You work hard to ensure that your customers have a great experience. You agree on images, modify your store, and write newsletters, all with the goal of leaving your customers happy.
E-commerce Shipping Strategy
In this guide, we will cover shipping strategy, product packaging, using popular shipping companies, shipping tracking and insurance, reducing shipping costs, and delivery options for e-commerce shipping integration.
How to Easily Ship Products to Customers
1. Design your packaging materials
2. Pack your order
3. Print your shipping label
4. Deliver the orders to your preferred shipping facility
E-commerce Shipping Strategy 101
There are some basics that form the foundation of how to ship products to your customers. You will need to determine shipping rates and methods, product weights, preferred packaging, obtain insurance, track shipments, customs documentation, business accounts, and label packages.
Shipping Insurance and Tracking
Depending on what you sell and its value, shipping insurance and tracking can provide a lot of security. Insurance can be purchased affordably with most e-commerce shipping companies, giving you recourse in case one of your packages is lost or damaged. You should ensure that customs procedures and forms are completed correctly to avoid delays in customs.
Business Accounts
Once you determine which shipping companies you want to use, set up business accounts. Business accounts provide a variety of services including discounts, better tracking of expenses, and a full suite of online tools for more efficiently managing your shipping operations.
Package Labeling
Once you have determined your offering, packaging, return policy, shipping company, and costs, you will need to figure out how to label your packages. You can print your shipping labels on regular paper using any printer, or to save more time, you can upgrade to a thermal printer to print directly onto self-adhesive labels.
Using a Fulfillment Warehouse
Fulfillment and warehousing services can help with securing and handling the shipping process on your behalf. When you choose to work with a fulfillment center, you will store your inventory in one of their warehouses. When an order is received, it will be automatically sent to your fulfillment partner to pick, pack, and ship the orders on your behalf.
There are many advantages to using a fulfillment warehouse including cheaper shipping rates. Because fulfillment warehouses ship in bulk for multiple sellers, they obtain lower shipping rates. They also usually have e-commerce shipping integration capabilities with all major logistics shipping companies, giving you easy access to the widest range of shipping options.
However, fulfillment warehouses are not suitable for everyone. There are several drawbacks that business owners should also take into account. For example, if you use your own packaging as part of your brand experience, you may find it difficult to find a fulfillment warehouse that will operate at that level of dedication and customization for your brand. Less cost-effective. While you will get better shipping rates when working with a fulfillment partner, there are other fees to pay, including what is commonly referred to as “pick and pack fees” and warehouse storage fees. These fees can be determined per order or as monthly fees, so be sure to study the details and choose what is best based on your size.
Best Rates Instantly
Businesses in North America automatically receive pre-negotiated shipping rates with all major carriers – UPS, USPS, DHL Express, and Canada Post. Typically, you need to get your own account with each of these companies and negotiate your own discounts (often based on your previous shipping volume). But if you are just starting out, business costs are already high, and the last thing you want is to pay high shipping rates.
With this
The prices for shipping your online store are in your hands; you now have options. You can use these prices to display the exact shipping costs at checkout, providing savings for your customers. You can also use these prices with the integrated label printing in Shopify. This means that each time you fulfill an order, you can print the corresponding shipping label for USPS, UPS, DHL Express, or Canada Post, saving you the trip to the post office or visiting another site or paying a third party to print labels. Schedule pickups as needed.
Dealing with a pile of orders is both a blessing and a curse at the same time. It’s impressive that you’ve made all these sales, but now you need to deliver them to your customers. Instead of calling for a car or driving through traffic and waiting in line, you can now schedule pickups for UPS or DHL Express shipments directly in Shopify. Just go and schedule a driver to come to your door, including same-day pickups, with no required minimum volume.
Shipping is an Essential Part of Your Online Business
Here’s the thing: knowing how to ship products to customers is a challenging aspect of any online business that relies on products. Every business will have its unique challenges that need to be worked through and overcome to develop the best and most efficient shipping solutions for e-commerce. Like many aspects of building your new e-commerce site, it will take time and tweaking to determine what works best.
Understanding all the variables and evolving how to approach shipping e-commerce orders is crucial for its health and long-term success. So, once you think you’ve got shipping figured out, don’t let it become stale. Re-evaluate every six months to ensure that you’re providing the best service and possible experience at the best possible price for your customers.
Thanks to Mike McGuire and Desirae Odjick for their contributions to this post!
Source: https://www.shopify.com/blog/shipping-and-fulfillment
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