When you have an online store, you tend to control most of your online business yourself. Right from the creation of ads, adding pictures, website customization, sending emails, to connecting with customers to resolve their grievances, you manage everything.
However, once the customer has ordered a product from you, you hand over the product to someone you don't even know about packaging and ship it to the customer.
Now, this third-party stranger may either make up your business and reputation through adequately packing and delivering the products or might ruin it by not delivering on time or delivering it in a poor condition.
Now that you took care of every part of your business to make it go well, a wrong shipment can just break everything.
A lot of 'want to be successful' entrepreneurs have lost it just because of their shipping concerns. While they are new to the industry, they fail to make their shipping strategies.
Let us look at some shipping strategies right from marketing and packaging to choosing the right shipping options.
Marketing and packaging
Today eCommerce has evolved immensely. While packaging did not matter years ago, today a bad package could mean a loss to the business.People buying goods from you expect a good and safe wrapping on their shipped products to have a good purchasing experience.
While they see such good images of the product online, they expect it to look good even when it's actually there.
A good packaging is not just important for customer satisfaction but holds many more benefits. It is one of the most powerful sources to market your brand.
Moreover, packaging should be done in a way that the goods inside are safe. A damaged product due to a bad package can spoil the experience of the customer.
How to package your product?
Packaging has a lot of option right from big boxes to envelopes and attractive bags. However, packaging should ensure that the product inside isn't damaged.
Moreover, do not make the packaging heavy or too large in volume since the shipping charges might increase accordingly.
You can do some padding to protect your stuff and put it in a box equal to the size of the product or in a bag. Thus, the most important thing to consider while packing is keeping the product safe and not increasing the weight or volume of the product.
Shipping strategies
Now that you know well how to go about product packaging let us move to understanding different shipping strategies one can opt.However, before opting for a strategy, it is important to ensure that you make the shipment only through recognized shipment companies. We will talk about some of these companies at the end of the article.
The top four strategies to consider while shipping is:
Step #1 Free shipping
This is one of the ways to where you can satisfy your potential customers to the fullest in terms of shipping. However, here any cost involved in transportation will need you to bear them.Thus, it inevitably decreases your revenue but can potentially increase your customer satisfaction levels. It is usually ideal for domestic shipping but may also be used nationwide.
If you are able to make profits even after absorbing the shipping costs, it is the best method to opt for. Moreover, free shipping attracts more and more customers. Even if you are earning lesser profits, you have more number of customers ultimately nullifying the effect and gaining higher customer satisfaction.
Free shipping can also be used when you want to make new customers or promote a new product on your website since it is the best way to attract customers.
Step #2 Be fair
Shipping obviously involves a cost. Instead of asking customers a higher amount of shipping cost compared to what you are actually charged, it is recommended to be fair with the price.
You can have real-time calculators that may prove you being fair to them and shall make your customers trust you more. This strategy is more suitable for big goods when it is just impossible to go with free shipping.
Step #3 Flat rates
This is another strategy where you charge a flat rate on the total order of the customer. To opt this, it is recommended to find out the average shipping cost per package and do away with the actual charges.
However, make sure the flat rates are not a loss for the business as well as for the customers.
Step #4 Combined pricing strategy
This is another great way of charging shipping fair for yourself as well as for the customers. You may charge some amount on orders up to a certain amount post which you offer free shipping.
This encourages customers to buy more and has more profits.
For example, you may charge $10 for orders up to $100 post which shipping can be free. Or you may charge a flat rate of $10 for orders up to $100 and then a variable amount for anything thereafter.
Or a combination of the two ideas. The former strategy of offering free shipping after an average value is the best way to promote and enhance more sales.
Note
There are various renowned national and international carriers. The national carriers serve in distinguished countries and also charge pretty less. However, opting them will not help you reach internationally.
On the other hand, international carriers such as DHL, FedEx, UPS are large companies that offer to ship within and outside the countries. They charge higher but are sure to give you a great shipping experience.
For international shipments, make sure you have all the custom documentation, commercial invoice, export declaration and certificate of origin.
Also, make sure to study about taxes and individual country rules as well as their restrictions before serving any other country.
Conclusion
Shipping is a complex but an important part of e-commerce. It is the domain that holds maximum risks and may come up with a lot of problems. Thus, it is important to strategize your shipping techniques and deciding what option to opt for in what situation.
Instead of opting for one particular strategy all the time, it is good to implement them as per the situations.
Understanding what will suit the best in what situation to make a perfect business comes with experience. Still, an initial plan trying to evade losses is imperative.
Along with the profit, always keep yourself in the shoes of the customer and then look for what's the best choice. It is also recommended to keep taking feedbacks from your customers.
It ensures the shipping companies are doing justice to the fee you pay them.
Doing a little more for your customers will make them your regular shopper eventually the business being at the gain.
It's time to join the top ecom mentors to understand and follow exactly the right steps. Join Zaarkly roundtable mastermind.
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