In this article, we will check out some really useful hacks for smarter and cheaper shipping. It will help you understand how you can save your time, effort, and most of all, money while shipping your products.
An Overview
Life hacks can be real lifesavers at the most difficult times. Almost every one of us has tried some sort of hack in our day-to-day life to make things easier. The same goes for most business owners. Since shipping has been real trouble when it comes to online business. Most business owners do not really know how to optimize their shipping. This is one of the major factors that is killing their profits. Similarly, we will be discussing some of the hacks that online business owners can implement while shipping their products. In this article, we will cover some of the shipping hacks for online business owners. This article will help store owners ship in a smarter way with cheaper shipping costs. So let’s take a look at 7 hacks for smarter and cheaper shipping.
Work with Multiple Carriers
While it may seem less of a hassle to work with just one shipping carrier, I would recommend going with multiple shipping carriers. Every shipping carrier has its own specialties. For example, USPS may be the best option when it comes to shipping small to medium-sized packages since it offers cheaper rates as compared to the other private shipping carriers. On the other hand, Canada Post may be the best shipping carrier throughout Canada, irrespective of the package size. Geographical location and package size are some of the factors that you need to consider while choosing the right shipping carrier. However, choosing multiple shipping carriers can decrease a great deal of confusion. This way, store owners can easily choose between multiple shipping carriers based on the factors such as package delivery speed, shipping service availability, and most importantly, the shipping cost. If you want a reliable multiple shipping carrier shipping solution for your WooCommerce store, you can check out the WooCommerce Multi-Carrier shipping plugin here. It supports shipping carriers such as UPS, USPS, FedEx, DHL, Stamps (USPS), etc.
Optimize package weight and dimensions
When you are packing your products, one of the most important things to consider is the weight and the dimensions of the box. Shipping charges are mainly based on the weight of the package. However, shipping carriers like UPS, FedEx, etc. take dimensional weight into consideration. This means a product that weighs more may be cheaper to ship than another product that weighs less but occupies more space. So the best way to pack an item is to pack it in a package with a smaller size. Not only it saves the shipping cost, but it also reduces the amount of filler material that you need to add to the box and hence avoids the extra increase in weight. Besides, packing a shipment in a larger box may have the possibility of damaging the product while shipping.
Know your standard boxes
When talking about the packing, it is better to know about the standard shipping boxes that your shipping carrier(s) offer. These are times when two different boxes with different dimensions are priced the same. Take the case of UPS Standard Boxes, there are dedicated boxes for products like maps and blueprints, heavy and light products, and even separate UPS Express boxes for products that will be shipped by a particular shipping service. The store owners must know which shipping boxes their shipping carrier provides. Moreover, knowing the weight and dimensional limits of these standard boxes allow you to pre-pack your packages accordingly. This way there is a rare chance that you might be overcharged for excessive weight.
Ensure your package
Mishappenings are the part and parcel of day-to-day tasks. It is true in the case of shipping also. There would be cases when your package may not be delivered in time. Moreover, product damage is another common thing that can happen anytime. In either case, it is very important to opt for package insurance that the shipping carriers offer. Carriers like UPS, FedEx, etc. offer insurance over the purchase cost or replacement cost of the products in the shipment. It is best to provide them with some of the declared value which you can claim in case of any mishappening. Also, when opting for insurance services, shipping carriers may charge a small amount of fee but the assurance of the fact that your damage is covered is still better than a small fee.
Shipping Rate Adjustment
One of the greatest hacks while shipping is when and how to adjust your shipping rates. Let me ask you a question, “What do your customers prefer – High prices with Free Shipping or Low prices with Paid Shipping..?” The answer to this question can be subjective to various factors and may even vary from time to time. That is why you need to know when and how to provide favorable shipping rates to customers. This way the sales of your store won’t get affected. You can choose to adjust shipping rates by,
- Providing discounts on special occasions Free or discounted rates are one of the easiest ways to lure customers. But how to provide discounts without affecting the profits..? One of the tricks is to provide occasional free or discounted shipping and adjust the selling price of the products to reduce heavy losses.
- Adding Additional Charges to the Price In the case of heavy products, there is a high chance that there may be additional charges along with the shipping cost. Such additional charges can be easily adjusted to the overall shipping cost. However, in the case of Free Shipping, it is a great option to add some part or whole of the additional charges to the selling price of the product.
Choose protective material accordingly
When it comes to preventing damage done to the products while shipping, store owners never take any risks. But in order to protect the contents of the package, one very important factor must not be compromised. By adding protective materials to the packing, we not only prevent damage but we tend to increase the weight of the package also. It is worth noting that protective materials like air pillows and bubble wraps can be as effective in protecting the package as styrofoam sheets or foam-in-place. Not only are the former lightweight, but they also occupy lesser space. Hence, I would advise choosing the protective material accordingly.
Automate Shipping
Most of the time, the word ‘Automation’ is associated with tech-savvy people. However, this is not the case here. Shipping is a time-consuming and very complex process. One of the best ways to reduce the complexity is by automating the whole process. There are a lot of options when it comes to automating shipping. Take the example of WordPress-based websites, there are a lot of shipping solutions to ease the pressure on store owners. The WordPress-based shipping plugins do complex tasks like calculating shipping rates based on the weight and dimensions of the products, letting store owners get the shipping labels, packing the products in an optimized way, tracking the packages throughout the world, and much more.
Summary…
This article is about some of the shipping hacks that will help you manage your shipping better. Shipping is one of the basic necessities of an online business. Hence, it is natural that online store owners may need some ways to manage it properly. Moreover, this article will help store owners ship smartly so that they can save on shipping costs.
If you require powerful advanced shipping solutions for your WooCommerce store, you can check out some of the best WooCommerce shipping plugins here. Here you will find all the shipping plugins with their specifications and pricing details. If you have any queries regarding WooCommerce shipping or your valuable suggestion regarding this article, feel free to share your views in the comments section below. We will surely help you with it.
