There are also plenty of hidden costs when handling fulfillment in-house. Here are some ideas that can potentially lower your average shipping cost. Many brands pay high shipping fees when they ship to destinations that are far away. Shipping zones are the geographical areas that carriers ship to, spanning from Zone 1 to Zone 8 for domestic shipments in the United States.

Zones measure the distance a shipment travels, with the point of origin located in Zone 1. The farther away the shipping destination is, the higher the zone and more expensive and slow it is to ship. If you can eliminate shipping to higher zones, you can save a lot of money over time and benefit from better shipping options with lower rates — more on partnering with companies that have multiple fulfillment centers shortly!

In addition to weight, carriers consider dimensions of the package when calculating shipping costs. Larger boxes can lead to larger dimensional weight , which in turn will lead to more expensive shipping costs.

Shipping companies such as USPS, UPS, and FedEx may provide small businesses certain boxes and envelopes for free or at a discount for certain packing supplies. You can also purchase packing supplies like boxes, dunnage , bubble wrap, airfill, and poly mailers in bulk to save money.

You may even find some free shipping supplies. Of course, the more packages you ship, the better rates you can get. Ecommerce store owners should seek lower shipping costs, as long as the service for the lower costs does not affect the shipping solutions or extend delivery times.

See if the ecommerce platform your store is powered by or the marketplace you sell on offer any bulk discount shipping services or programs. They may have features that provide real-time carrier rates , shipping apps, built-in features, and integrations with fulfillment software that can provide you with better rates and fulfillment services.

If you do need shipping insurance for your orders, third-party package insurers are usually cheaper than going with your shipping carrier — in some cases nearly half the price. Of course, this is most applicable to high value items.

This not only saves costs but time as well. Note: This really only works when you consistently ship orders containing the same weight and dimensions or know this information ahead of time to ensure accurate shipping costs.

If you sell small, non-fragile products like clothing, shipping orders in a mailer envelope or poly bag can be far more cost-effective than boxes. The dimensions are smaller, taking up less room on a delivery truck, and using them also requires less packing supplies like tape and bubble wrap to save even more money.

If your orders contain different combinations of products, consider different sized poly mailers. Hybrid shipping services like UPS SurePost and FedEx SmartPost pick up your orders and then work with other carriers like USPS to transport your packages to a sorting facility or post office location, where it is then shipped to a residential area for last-mile delivery.

However, the tradeoff is often a slower delivery. Every year, the major shipping carriers increase their shipping rates as part of the annual general rate increase GRI.

Additionally, carriers may implement surcharges at various peak times such as the holidays and Q4 or what we saw happen during the early days of the COVID pandemic , when there is a surge in packages being shipped.

They also implement other surcharges annually, ranging from large package surcharges to signature required surcharges. During peak season or any high volume events or periods for your ecommerce business e.

It could also be a good choice if you need to charge your customers a flat rate, or if you fulfill your orders yourself and then you could take advantage of the convenience.

It will likely cost you more in the end. Buy more, pay less. It is when you can manage to get a bulk rate discount from your shipping carrier.

There are a few ways you can try to get discounts for more affordable ecommerce shipping from carriers. Shopify offers a very similar service through their own platform, called Shopify Shipping. They typically ship a huge volume of packages and are thus able to negotiate a discounted rate - without you having to do as much work.

The last mile - metaphorically speaking, anyway - is the last step between the warehouse and the customer. This last step can sometimes take the longest.

It can depend on the third party you work with, how busy they are, where their facility is located, what courier they use, and many other factors that are completely out of your control. As you can imagine, cutting down on the time and cost spent in the last mile is critical.

But how can you do it? Something like a drone delivery service , while very cool, is probably way too expensive. But trying different companies can help you find that sweet spot between costly and quick.

While Fedex and UPS frequently outsource to USPS for the last mile because of their coverage, other options have popped up in the last few years. You can also consider a pick-up option, which cuts out that last mile entirely. Make the customer come to you!

If you have brick-and-mortar stores, setting up in-store pickup is an easy choice. If not, you may even want to consider participating in something like the UPS Access Point program. In general, the more items you can ship in the same box, the more you can save on shipping. But how? However, you can try a new take on that, which is to offer upgraded shipping once they hit the minimum, which will reward them for ordering more by getting it to them faster.

To set your minimum, look at your average order amount and set it a bit higher than that, which should bring your overall average order amount up over time.

To do a trial run, try doing a customer appreciation campaign with upgraded shipping at your new minimum to gauge the popularity. Another option is to sell in kits or in bulk when you can. Ultimately, the more items you can fit in one shipment, the cheaper it will be to get it there quickly.

This is a great way to balance affordable ecommerce shipping with fast shipping speeds. Hot take: no one cares about your inserts. Not-so-hot take: the unboxing experience is a crucial part of the impression you make on your customer.

Both are true; how? Practically, those materials take up valuable space and weight in the box, leading to marginal increases in shipping cost that become significant at scale.

They also take longer to assemble, and all of the inserts you throw in will be tossed in the recycling bin or the garbage eventually, even if they do bring in an extra lead or two. What is worth it is designing smart. Consider talking to a package design company to see how you can really wow with design and ditch the inserts, or think about how using less can actually be more effective like moving towards a more environmentally-friendly image.

Lastly, fast shipping does not have to be an all-or-nothing game. With the U. Finding fast and affordable ecommerce shipping for the entire U.

Sorry Alaska and Hawaii. To make conditional fast shipping work for you, you can set parameters that will allow you to offer fast shipping where it is reasonable and affordable to you.

This could be within major urban zones, or areas within a certain radius of the warehouse s that store your inventory.

You can consider shipping to more remote areas, or places a certain distance outside of your core shipping radius, to be like shipping outside the lower Related: Our list of the 12 best shipping softwares for ecommerce.

Knowing what factors impact your shipping rates is the best way to keep shipping costs to a minimum. Our mailing and shipping experts outlined 3 ways to reduce shipping costs to help you reduce your shipping costs. Dimensional weight is used to calculate the shipping cost of larger packages with lower weights aka light packages that take up a lot of valuable space in a delivery truck or airplane.

Businesses should be aware of dimensional weight pricing and try to fit packages in the smallest packaging available. Shrink your packages as much as possible so there is minimal void: With dimensional weight pricing the larger your package the more you end up paying so it is important to shrink package sizes whenever possible.

If you are shipping with the USPS, you can even be exempt from dim weight pricing if you keep your packages under 1 cubic foot.

If you are sending soft or flexible items, large flat envelopes or pouches are a great way to cut your costs and avoid dim weight pricing.

These are not the best option for shipping breakable or delicate items but clothing, books, and other "bendable" and soft items are perfect for these cost-saving envelopes that can be found online or at your local shipping store.

Compare the prices of different carriers and services in order to see your options, get the best price for your shipping, and make the best decision for your business. By rate shopping, you're helping your business by better controlling what you spend on shipping and giving yourself more opportunities to save.

If you are only shipping with one carrier right now, you don't know what other options are available.

1. Slim down package weight · 2. Lower the DIM weight · 3. Consolidate shipping boxes · 4. Avoid Expedited Shipping Charges · 5. Shorten the From negotiating with carriers to liaising with suppliers, here are 12 tips to effectively reduce & manage your shipping costs 1. Consider outsourcing portions of order fulfillment to a 3PL. · 2. Weigh packages and reduce dimensions. · 3. Offer a flat rate shipping fee to

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1. Negotiate Your Rates · 2. Claim Refunds · 3. Consider Pick-Up and Delivery · 4. Print Postage at Home · 5. Choose Affordable Packing Materials · 6. Use Third- 1. Slim down package weight · 2. Lower the DIM weight · 3. Consolidate shipping boxes · 4. Avoid Expedited Shipping Charges · 5. Shorten the Dimensional weight is used to calculate the shipping cost of larger packages with lower weights (aka light packages) that take up a lot of valuable space in: Reduced shipping weight fees

Gain a clear understanding Reduced shipping weight fees how shipoing and size impact rates. My old Affordable food promotions billed monthly, which shippung drain a huge sum of Euros from my account at once. However, choosing a third party could result in bigger savings. This means that you can buy shipping labels upfront and use them when you need them. FedEx guarantees on-time delivery on all service levels for members of FedEx My Rewards. Search Suppression Get notified when your listings are search suppressed.	After negotiations with multiple carriers, make a deal with a reliable service that offers the best value. Outvio is a post-checkout platform that allows you to better monetize all of your fulfillment, shipping, returns, and exchanges operations. This post is accurate as of the date of publication. To ensure your orders and shipments are discharged in a timely manner, consider using Gorgias. With customers expecting everything faster than ever and freer than ever it can feel overwhelming to try to make everyone happy. Shipping zones determine shipping costs.	1. Slim down package weight · 2. Lower the DIM weight · 3. Consolidate shipping boxes · 4. Avoid Expedited Shipping Charges · 5. Shorten the From negotiating with carriers to liaising with suppliers, here are 12 tips to effectively reduce & manage your shipping costs 1. Consider outsourcing portions of order fulfillment to a 3PL. · 2. Weigh packages and reduce dimensions. · 3. Offer a flat rate shipping fee to	Scale back the size of your shipments · Pay attention to your packing materials · Be on the lookout for special discounts · Make time for rate 11 ways ecommerce stores can reduce shipping costs right now · 2. Weigh your packages and reduce dimensions · 3. Find discounted supplies · 4. Get discounted One of the best ways to reduce shipping costs is to only use the boxes and packaging provided by your carrier. Most carriers like FedEx and UPS	11 ways ecommerce stores can reduce shipping costs right now · 2. Weigh your packages and reduce dimensions · 3. Find discounted supplies · 4. Get discounted One of the best ways to reduce shipping costs is to only use the boxes and packaging provided by your carrier. Most carriers like FedEx and UPS Reduce weight of packages; Choose the right-sized packaging; Use flat-rate shipping when possible; Use Shopify Shipping to cut carrier costs
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