Is Your Shipping As Good As It Could Be?

Posted on May 30 2016 - 6:55pm by Editorial Staff

Shipping 1

Image from Pixabay

There are a range of factors which dictate the success of any ecommerce business. From the quality of the products they sell to the customer’s experience with your website, you should never run out of things to improve. One thing which a lot of new business owners tend to neglect is their shipping. If you want to give your customers one more reason to love you, then here’s how to improve your shipping!

Shipping 2

Image from Public Domain Images

My first tip would be to shop around more for shipping rates. These days, a lot of companies spend far too much on their shipping method. Of course, I understand that you want to make sure your products reach their destination. However, splashing out on the shipping service you use could be money down the drain. There are many shipping companies out there who offer insured deliveries, without the hefty price tag. You may even be able to find long-term subscriptions which will shave off a lot of money from your bill. Just like anything these days, there are a lot of resources for comparing shipping rates. Go to Parcel Monkey to kick off your search.

Shipping 3

Image from Flickr

My next big tip is to manage all your shipping centrally. If you let anything at your business become too decentralised and disorganised, it will become harder and harder to manage. This is certainly true for your shipping. If you let it get too disorganised, your employees will be disgruntled, along with your customers who have to wait on late deliveries. You’ll also manage to tick off some of your partners, which is something you certainly don’t want to do! Obviously you want your business to keep on growing, and you’ve probably got a lot on your plate as it is. However, you should take some time to centralise your shipping process, and improve the way that it’s managed. A systematic way of shipping your products leads to a more efficient business, and smiles all around!

Shipping 4

Image from Flickr

Part of this process should be finding a way to automate your returns. Returns management is one of the most irritating parts of selling anything online. There’s a lot of room for error, especially if you’re shipping a lot of products with little staff. However, you’re going to get returns every now and then, and you need to find a good way of dealing with them. You can reduce some of the cost by buying your packing materials in bulk. You can browse Packaging Supplies for details on this. Next, try to set up some kind of web-based returns portal for your customers. This will keep you from having long phone conversations with angry customers! Make sure this portal requires the customer to give all the relevant details about their return, and gives them a return date which you can keep to.

Shipping 5

Image from Wikimedia

Well, there you have it. If your shipping department is in total chaos, bring these tips into your business. Once you achieve brilliant shipping at your ecommerce business, you’ll have far less to worry about in other areas.

About the Author

Editorial Staff at I2Mag is a team of subject experts.