Detailed Guide: How Does Ecommerce Shipping Works?
Today eCommerce has become rising industry as people have shifted to online shopping. Hence, every element of e-commerce business is important to understand. Shipping is one of the most important elements that needs to be focused on. The reason is that 53% of customers canceled their purchase because of slow delivery. This is why shipping is essential to optimize for the delivery of the products. Let us learn about the shipping process and everything around it.
What is eCommerce Shipping?
When the customer comes across an item on the e-commerce platform, it adds that item to the cart. From here, the seller receives the notification of the order and then it transports the product to the end customer. This entire journey of the product from the online portal to the consumer's home is a called eCommerce shipping.
Key Strategies and Methods of eCommerce Shipping
There are different kinds of shipping that are based on different parameters. Let us have a look at the different shipping types and how they deliver.
1. Get Your Order with 2-Day Shipping
This is the most common shipping type that the fulfillment partners offer. It was started by Amazon as it has the largest network across the globe. The customers get their product in just 2 days and hence it became quite popular.
2. Same Day Delivery for Urgency
For people who need the product urgently, this shipping is the best. Some providers offer this service to strengthen their customer base with speedy shipping.
3. Morning Surprise with Overnight Shipping
If you need an item or a product but you ordered it in the night, some providers even offer overnight shipping in which you get the product the next day only.
4. Expedited Shipping for Faster Delivery
This is also a common shipping type that provides fast delivery of the product. This type offers a bit faster shipping than the standard shipping. Every provider has a different timeline of the expedited shipping.
5. International Shipping
This shipping is not based on speed but on the region that the fulfillment providers cater to. If an seller has the dream to go global, then international shipping is the best choice. This helps the seller reach customers across the world.
6. Eco-Friendly Shipping
In the environmental crisis, people are opting for the eco-friendly options in almost everything. Hence, some providers even offer eco-friendly shipping in which they use bio-degradable materials to pack the products.
Important Shipping Components
1. Shipping Labels
Shipping labels are extremely important components of the shipping. It is the identity of a package that works as its identification mark. It has all the information about that particular package and the product which helps in its correct shipment. Hence, it plays a crucial role in making the shipping process easy. A shipping has the following information on it:
- Sender and Recipient Addresses
- Tracking Number
- Shipping Class & Carrier Details
- Weight and Dimensions
- Barcode & QR Code
2. Shipping Insurance
Insurance is always a good option when dealing with any risky thing. Shipping process also involves some amount of risk as the package might get lost or tampered in its journey. If such a thing happens, the fulfillment service provider is responsible for paying for the loss. This can severely impact the revenue as it will increase the losses. Hence, shipping insurance becomes a crucial element that protects your shipping journey.
Breakthrough Benefits of E-commerce Shipping
E-commerce shipping offers multiple advantages that sellers can utilize for maximizing sales and profits. Let us have a look at them!
1. Faster and Reliable Delivery
E-commerce shipping helps the sellers in delivering the products to their valuable customers much faster. When a customer orders a product, it expects that it receives an accurate product and within the specified time. These are the two main criterion for the customers to judge the shipping service. Hence, with e-commerce shipping, sellers can provide fast and reliable delivery of the product.
2. Wider Audience at Global Level
With e-commerce shipping, sellers can easily reach customers worldwide. It gives the sellers an opportunity of global expansion and make international clients. This would indirectly help the sellers make more sales and thus, more profit.
3. Increased Sales of the Products
The main goal of any seller is to increase the sales of its products. It becomes easy to deliver the products fast with e-commerce shipping. This makes the shipping more reliable and customers tend to order more, and hence, it increases sales.
4. Save More with Reduced Costs
The best part with e-commerce shipping is that it has many benefits and they all come at an overall reduced price. So on one hand, it helps you deliver faster and accurately and on the other hand, it reduces the operational which multiplies the revenue.
5. Streamlined Operations
Shipping labels are integral to the entire shipping process and they help in streamlining the operations. So e-commerce shipping eases the headaches of the seller by making timely and accurate deliveries. Sellers can even utilize integrating tools like MapMyChannel to automate the operations that gives even more peace of mind.
6. Customer Satisfaction
The biggest advantage of e-commerce shipping is that it makes the customer happy. If the customers are satisfied, the business ultimately thrives.
Understanding the Steps of Shipping Process
Step 1- Connect eCommerce Store to Fulfillment Channel
The first step a seller has to do is to connect its eCommerce store that include TikTok, Walmart, BigCommerce or WooCommerce with the fulfillment channel of its choice. It is quite an easy process but managing all the orders can be a little difficult. To overcome this issue, sellers can utilize inventory management software. It seamlessly connects both eCommerce store and Fulfillment channel.
Step 2- Send Products to Fulfillment Center Warehouse
After connecting the store, the seller has to send the products available for selling to the fulfillment center. Here it will be stored in the warehouse as the inventory. The fulfillment channel is responsible for the entire management of this inventory.
Step 3- Customer Places an Order
The exact number of inventory should be displayed on the e-commerce store. After seeing this number only, the customer places the order. The seller receives the order notification and then processes the same order. It involves packaging of the product and pasting of the shipping labels on the package. And now starts the shipping!
Step 4- Shipping by the Fulfillment Partner
The fulfillment partner is not just responsible for stocking but also the shipping of the product. It uses a wide network of transportation facilities to deliver the orders fast to the customers. Fast shipment is one of the most sought after features that consumers seek.
Step 5- Tracking Orders
Today, consumers want to get all the information about the product's journey. This is possible if the seller has subscribed to a reliable Multichannel Integration Platform. It offers real-time synchronization of the order tracking that helps sellers provide accurate order tracking to the consumers.
Step 6- Handling Returns
A good shipping service is not limited to fast delivery but even handling returns positively. If the customers gets a wrong or a defected product, then they should be able to return the product. This gives a positive impression of the services and this is also included in the shipping process only.
Shipping Partners for Easy Shipping Journey
A journey gets easy and relaxed if any reliable person accompanies. Similarly, your shipping journey can also be made hassle-free if you choose a reliable shipping partners.
Here are a few reliable shipping partners that you may opt on the basis of their requirement:
1. ShipStation
It is the most reliable shipping partner in the world. ShipStation ships all the products from all your stores in just one login.
2. ShipBob
It has 60+ fulfillment centers and 99.95% accuracy rates. Hence, if you are looking for a wide reach, ShipBob is a good option.
3. ShipWise
It is known for reliable shipping solutions for high level fulfillment. It can be a nice option for bulk shipping of products.
Leverage Automation for Efficient Shipping to Boost Business
Shipping is the most important element of the entire order process. The journey of the product takes its way through the shipping process. A good shipping partner can help you scale globally and improve customer satisfaction. Utilizing the core shipping elements like shipping insurance and shipping labels shield sellers from losses while delivering accurately.
The potential of e-commerce shipping can be maximized by automated order processing. For this, the sellers can integrate their existing fulfillment partner with the marketplace and sales channel. Here you can utilize MapMyChannel to automate the entire order process for hassle-free management.
If you want to know more about shipping or other e-commerce issues, you may contact our team of experts. Just drop us an e-mail and we will get in touch to help you the best.
