It will not be wrong to say that boom in the eCommerce industry has given new ways to business owners to earn profit. According to some reports in 2018, eCommerce sales represented 11.9% of the total worldwide sales, and it also suggests that the sale is expected to rise to 17.5% in 2021. However, to be a part of this industry and give a strong sense of rivalry to your competitors, it is essential to understand the importance of eCommerce shipping solutions.
Nonetheless, you need to formulate an effective eCommerce shipping strategy because:
- 36% of customers never shop back with a retailer following a poor delivery experience.
- 55% of customers start looking for competitors offering suitable delivery options.
- 76% of customers always look for free shipping when looking for delivery options.
- 44% of customers have left a shopping cart due to undesirable delivery options.
What Is Ecommerce Shipping?
eCommerce shipping includes everything from shipping the product from a warehouse to delivering it to the customer’s address. By taking the assistance of the right partner, eCommerce shipping becomes an easy-to-accomplish process, and at an affordable cost.
Importance of eCommerce shipping solutions
Following are some points that you can refer to, to comprehend the importance of eCommerce shipping solutions:
- To find the right carrier partner at an affordable price
As the scenario of eCommerce and online shopping has changed since the pandemic, you can easily find thousands of options in courier services. It has become essential for the shippers to maintain an extensive carrier partner network to meet customers’ delivery expectations. With advanced logistics platforms, users can immediately compare courier services and pick the best courier option for each shipment. Moreover, retailers can add the solutions to their supply chain ecosystem and meet their delivery objectives at an affordable cost.
- Streamline shipping process
Every business owner wants to deliver the products to customers on time and at a low cost. However, customers can find several customized shipping options due to a recent spike in eCommerce activities. Therefore, as a business owner, you should be able to accommodate the personalization option.
By integrating the right shipping solutions, retailers can meet customers’ specific shipping requirements without hassles. Every eCommerce provider has to compete with expedited shipping to meet customer demands. So, to streamline the entire process, advanced eCommerce shipping software comes across as a great solution.
- Tracking shipment and solving issues in real-time
With a transparent shipping solution, retailers can offer an end-to-end parcel tracking facility to customers. It comes with additional benefits for retailers, including:
- The parcel tracking facility starts from the warehouse and ends when it reaches to customer’s doorstep. So, the facility resolves several transportation issues in real-time.
- Customers get timely delivery updates which ultimately improve the overall customer experience.
An eCommerce shipping solution available in the form of software helps take proactive actions in case of any problem. For example, delivery event alerts can be generated and stored in the CRM system. In this way, the product can be delivered from a different distribution center to ensure it arrives on time. Also, the customer can retrieve the product from a nearby store on his own.
Therefore, the tracking delivery option provides accurate carrier performance data, eventually improving customer relations.
- To get error-free invoices and negotiate carrier contracts
Relying on carrier partners and the numbers on their invoices is not a good idea. There is always an expectation of inaccuracy in the carrier surcharges and other fees. However, there is a perfect solution to end such problems and improve customer experience.
Ecommerce shipping solutions offering freight audit and analytical tools help in streamlining the financial management of shipping costs. It automates carrier invoice matching and quickly finds out invoice discrepancies. If the shipping solution software has a deep ERP integration, you can rely on it for cost accruals.
- Forming Data-Driven Decisions
Retailers generally don’t have the skill to analyze real-time shipping data. Factors including speed of delivery, distance, package size, etc., are essential in a business intelligence platform. However, retailers can’t visualize how and where changes can occur.
Moreover, when retailers don’t have real-time data and the business intelligence platform with them, they can’t answer some critical questions like:
- Are there any available transportation savings with the new carrier options?
- How will new DC placement or ship from the store affect the expenditure?
- What is the effect of a presented carrier rate change on spending?
- What are the available transportation savings with newly proposed carrier options?
If the retailers have shipping solutions, they can generalize transportation spending effects across vital data sets. Also, visualizing the impact across different variables is possible. Software solutions, therefore, will allow retailers to find out areas right for any negotiation. Also, it helps them to make a cost-savvy business strategy.
Get the right shipping solution for your e-commerce business
When you run an eCommerce business, your reputation is everything. Providing poor quality delivery service, not taking care of the budget, and lack of tracking facilities can negatively impact the business. Therefore, it is vital to choose the right eCommerce shipping solution and allow your business to reach heights.
You can sign up on NimbusPost to find your suitable eCommerce shipping solutions at reasonable costs. NimbusPost is a shipping aggregator that consolidates 27+ leading logistics partners and offers services across 29000+ pin codes. With the ongoing festive season in India, you can scale your business by getting the right assistance from NimbusPost.
