Choose the Best eCommerce Shipping Solutions and Options for Your Store

Implementing the most impactful shipping solution is a crucial step in achieving your eCommerce success. When building the best shipping solution for eCommerce  site, you need to consider these three factors: 

• Your shipping carrier;
• Your shipping method;
• Your shipping fulfilment.

Step #1. Decide what shipping approach and processes you want to introduce.

Step #2. Analyse the pricing and services provided by various carriers to determine what’s the best fit for your eCommerce company.

Step#3. Finally, you should establish your fulfilment and shipping terms to seal the deal.

You may already know that there’s a lot of logistics companies globally. To find the right match for you, do your research on the best eCommerce shipping companies. The following list will assist you: 

• UPS and FedEx are preferable for bigger, heavier shipments that require a scheduled shipment.
• The USPS is ideal if you want to send thin, easy-to-transport parcels to households.
• You can go for regional carriers for local shipping, contributing to lessened expenses on short-distance shipments. Lasership and OnTrac are both great as a choice for your delivery solutions.
• DHL offers low-cost overseas distribution services. They can also assist you in exploring new distribution offerings to meet changing consumer needs. One perfect example is its same-day shipping service.

As an owner of your eCommerce company, you should also identify your shipping method. This will determine the costs and define the terms of selling your products. Every process belongs to a specific delivery type, so it has its own set of data which is shown to clients when they checkout. 

Now, let’s tackle your shipping fulfilment. eCommerce delivery means transporting products to the recipient after they have placed an order online. Once you receive their orders, you can fulfil them by:

• Receiving and safekeeping the requested goods;
• Sorting and picking the products;
• Preparing the products for packaging to properly-labelled boxes;
• Delivering them to a specified location.

The most effective eCommerce shipping solutions have one thing in common — they’re all straightforward and actionable. Below, you can find a quick rundown of eCommerce shipping options that match these criteria:

1. Same-day Delivery

This means that the products will be delivered within the day of ordering. Considered as a selling point, more than half of customers prefer this for faster shipment. The success of this will depend on the following considerations: 

• Processes;
• Personnel;
• Third-party courier service providers;
• Automation.Two-day Delivery

2. Two-day delivery is another popular choice amongst eCommerce business owners. 

You might think that this form of premium delivery is exclusive to big companies like Amazon Prime but think again. You can just as easily do a two-day delivery service without prices skyrocketing.

3. Express Delivery

Express delivery is another process that’s the best fit for urgent shipments. The precise delivery time for shipments varies from one courier to another. Going to express delivery results in:

• Minimised rate of unfulfilled orders;
• Fulfilment of client needs;
• Solidifying overall loyalty.

4. Overnight Delivery

Sometimes, a two-day shipment service might not be the best one. Yet, you’re still looking to give your patrons a faster delivery service.

Consider instead offering overnight delivery, which is another form of shipping where clients collect the order the next day. 

5. Freight Transport

Freight shipping is the act of shipping cargo either by all means of transportation. It is the best choice for transporting products that exceed 30 x 30 x 30 inches or weigh more than 150 pounds. You can collect goods directly from a retailer and deliver them to assigned distributors.

6. International eCommerce Shipping Options

Lastly, this might be difficult and costly for an eCommerce company. All countries have their respective laws, customs, taxation, and trade agreements. So, it is critical to find seasoned delivery partners that can:

• Guide your company terms in line with the Universal Postal Union;
• Deal with foreign shipping expertly;
• Offer competitive shipping prices.

Implementing an effective shipping strategy is easier said than done. Take the time to build comparative tables first wherein all the details of your costs are placed, including:

• What you are compensated with from your profits;
• Client payments and defaults;
• Budget and profit margin for each service provider.

When you have an effective ship implementation plan in place, this can help identify the following:

• The product costs, packaging, and shipment;
• The fee per credit card transaction and other expenses. 

Another possibility of the plan would be:

• The monitoring device to see how much this impacts the net rate; 
• The cost of premiums if it is not already included by the retailer.

Evaluate pricing, performance, and consumer loyalty when using several carrier networks at the same time. This acts as your safeguard that in the event one carrier fails, there will still be another to fall back on.

As a result, you can keep the one that better matches business needs.

To charge consumers for delivery, various eCommerce companies use different rate systems. Here are three common choices for eCommerce shipping costs.

1. Delivery at a Set Price

Flat rate delivery entails offering a set price for all kinds of orders. These must all fall under the same mass, item value, and other factors. 

The total delivery and fulfilment expense across an order group should fall in line with the flat-rate. However, there is a possibility of cost discrepancies due to varying postage prices. 

2. Prices for Real-Time Carriers

From the purchase point, a few online stores post shipping costs upon checkout. The costs are automatically retrieved from the shippers once a client fills in their delivery address and other relevant information. 

This carrier term allows you to put additional costs to consumers the same price it takes your company to ship their orders and will serve as your unique shipment API, much like Shopify’s Advanced Schedule.

Another helpful tool would be a shipping cost calculator on the company page for clients. Having this useful tool enables them to calculate the cost of shipping before paying for their order.

3. Providing Free Delivery

There are several advantages to offering free delivery.

• It minimises the rate of abandoned shopping carts;
• It improves conversions;
• It helps foster consumer loyalty. 

For this offer to work without sacrificing your profit, you need to set conditions such as:

• Requiring a minimum spend in return for free delivery;
• Including the cost of packaging in the retail price;
• Accepting a monthly charge as part of customer rewards, promo, or delivery incentive.

Your product packaging poses a significant impact on the delivery expense, as well as your client’s trust.

Product packing is considered the initial contact your consumers have with the brand of your business. We recommend the following packaging practices for eCommerce:

1. Choosing the Appropriate Packaging 

There are a ton of packaging choices, especially with your eCommerce shipping labels. Consider the following to choose a package for the orders of your clients:

• What exactly is your product?
• What are the shape, size, and weight?
• How delicate or long-lasting is it?
• What kind of packaging does the retailer already provide?

2. Consider Customised Packaging

High-quality and personalised eCommerce packaging will make you stand out from the competition. Because when branding is added to your packaging and label, it will:

• Create a good first impression on your customers;
• Make you easily recognisable;
• Add noise to your name;
• Build a community of brand evangelists.

3. Make Your Packaging Sustainable

Per the Environmental Protection Agency, waste from packing materials accounts for one-third of the overall domestic pollution. Unfortunately, as eCommerce revenues increase, so will the amount of waste generated. To help change this, introduce environmentally sustainable packaging choices like biodegradable bags.

Are you ready to start shipping your products to customers?

Here are the top shipping carriers you can choose to partner with:

DHL is well-known in the shipping industry. Its Pricing Quote and Transit Time calculator computes the export and import prices and the transit times, making customers feel more secure and confident about their parcels.

FedEx has a broad range of distribution choices at different price points. Their FedEx Small Business aims to boost businesses in need of shipping solutions. Enter the shipment information into FedEx’s Rate Finder to calculate delivery rates and travel times.

UPS offers a range of delivery options, including:

• Arranging delivery pickups;
• Handling delivery returns;
• Offering a wide network of shipping destinations and travel times.

The UPS Small Enterprise network provides helpful tools in conducting your eCommerce business. One such tool is the Estimate Shipping Cost calculator.

When it comes to last-mile distribution, USPS reigns supreme. Since USPS also provides regular postal service for local suburban roads, it is often the cheapest choice for ground delivery. Other shipping companies also send packages to USPS for the final leg of an order’s journey. 

Royal Mail is the operator of the universal postal service. Like the country’s Post Office, they have a network of branches across the country. They are great for eCommerce businesses that mainly deliver parcels and letters.

Automated tools are now available to help you run your shipping operations for your eCommerce store. Below are some of the most sought-after software for shipping management.

ShippingEasy allows you to:

• Automatically import orders;
• Submit tracking details back to your shop;
• Automate label printing at the best prices;
• Expand your market. 

They also assist with your delivery and offer seamless order processing. Furthermore, they provide consumer marketing resources to help you generate more sales.

ShipStation grants full access and visibility to all orders at any point of the distribution chain and from retail platforms. Save time by linking a sales channel, manually building orders, uploading a CSV, or feedback via API to sync as many orders as you like from as many sources as you like.

Shippo connects with the most popular eCommerce sites to make the delivery process more effective.

Here’s how Shippo works:

1. The customer creates an order on your eCommerce website;
2. Shippo receives the order;
3. Operations staff handles the order, prints the shipping label, and processes the paperwork;
4. Once completed, the details are synced back to your website.

Shipping strategies are different for everyone, so you should always have a well-thought-out plan for this area of your eCommerce business. 

Take your shipping rate as an example. Always evaluate whether your carrier is providing you with the best options or not. Explore other carriers to determine the best deal for your eCommerce business. Trial and error is your friend to find the ideal eCommerce shipping solutions for an eCommerce online store. 

We suggest that you stick with service providers that are willing to expand with and grow alongside you.

Our team of business and consulting experts can assist you with all your eCommerce needs. We solve tech challenges for new online and offline businesses, including famous brands. 

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