Solutions for Ecommerce Shipping for different Businesses
All ecommerce store owners strive to provide the best ecommerce shipping, in order to provide a unique shipping experience to their customers. The process of shipping products is one of the most important processes affecting customer satisfaction and loyalty, in addition to being one of the essential steps to complete the product purchase cycle, from receiving the order to delivering it to the customer. Nowadays, the world of e-commerce is in fierce competition determined by prices and speed, and in this article we will show you all the details about e-commerce shipping and its best solutions.
What is Ecommerce Shipping?
What is meant by ecommerce shipping is the process by which products or customer orders purchased over the Internet are transported.
This process includes all the services required to transport products purchased online from the retailer to the customer’s delivery destination.
Ecommerce Shipping Process
The ecommerce shipping process includes everything related to the transportation and delivery of the required products, as:
- Request the order.
- Processing the order.
- Pick and choose the order.
- Ship the order.
- Delivery the order to the customer.
As soon as you receive a notification of a purchase in your online store, you will start processing that order by checking if it is in stock first.
Then you process the order by picking it carefully from your stock, and then packing and shipping to the customer’s address.
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What is the best shipping method for eCommerce?
Determining the best ecommerce shipping method for the online store depends on the size and nature of its work, as well as its resources.
There are many online stores that are able to ship their customers’ orders themselves, by having fast and appropriate delivery vehicles.
There are some other huge online stores that may have difficulty completing the delivery process themselves, so they use an external party to do the shipping on their behalf.
Determining the best shipping method for online stores depends on choosing the method that provides the fastest possible shipping process and ensures accurate and fast delivery of products.
The following are the types of ecommerce shipping operations that electronic stores can use according to their capabilities and resources, as well as the nature of their work and size:
1. Direct shipment of products
Direct shipping relies on shipping products to customers depending on the assets the online store has to fulfill the shipping steps.
It requires the presence of warehouses for storing and packaging products, delivery vehicles, and people working to carry out these operations.
In addition to the importance of covering wide geographical ranges, large companies often rely on this method due to the availability of capital.
2. Shipping via shipping companies
In this method, the online store relies on a shipping company to assist it in the process of shipping products to customers.
And choosing specialized shipping companies to ship products depends on several factors, including:
- Package specifications such as dimensions and weight.
- The time taken for delivery.
- The costs.
In the case of relying on this method, it is not necessary to go to one company only, but it is possible to contract with several companies with different plans in order to cover all transportation options.
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Choose the best shipping strategy
Due to the multiplicity of possible shipping options, the process of choosing the best ecommerce shipping strategy is not easy for online store owners.
In general, there is no ecommerce shipping strategy suitable for all types and forms of electronic stores.
The optimal shipping strategy varies from one online store to another, depending on the nature of the business and the size and activity of the store.
Below we will show you the various possible shipping options, through which you can determine the appropriate shipping strategy for you:
1. Free in-store pickup strategy
Through Free in-store pickup strategy, as one of the best ecommerce shipping strategy.
It provides free pickup of orders through your store if you own a physical location to deliver orders.
2. Same-day delivery strategy
Through Same-day delivery option, you will deliver customer orders on the same day that the product is ordered.
3. Flat rate and table rate shipping strategy
Through Flat rate and table rate shipping strategy you will ship by applying flat fees according to different geographical areas.
4. Getting live rates in real time directly from carriers strategy
Through getting live rates in real time directly from carriers strategy, ecommerce shipping strategy, specialized shipping companies will complete the delivery process.
5. Free shipping strategy
Through Free shipping strategy it will provide free shipping of customer orders without additional fees.
6. Mixed and alternative strategies strategy
Through which you will combine more than one shipping strategy in a way that suits your business.
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Ecommerce Packaging Options
The last thing we will conclude our article about ecommerce shipping is packaging options, which is one of the most important processes that the shipping process goes through.
The way in which products are presented to customers mainly affects your brand and customer satisfaction itself.
Here are a number of important things to keep in mind when it comes to packaging e-commerce products shipped to customers:
1. Choosing your packaging carefully
One of the important and influential things in ecommerce shipping is that you choose the appropriate packaging method for shipped products.
Through which it will ensure that products reach customers quickly, at the same time, it will enhance customer satisfaction in return for receiving their products perfectly without errors or defects.
2. Custom packaging according to your business
Among the things that affect customer satisfaction and make them consider repeating dealing with you again is that you provide customized packaging.
Which plays an important role in ecommerce shipping, as it will distinguish you among your competitors and at the same time leave a positive impression on your dealers.
3. Incorporate Eco-friendly packaging into your packaging
It can provide the best packaging options if it can incorporate some eco-friendly elements during the packaging process itself.
The use of Eco-friendly packaging will help you to promote your company perfectly and position you among the competitors as well as provide a superior customer experience.