By Julia Parfeniuk
Introduction
Standard sales are a dream for any big shopping season – whether it’s winter holidays or back-to-school – or the launch of a highly anticipated product. But the reality is that even after making those sales, you still need to prepare shipping and fulfillment for each order.
Fortunately, this is a great shipping problem to have, and we’re here to help. This guide contains everything you need to create a consistent shipping experience that puts the customer first during busy periods, including specific ways that Shopify shipping, local delivery, and local pickup can help you ship more orders to more places quickly and efficiently. Get your business ready for Black Friday and Cyber Monday, and holiday shipping:
1. Map Out Your Shipping and Fulfillment Process
Do you know what the steps in your shipping and fulfillment process are? If the answer is no, now is the time to find out – and if the answer is yes but you don’t have it recorded, it’s time to do that too. Moving the process from your head to paper will help inform any team members or “volunteers” from family who are assisting you with fulfilling orders during busy periods. It’s also a good idea to review your shipping strategy to ensure it’s still relevant for the peak season, as circumstances may have changed.
To find out what your shipping process is, pay close attention to the following orders you’re shipping, or check with your team if they’re handling fulfillment. Make a list of every step, and note how long each takes (approximate times are fine).
For example, it might look like this: Review all open orders in one place from the “Orders” tab in Shopify. (1 minute) Organize orders by delivery area and method, such as local delivery or in-store pickup. (2 minutes) Select the necessary inventory for each order based on the delivery method. (3 minutes) Print bulk packing slips or use the Shopify mobile app to view products for each order. (2 minutes) Get appropriately sized packing materials and any add-ons such as branded materials, coupons, or free samples. (1 minute) Print bulk shipping labels in Shopify for the selected orders you intend to fulfill. (1 minute) Set up an “assembly line” for packing slips, inventory, packing materials, add-ons, and shipping labels. (2 minutes) Pack each order with the packing slip, inventory, and add-ons. Then, seal the label on each package. (5 minutes) Attach the shipping label to each package. (2 minutes)
As you identify the stages of your process, look for any bottlenecks and note how long each step takes to complete. Is there anything you can do to streamline those steps or make them more efficient?
Cutting one minute off each shipment might not seem like a big deal, but if you’re handling ten shipments and deliveries a day, that’s already ten minutes you can spend on something else.
If you’re shipping more than three orders a day, it may be time to consider outsourcing your order fulfillment. By sending your inventory to the Shopify Fulfillment Network, your orders will be picked, packed, and shipped to your customers – giving you time to focus on growing your business. Learn more about the Shopify Fulfillment Network.
2. Save Time by Buying and Printing Shipping Labels in Bulk
To save
Shipping time for every order you fulfill can be managed by purchasing and printing shipping labels in bulk through Shopify. Since you will also receive negotiated shipping rates for USPS, DHL, and UPS services in the US, as well as Canada Post in Canada and Sendle in Australia when shipping with Shopify, it’s a true win.
To get started, all you need to do is go to your orders page and select the orders you wish to fulfill.
When you select “Create Shipping Labels,” you will see the complete list of shipping rates and details for all the selected orders, and you can purchase and print the shipping labels from that page. If there is any missing information, you can fill it in directly there.
Read more about bulk printing in Shopify.
3. Set Up Local Delivery or Local Pickup for Local Customers
As consumer behavior evolves, so do the ways products reach them. Options like local delivery and local pickup allow you to connect with your local market, putting more control in your hands and less in the hands of a third-party carrier.
Setting up local delivery in Shopify is easy and quick. You can then use the Shopify Local Delivery app to create and share optimized delivery routes to streamline the delivery process. When it’s time to go out and deliver, delivery staff and drivers can also download the app on iOS or Android to access directions and send notifications and delivery status updates.
For local customers who want to order online but prefer to pick up the products themselves, you can offer BOPIS options, such as curbside pickup or local pickup. This is a convenient way for local customers to bypass shipping costs and retrieve their purchases in-store, curbside, or from other locations of your choice. When you set up local pickup for your online store, the shipping cost is automatically set to zero on the page! Consumers have loved the ease and convenience of this experience, and it’s a trend likely to continue post-pandemic.
Set up local delivery or local pickup in Shopify.
4. Shipping and Packing Supplies
Once you have a steady process in place, you should have a good idea of the physical items you need to fulfill each order. Now it’s time to figure out how to supply shipping supplies and pack your products and ensure you have enough of each item to handle projected sales.
The last thing you want is to halt your shipping and delivery process because you realize you’ve run out of sticky labels in the middle of pending orders.
If you’re using a desktop printer, be sure to stock up on your printing label supplies. If you want to upgrade to a thermal printer, do it now, not two days before Black Friday.
Merchants in the US can also stock up on free packaging with priority mail and priority express direct from USPS, so if you can take advantage of that, place those orders ahead of time. Canada Post offers a variety of shipping and packing supplies, and Sendle provides biodegradable envelopes. Check them out and order your supplies early instead.
While gift options can cost time and money, you can successfully sell products to shoppers in need of additions like gift wrapping – which, if free, can encourage them to buy without additional discounts. This also requires planning ahead to ensure you have enough supplies to cover the season. Shopify merchants can add a gift wrapping option to their shopping cart page or use an app like Gift Wrap Plus.
5.
Ensuring Your Ability to Meet Shipping Deadlines and Planning for Delivery Delays
In every holiday season, shipping companies issue shipping deadlines to ensure delivery before the specified holidays. This year, companies are slowly releasing schedules, but with the current public health situation regarding COVID-19, pandemic-related supply chain disruptions, and the increase in e-commerce on a global scale, delivery times may be delayed.
Prepare for another busy online shopping season, keep track of your shipping company’s shipping deadlines, and take these impacts into account when determining your delivery times. You can view the shipping deadlines for the 2021 holidays in our help center or visit your shipping company’s website.
6. Developing a Shipping and Delivery Strategy for the Peak Season
Your shipping process is established, and you have enough supplies. The next step is to figure out the details that your customers will face – specifically, what you will charge for shipping costs?
The most common options are free shipping, flat-rate shipping, and actual cost shipping. We have some tips to help you determine which option is best for your store.
1. Free Shipping
Shipping costs are often the most common reason shoppers abandon their carts, so offering free shipping is a smart way to use an attractive offer to improve conversion rates without relying solely on percentage discounts or cash value.
However, providing free shipping isn’t always cheap, even with the discounted rates you get from USPS, UPS, DHL Express, Canada Post, and Sendle through Shopify. If you want to offer free shipping to everyone, you need to understand how it affects your margins and the costs you need to cover – including the cost of shipping your heavier items and the shipping cost to farther locations.
However, it’s not an all-or-nothing situation when it comes to free shipping. You can offer free shipping sometimes for some of your customers. You might consider sending a free shipping coupon code to your current customers to encourage repeat orders or offering free shipping on orders that exceed a certain size to increase the average order value.
When offering free shipping, you’ll need to monitor cutoff dates. If you’re only providing standard free shipping, you should clearly communicate the expected arrival dates so that customers can order in time for the holidays.
2. Flat-Rate Shipping
If you want to cover some shipping costs and avoid shocking customers at checkout, a flat-rate shipping policy is a great idea. With flat-rate shipping, set a price that covers most of your shipping costs most of the time, and be prepared to absorb the costs for particularly expensive shipping options.
Flat-rate shipping also increases conversion rates at checkout compared to carrier-calculated rates. Your customers will know the shipping charges upfront, and you will recoup most of your shipping costs.
3. Actual Cost Shipping
With actual cost shipping, customers can see the shipping cost for their order and pay it at checkout. They will be able to take advantage of the same discounted rates for USPS, UPS, DHL Express, Canada Post, and Sendle that are available to you as a Shopify merchant when fulfilling orders using Shopify Shipping.
Cart abandonment rates tend to rise around Black Friday and Cyber Monday, and shipping costs are one of the reasons. It’s not a problem to offer actual cost shipping, especially if this is what works best for your business, but it’s important to be aware of the potential impact – and to have a plan for recovering shoppers who abandon their carts.
4.
Delivery of Orders to Local Customers
When customers are close to your business, you can offer them unique and local ways to receive your products. This can speed up delivery times and create a better customer experience while encouraging more local sales with the appeal of quick and free (or affordable) delivery and pickup options.
When you set up local delivery, the customer will see the option at checkout. You can use a radius or postal codes/zip codes to specify how far you are willing to deliver orders. You can also set your delivery price, request a minimum order, and create a message about how and when you will make the delivery.
For local customers who want to order online but prefer to pick up their products themselves, you can offer BOPIS options, such as in-store pickup or local pickup. This is a convenient way for local customers to bypass shipping costs and retrieve their purchases in-store or on the go from other locations of their choice. A customer might bypass your store or your “curbside” to retrieve a product without leaving their vehicle. Either way, these options are a great way to avoid shipping delays and costs without compromising on convenience or flexibility.
Set up local delivery or local pickup in Shopify.
5. International Shipping
International shipping can open your business to new markets, but it requires an understanding of customs and taxes related to each country you sell in. You might not be doing international shipping currently because it seems complicated and expensive, but it is not as difficult as you might think.
Additionally, customers are increasingly likely to shop outside their borders, so if you are considering expanding your audience, an international shipping strategy is a great way to do that.
There are already international shipping companies built into Shopify Shipping to simplify the process for you: USPS, DHL Express, UPS, Canada Post, and Sendle. You can ship using the same major carriers that global merchants use, with guaranteed fast delivery service, negotiated shipping rates, and service to over 220 countries and regions.
Regardless of the option you choose, when you purchase international shipping labels through Shopify Shipping, all customs forms and details are automatically created for you. If you are shipping with DHL Express, the information is transmitted electronically to customs, so you won’t have to deal with paperwork.
If you are new to international shipping, pick one country to start with and learn the process. Display the countries you are shipping to and the shipping options available on your store so that customers can find this information.
When you purchase international shipping labels through Shopify Shipping, all customs forms and details are automatically created for you.
You will also need to determine the taxes that may be applied to your shipments and disclose those fees or processes to your customers. Since taxes and fees can vary from country to country, and even from year to year, you may want to provide a clear disclaimer that you do not cover, and are not responsible for, any fees and taxes that may be assessed on their order upon arrival. Billy! does a good job of this on his dedicated international shipping page.
6. Adding Weights to Your Products
By adding an accurate weight for each product you have, customers can see the exact shipping costs at checkout. It’s good for them, but it’s also good for you: you will be able to print accurate shipping labels quickly for each order since you won’t need to update or correct the weight during fulfillment.
Do you
Do you need to know how much each of your products weighs? Request a shipping scale from the Shopify Hardware store.
7. Clarifying Shipping, Delivery Options, and Prices
We know that unexpected shipping costs can negatively impact your conversion rates, but “How much will it cost?” is not the only pressing question your customers have about shipping during the busy holiday season. What’s also important is, “Will my order arrive on time?”
Do not hesitate to over-communicate when answering both questions because the answers are critical for anyone considering a purchase from you.
? Tip: Clarifying shipping speeds at checkout boosts your customers’ shopping cart conversion rates, provides clarity and transparency, and increases trust. Learn more about how to add shipping speeds directly from your Shopify admin.
This message from the Province of Canada shows how you can inform your customers of the expected shipping cutoff date and time to ensure arrival before the holiday – in this case, Father’s Day. The Province of Canada also took the opportunity to send a final reminder of their sale, making this message work double duty.
If you lack the time or design resources, or simply prefer the reliability of plain text formatting, text-based information works just as effectively – especially if you have details you know your customers will care about.
Your international customers will appreciate the information just as much as your local customers, and it will empower them to make better purchasing decisions as well.
In addition to your website and product pages and checkout pages, it’s important to give customers multiple ways to get the answers they need. These can include support via email or social media, live chat, a shipping policy page, a help center, or a FAQ page.
Many customers will browse the shipping policy or FAQ page if they have a shipping-related question. Providing the correct information on this page helps customers find answers quickly and reduces the need to reach out to you.
Setting up a shipping policy page is simple. Create a new page in your store, add a link to the page in the footer, and ensure you include information about:
- Tracking shipments
- Shipping options and delivery times
- Returns and refunds
- Customs and international shipping availability
- Lost or damaged packages
The specifics of any individual policy will depend on your business, products, and margins, but having a central location for your customers to refer to is the first step in managing common shipping inquiries.
7. Setting Up a Return Policy
Another aspect of shipping you’ll need to consider during a busy period is returns. Research indicates that 67% of online shoppers will check
Source: https://www.shopify.com/blog/holiday-shipping-guide#strategy
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