Shipping is an essential part of eCommerce, and now more than ever, customers demand an exceptional delivery service at a reasonable cost.
While eCommerce giants such as Amazon can offer expedited shipping, often same-day or next-day delivery, the demand from consumers is the same regardless of the size of your company.
The logistics behind small business shipping can be expensive, but knowing how to reduce your shipping costs can help you offer an efficient service without the cost.
Kitting Service
A kitting service can help you to reduce your shipping costs by packing your orders effectively. Have your inventory shipped to a third-party warehouse such as Selery and packed and labeled to reduce your packaging sizes to be sent to customers.
Look for Discounted Shipping Rates
All shipping carriers offer pricing savings based on shipment volume, and you don’t have to ship hundreds of thousands of orders every month to qualify. It’s not a bad idea to negotiate bulk savings in exchange for loyalty to a single delivery company. Of course, the more packages you ship, the lower your prices will be.
ECommerce business owners should seek lower shipping prices, as long as the service for the lower costs does not compromise shipping solutions or increase delivery times.
Prepaid Services
Buy in bulk beforehand by taking advantage of shipping labels that don’t need to be attached until you are ready to ship and order. Oftentimes, carriers offer big discounts on prepaid shipping, and you can make savings. And as you don’t need to attach a label until the order is ready to be shipped, you don’t lose any money if you don’t use them immediately.
Consider Packaging Weights
Make the switch to lighter packaging weights to reduce the shipping costs. Switch to corrugated cardboard boxes are lighter and lightweight packaging materials such as air pockets or foam inserts.
Use various sized packaging options, so you have a better chance of using the appropriate sized box and fewer packaging materials to protect contents.
Switch to Flat Rate Shipping
As shipping companies have been increasing their charges, more companies are getting on board with flat rate shipping to allow them to ship various sized packaging for the one price.
Flat rate shipping is determined by weight and size, and if you are shipping 10 items approximately the same size and weight, you will know in advance how much it will cost if you use flat rate shipping.
Offer Various Shipping Options
Using different shipping methods can help you to reduce the costs. Allow for collection to reduce delivery costs on local deliveries. Consider hybrid services for different types of shipping. If a customer is happy to wait a little bit longer, you can use sipping that isn’t a premium service while major carriers can offer quicker rates; this often comes at a cost, so save this for those who are happy to pay a little bit more to get their order faster.
There isn’t a standard fit for shipping, so try different solutions to keep your costs down.
