Building Accurate Options in the Payment Process
When shipping products to customers in the country or around the world, brands need to find the cheapest shipping options available, as well as present options clearly. Too many options can be overwhelming, while too few can lead to cart abandonment.
Shopify Plus certified app partners include shipping tools to help increase conversion by giving customers choices, while protecting brands from any fluctuations or external factors affecting shipping costs.
ShipperHQ works with Shopify Plus brands to calculate the most accurate shipping rates, providing relevant delivery options based on factors such as the customer’s location, product dimensions, weight, type, price, and quantity filters. Additionally, sellers can display delivery date and time details in the checkout process, and apply custom shipping rules around peak times, loyalty, discounts, or other incentives.
Founded in 2015, Tecovas specializes in selling handcrafted western boots directly to consumers for under $300. Noah Solomon, the digital director at Tecovas, emphasizes the importance of the purchasing experience and how shipping plays a key role.
“We want to try to provide a shopping experience as close to the in-store experience as possible for those who can’t visit it, so fast and free shipping is the most important place to start.”
The company wanted to eliminate vague time windows (like 3-6 days) and provide more accurate options that allow customers to make decisions based on the time and costs they are willing to pay. Using ShipperHQ, Tecovas can present the best possible options for shoppers based on their address and specific delivery date rather than a range.
During the holiday shopping season, it is especially important to be transparent with customers about delivery expectations. In fact, in a recent consumer survey conducted by ShipperHQ, they found that 82% of people prefer to shop from a vendor that provides actual delivery date estimates. 44% of them are even willing to pay more at checkout for this information.
Doing so is not only better for the shopper, but it is also better from a logistical perspective.
“We are able to save labor costs by streamlining the fulfillment process while providing our customers with accurate delivery date information – one that takes actual transit time into account – which allows us to ship our orders more efficiently,” says Solomon.
Adding More Shipping Companies at Lower Costs
As the customer base expands across regions, the costs associated with shipping items can vary significantly. Many businesses start to leverage their national postal carrier, and it is in the interest of both the company and the carrier to find the lowest cost.
However, the company may not actually be getting the best price with its default shipping option due to the geographic range of carriers, along with other factors such as dimensions and weight of items, and the urgency of the provided service.
The Cookie Countess sells high-quality decorating tools and supplies to create specialty cookies, cakes, cupcakes, macarons, and other delicious treats. Over the years, the brand has expanded globally, and for each country they serve, they must calculate varying shipping costs, services, and customs paperwork.
The team chose Shippo, connecting the certified app to their store in just a few minutes. Every time an order is completed in Shippo, the order fulfillment status and tracking information are automatically synchronized with Shopify in real-time, ensuring there are no discrepancies between the tools. The integration means The Cookie Countess gets the best rates from UPS, DHL, and other shipping companies.
“We have
Some of our special package types are automatically loaded in the ‘Saved Packages’ section in Shippo to make selecting the most commonly used boxes easy without having to enter them each time. We also print our [shipping] labels directly on a thermal printer and can process a label from start to finish in less than 40 seconds,” says John Ramos, founder and co-owner of The Cookie Countess.
Opening New Markets with Shipping
It allows brands to move into the global market and access vast new markets of potential customers. It has never been easier to build a narrative and message targeting a community, regardless of where members reside, yet global expansion brings new complexities to operations. There are administrative aspects to manage, the need to build a reliable and fast network to connect the entire world, and challenges in serving different countries while considering customs regulations, taxes, and various fees.
Biaggi offers a range of foldable bags and travel bags for travelers. The nature of the product itself appeals to a global audience; however, the brand was hesitant to commit to international expansion due to a lack of experience in shipping and global logistics. Their products were higher priced and larger. The company did not have internal team members to manage multiple carriers or automated shipping tools, leading to increased shipping costs, rising operational expenses, and delays in customer delivery.
Biaggi worked with Easyship, which integrates directly into the Shopify checkout process, syncing product details, displaying dynamic rates and delivery times to anywhere in the world, creating labels, and streamlining order status and tracking updates. Brands have access to 50 shipping partners, getting the best pre-negotiated rates for services from postal to expedited, or they can link their own rates. The automated integration covers taxes and customs fees, resulting in shoppers anywhere being able to see clear and transparent options: the cheapest, the fastest, or the best value.
“We weren’t offering international shipping because costs were too high, and while we were willing to contribute to shipping costs for customers, we had no way to make that happen. Easyship provided us solutions to these issues, plus we are now able to easily offer 3 shipping options for every international customer at checkout,” says Biaggi founder Stephen Hirsch.
This allowed Biaggi to ship products anywhere in the world instantly. The team saved time on tedious operational tasks, reducing support work from 5-10 hours to less than one hour per week. By expanding to a global audience, Biaggi has grown revenue by 20% while reducing over $100,000 in annual shipping costs, leading to further growth for the company.
Making Exchange More Attractive than Refunds
More than 50% of refunds are simply because the customer has the wrong size. They’re not returning because they want their money back, but because they want a different product. This is especially true for online brands that have multiple size variations. But other capital-intensive industries face similar situations. If you sell bedding, handbags, or jewelry, a customer may want a different color or style, and
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