Shipping is one of the most important factors for the eCommerce businesses that marks the order completion by delivering the goods to the customer’s doorsteps. Quite often, the shipping and order fulfilment costs lower down the profit margins for many of the eCommerce businesses.
Businesses can follow and implement some of the best shipping strategies to save the cost associated with order fulfilment and make more profits. If you are the eCommerce business owner struggling with the high shipping cost, then this post is for you.
In this post, I will provide you with the 10 best ways to reduce shipping costs for eCommerce in 2022. You can follow these strategies in your online store to provide the best shipping facilities to the customers without compromising with their experience.
Let’s begin!
10 Ways to Reduce Shipping Costs for Ecommerce in 2022
The top 10 eCommerce shipping strategies to reduce costs and increase profits are listed below:
Bargain With Carriers
In eCommerce bargaining with the shipping carriers for the prices may sound absurd, but it actually works. Some of the shipping carriers may provide you the possible prices on the shipping rates if you collaborate for a long-term business.
Weigh Packages and Reduce Dimensions
Many of the service provides charges the shipping rates based on the dimensions and weight of the package. Therefore, it is advisable to keep the packages as lightweight as possible and pack it with minimum extra coverings that add to its dimension.
Reduce the usage of over-sized boxes for your eCommerce products wherever possible. This can help you cost extra charges on the shipping rates.
Restrict Specific Shipping Methods
Sometimes, restricting various shipping methods to the customers based on various conditions can help you reduce the cost associated with order fulfilment. For example, you may have a shipping method that works best for a specific order location. In such case, you can restrict the customers to use a specific shipping method for the orders to that location.
If you are using Magento 2, you can easily do that by using the Magento 2 Shipping Restrictions extension, which allows resitrcting the shipping methods based on various cart attributes.
Ensure Using Packages Given by Carrier
Another great way to reduce the shipping costs is only to use the boxes and packages provided by the shipping carrier. Carriers like FedEx and UPS charge additional fees for using other packages.
Get the Discounted Supplies
Large shipping carriers like FedEx offer discounts or free packages to small businesses and startups. You can even purchase packaging materials in bulk quantities that may save additional costs for your business. As a result, it also helps reduce the average shipping cost associated with the packaging.
Select Prepaid Shipping
Many of the shipping carriers provide discounts and great deals on prepaid shippings. You can go prepaid and save a significant part of your shipping cost. The shipping companies like FedEx, USPS etc. provide shipping labels and forms at discounted rates when purchased in bulk through prepaid.
Insure With Third Parties
Shipping insurance is important to save the order from accidental and other unexpected damages. Generally, the shipping insurance provided by the shipping carrier may be a little bit costlier and may add to the overall shipping cost. To reduce it, you can opt out of the default shipping insurance and go for a third-party insurer at reduced rates.
Select Hybrid Services
The hybrid shipping services include both the shipping carrier and post office. Here, the shipping carrier such as FedEx picks up the shipment from the source location and drops it to the nearest post office, where it is sent to the customer’s destination location. This method may take a longer time, but it cuts down the hefty shipping costs charged by the carrier.
Ensure Using Poly Mailers
Packaging is an important part of shipping and the businesses should focus on cutting down the packaging costs. For example, in case of non-fragile items such as clothes, the poly mailers may be the best choice for packaging instead of cardboard boxes. In the same way, the eCommerce businesses can also seek for cheaper alternatives to pack other products.
Reduce the Shipping Distance
Usually, the shipping carriers charge the shipping rate based on the distance between the source and destination location. The more the distance, the more the shipping. If you are an eCommerce business owner serving to a large geographical area, then it is clever to have multiple warehouses spread across the region.
Conclusion
In eCommerce, the businesses can not avoid the packaging, shipping, and order fulfilment costs. However, they can reduce them strategically. The points mentioned above discusses the top ways to reduce the cost associated with eCommerce shipping. The online businesses can follow them for improved profit margins without compromising with the service quality to the customers.