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10 Tips To Reduce Shipping Costs For Ecommerce Businesses
10 Tips That Will Help Your Ecommerce Business Reduce Shipping Costs
Introduction
As an ecommerce seller, you know that shipping costs can be expensive, regardless of the product you're selling or the scale you're selling it at. In today's fast-paced and highly competitive market, offering shipping options that are quick, reliable and affordable can help you stay ahead of your competition and retain your customers.
But how can you balance low shipping costs without risking customer satisfaction?
One way is to use Bezos, a company specialising in fulfilment that can help you drastically reduce your shipping costs.
Whether you're shipping domestically or internationally, we can help you find the most cost-effective shipping options for your products and provide excellent customer support to keep your customers satisfied at each step of their purchase. Speak to an expert today and learn how we can further help your business manage and reduce shipping costs.
Keep reading to discover other tips that will help your business minimise shipping expenses!
Key Points
- Shipping costs can be very costly in today’s ecommerce space, and you have to ensure your business is providing the most competitive shipping prices to stay ahead of your competition.
- Fulfilment companies like Bezos are a great help when it comes to saving money on shipping – they provide useful services, handle all of your shipping logistics efficiently and provide incredible customer service to keep your customers satisfied.
- Using our ten incredible tips to reduce your shipping costs can save you a lot of money.
10 Tips To Reduce Shipping Costs In Ecommerce
One of the leading expenses in ecommerce is shipping costs. But are there ways of reducing them? Below, we've compiled the ten best tips to help you reduce your shipping costs in ecommerce, so let's take a look:
- Negotiate with Carriers
Working directly with carriers is an important strategy as you can negotiate more favourable terms to lower your ecommerce shipping costs. Here is how:
- Custom Pricing
You can receive custom pricing solutions based on your specific needs by talking directly to carriers.
- Package Optimisation
Carriers can focus on lowering your shipping costs by optimising your packages’ weights, sizes and dimensions.
- Volume Discounts
Many carriers provide volume discounts to customers that ship large amounts of packages. Negotiating with your carrier can help you strike a better deal based on your shipping volume.
Overall, having a direct relationship with your carrier is a smart way to potentially reduce your shipping costs and improve your shipping process in the long run.
- Use a Shipping Aggregator
Consider using a shipping aggregator that brings multiple carriers into one platform and provides you with better shipping rates and detailed pricing information so you can choose the cheapest option possible.
- Track Shipping Carriers Pricing Fluctuations
Every year, shipping carriers go through a process that assesses pricing and implements necessary rate adjustments to account for rising costs in fuel, labour and other expenses. As an ecommerce seller, it is important to know that you cannot control these expenses. Instead, you can take different steps to mitigate their impact on your business, such as raising your product prices or finding other ways to accommodate such losses.
- Offer Free Shipping
The free shipping trick is a common pricing strategy used by ecommerce businesses to make customers feel as if they're getting a better deal by offering "free shipping". Essentially, this strategy works by adding the cost of shipping onto the price of your product, making it appear as if shipping is free. Research has shown that customers are more likely to purchase a product if shipping is free, even if the price of shipping is already included in the product price. Use this to your advantage to drive sales, generate more profit and save money on shipping.
- Use Cost-Effective Packaging
It's important to assess your shipping needs, research the best packaging materials, and continually evaluate and adjust your packaging process to ensure you're getting the best deal possible. By utilising the right packaging materials and techniques, you can reduce the weight of your packages, lower your shipping costs and ensure your products are always in great condition.
- Take Advantage of Shipping Zones
Taking advantage of shipping zones is an efficient way to save money on shipping costs and take your shipping process to the next level. Shipping zones are the geographical regions that carriers use to determine shipping rates, meaning the further away a package travels, the higher shipping costs will be. A great way to lower your shipping rates and provide your customers with different shipping options is by implementing flat-rate shipping for packages that are shipped within specified shipping zones.
- Buy delivery packaging in Bulk
By buying shipping supplies such as boxes, bubble wrap and tape in bulk, you can take advantage of bulk discounts and reduce your overall cost per item shipped.
- Utilise Carrier Promotions
After choosing a good carrier company, try to stay informed on promotions offered by subscribing to their newsletters and following them on social media. Such promotions can happen, especially through peak season, so planning and taking advantage of them can save you money on shipping, even during the busiest times of the year.
Additionally, some carrier services may include discounts for bundling shipping in their promotions, so take advantage of that to save even more on shipping.
- Use Shipping Insurance
The process of shipping products to customers is an essential part of your operations, and you have to be aware of the risks that come with it.
The product you are shipping can encounter issues such as damage, breakage or even get lost during shipment, leading your clients to request compensation or exchange of said product.
Shipping insurance takes care of this issue by offering protection that can help you save money on costly replacements or returns, covering the cost of lost or damaged products during shipment.
- Work with a Fulfilment Company
By using a fulfilment company such as Bezos, you can outsource the shipment logistics to us, and we will remove all the hassle that comes with managing shipping and its costs. How do we do that? Let us explain:
Maximising Shipping Savings With Bezos
Choosing Bezos is a smart choice for ecommerce sellers that aim to reach new heights of success in their business. We are a fulfilment service that provides fast and reliable deliveries while saving you between £1 to £2 per order and up to 80% on all international orders, providing significant shipping savings for your business.
You also receive completely transparent order fulfilment tracking, ensuring your customers are up-to-date with their order status and how things are moving. And in case they have any additional questions regarding their orders or have return inquiries, our excellent support team will respond to the message within two hours of it being delivered, ensuring your customers stay satisfied.
Our fulfilment network, with 63 centres in 17 countries, brings incredible value to companies looking to expand into new markets to reach new customers and guarantees fast shipping worldwide. We provide scalability alongside multiple delivery options, including same-day delivery, which can increase your sales by up to 50%. Bezos’ contracts are super flexible, allowing you to cancel at the end of any month without hassle or additional fees.
Want to discover all of our exceptional features and get a closer look at how we can help your business grow and save money on shipping costs? Simply book a FREE QUOTE now and take the first step towards elevating your ecommerce business.
Our Pricing
Bezos strives to provide exceptional services that can help you significantly reduce your shipping costs.
We also understand that cost is a big concern for most businesses, so we've kept our pricing competitive and accessible for most companies. You will benefit from no hidden costs, no minimum requirements and no long term contracts.
Conclusion
While our list of effective tips on reducing shipping costs can help your business minimise expenses and increase profits, partnering with us at Bezos will make it even easier.
We will handle your shipping process and ensure it is operating cost-effectively without tarnishing the quality of your product or its delivery. Our incredible customer support team will handle your customers' questions and return inquiries. We’ll also save your company extra time and money on shipping logistics, letting you shift your focus to different aspects of growing your ecommerce business.
Are you ready to elevate your business to the next level? Book a FREE QUOTE and get started today.
FAQs
How can I reduce my shipping costs?
- Negotiate with carriers
- Use a shipping aggregator
- Offer free shipping
- Use cost-effective packaging
- Buy shipping supplies in bulk
What is the best shipping method for ecommerce?
The best shipping method for ecommerce depends heavily on the type of product you're delivering. Generally speaking, your best option would be opting for shipping carriers that cater to your company's needs and offer pricing that you can afford.
What is the cheapest way to ship anything?
Typically speaking, the most affordable shipping options in Europe are EU Parcel and EMS Parcel Post. They provide cheap shipping; however, their delivery times are long (10-16 business days). For the UK, Royal Mail, Yodel and DPD can all be cost effective. For the US, the cheapest shipping options are USPS Media Mail, USPS First-Class Mail, or USPS Priority Mail.
