5 Ecommerce Shipping Mistakes That Will Cost You

Think your ecommerce shipping is 100% flawless?

Think again. These 5 common ecommerce shipping mistakes might be costing your big if you don’t get them tied down fast.

1. Not being transparent about ecommerce shipping costs

Customers hate being charged more for shipping than they expected. Of course they do, you would too. Make sure your customers know who's paying for what, including any import taxes, where applicable.

Don't wait until the last stage of the checkout to display shipping options to your customers. Nobody enjoys an ugly, purchase ending surprise.
If your current checkout does not make your shipping options available until the last moment, have you checked your shopping cart abandonment levels? You may find a direct correlation.

If you’re getting feedback that’s saying any of this is not clear, then you need to fix it straight away.

2. Not shopping around for the best carrier

As more and more carriers are catering to the commerce audience, our customers have more selection than ever. So much so that many find it overwhelming to evaluate them all and make a decision.

However, painful though this exercise is, choosing the right carrier can save you BIG down the line, especially as the volume you are shipping increases as your business grows.

After all, even a £0.10 saving per package adds up fast if you’re shipping thousands of of packages a year

So be patient, be methodical, and outline your average delivery needs then run them through all the various carriers. One is bound to stand out.

3. Writing off ‘flat rate’ carrier solutions

Oftentimes, flat rate options get written off because they sometimes don’t offer the best rates. However, there are definitely some benefits you should consider.

First, you have a flat rate. You can plan and manage your cash flow a lot more effectively if you know ahead of time what your e-commerce shipping is going to be.

Second, flat rate shipping can, depending on what you’re shipping, work out to be insignificantly more expensive, especially if what you ship is all generally about the same shipping specs.

For example, if you run an e-commerce store that sells men’s watches, the vast majority of your shipments are going to be, well, watch-sized. That sort of standardized shipping can help even out light and heavy watches, in this case.

The best option is to compare your last three to six months of e-commerce shipping data and see if you are further ahead with flat rate or non-flat rate shipping (including extra time to get the right box, etc…).

4. Bad packing practices

With dimensional shipping now the norm, poor packing practices might be costing you more than you'd expect. Even an inch off each side can lead to significant e-commerce shipping savings for you and your business.

The best way you can optimize your packing is, once you’ve settled on your carrier, look at their shipping specs and only their shipping specs. You’ll be able to optimize your box size to ship cost effectively.

5. Manually creating shipping labels

The best way you can save time is by reducing how much manual work you do.

While we are entirely focused on saving you time with automation and integration, manually creating shipping labels is one of those areas where lots of companies (especially small businesses or businesses where e-commerce isn’t a primary revenue stream) are still producing manually.

Automating this can significantly streamline your e-commerce shipping processes. Manually creating shipping labels is prone to error and slows down the speed of which you get orders out the door.

There you have it. 5 critical mistakes that you might be making in your e-commerce shipping procedures. Hopefully, this will help you optimize and streamline your e-commerce shipping so it’s easier and better than ever.