The rise of eCommerce platforms has increased customer expectations big time. With the technology that is available today, businesses can achieve some incredible feats. The eCommerce shipping process is key to ensuring customers are happy, and will return to purchase more.
Starting from the first visit to your website to the final delivery of goods as promised, today’s customers want their experience with a company to be smooth and seamless.
As an online business, eCommerce shipping and fulfillment should be a key part of your strategy.
Master eCommerce Shipping and Fulfillment
Select the Best Packaging
Before a product is shipped, you will need to package it effectively so that it reaches the customer safely.
Boxes and envelopes are two of the most common packaging options. You might also need some form of cushioning depending on the product.
Since carrier companies charge by the size and weight, make sure that you are keeping packaging light and small.
Determine Shipping Charges
You should determine what you are going to charge depending on your shipping strategy and future goals.
Here are some options that you might have at hand:
Free Shipping
Free shipping is increasingly become a popular choice and a great marketing tool for online businesses.
However, there is no such thing as a free lunch—somebody’s got to pay. You can either increase product prices slightly so that it is partly paid by customer and partly by you or you can pay for it for a large order.
Flat Rates
If you are selling products that are similar in size and weight, you might charge flat rates. It keeps things simple and there are no surprises for customers.
Real-Time Rates Depending on the Carrier
You can also charge customers based on real-time carrier rates. Live pricing features can be incorporated into your system and you can charge accordingly.
Choosing the Right Vendors
When you are starting out, you might have smaller shipping needs. Choosing services, like UPS and FedEx, would do just fine.
However, as your business grows, you will need to hire multiple vendors. The key to shipping success would be in determining how to obtain maximum advantage from these vendors.
Third-party logistics (3PL) can also be a good option when looking to reduce shipping costs. 3PL can combine inventory of different businesses and ship products efficiently.
Dropshipping is another preferred option. It can help companies increase shipping volumes without allotting the extra space in their inventories. The company collaborates with the manufacturer and has the product directly delivered from their warehouse.
Shipfusion sets your business on autopilot and combines flexible, reliable fulfillment with powerful, real-time technology. Shipfusion has multiple fulfillment centers across the US and Canada– making it easy to manage your eCommerce business. For more information on how to set your business on autopilot, contact one of our fulfillment specialists today.