectly acceptable arriving in five days. Brands need to understand their customer demographics and whether shoppers are willing to pay for expedited shipping. Then they need to work with carriers and 3PLs that can support those expectations. 

Brands also have to consider their network’s design. A big piece of that is determining if they should ship from one location or multiple fulfillment centers across the country. Generally, the heavier the products, the more it makes sense to distribute inventory geographically. Brands also need to consider the complexity of their product catalog. A company selling 10 products has very different logistics needs than an apparel brand managing thousands of SKUs.

There’s a lot of nuance involved, but ultimately the smartest network is the one that’s designed around your customers and your products, and not simply based on finding the fastest carrier.

When it comes to delivery, is speed still a top priority for shoppers?

No. Shoppers are less concerned with speed and more concerned with cost and reliability. 

But brands often fixate on speed, losing sight of what shoppers actually want: predictability. Shoppers want to know when their order is arriving and trust the delivery promise will be kept. 

Building a smarter network means understanding those shopper expectations, designing your fulfillment network accordingly, and choosing the right mix of fulfillment locations and carriers to consistently deliver that experience. 

Where do you see the biggest opportunities to improve delivery during peak periods?

It’s in providing shoppers with real-time, up-to-date information about where their package is, along with fast responses when something goes wrong. Whether it’s an incorrect address, a missing gate code, or a driver who can’t locate a delivery entrance, having a short feedback loop is critical for brands. This leads to more successful deliveries and happier customers.

The same applies after delivery. If the wrong product arrives, something is damaged, or an item doesn’t fit, customers need an easy way to contact the brand, request a refund, start an exchange, or complete the return process. Increasingly, shoppers expect all of that to happen on their mobile device rather than having to print return labels or visit the post office. 

Making order tracking and return experiences simple and accessible is now the gold standard.

If a retailer could make just one change to strengthen its delivery operation before Cyber Week, what would you recommend?

I would make it as easy as possible for shoppers to contact the brand and receive a timely response. The brands that provide responsive post-purchase support will earn repeat buyers, referrals and stronger lifetime customer value. Those that don’t are going to be left behind.

Looking ahead, how do you see Cyber Week planning evolving over the next few years? What capabilities will brands need to stay competitive?

I think planning is only going to become more complex.

Brands will continue working with more manufacturers across more countries, making production and shipping planning much more challenging. They’ll also be managing more carriers and delivery partners, which increases operational complexity.

Cyber Week itself has evolved. It used to be a day, then a weekend, then it became a five-day event. Now, we’re seeing deals stretching an entire month or even a full quarter from October through January. I don’t see that slowing down. Planning will simply have to start earlier. 

E-commerce is also becoming more competitive. The brands that stand out won’t necessarily be those with the cheapest products or fastest shipping; they’ll be the ones delivering a consistently excellent post-purchase experience. I really believe that delivery experience and customer communication will continue to separate the successful brands from those that struggle.

Read more of The Last Mile Lens series for conversations with the innovative leaders shaping the future of e-commerce, logistics, and supply chain. As always, reach out to learn more about our last-mile delivery offerings at hello@uniuni.com.