How to Save on FedEx shipping costs for your WooCommerce store

fedex-shipping
Shipping cost is one of the biggest expenses for most of the online stores, yet it is often overlooked. Many WooCommerce store owners are so busy taking care of other aspects of the business that they tend to ignore this very important fact that can significantly add to their profits. Saving shipping costs should be a priority for any WooCommerce store owner. In this article, we will discuss how WooCommerce store owners using FedEx can save on shipping costs. The First step in saving WooCommerce FedEx shipping costs involves knowing what determines it.

Factors determining FedEx shipping cost

When you are shipping a package to your customer you will have different FedEx shipping services to choose from. Different FedEx services will have different costs. So, let us discuss what are the factors that affect the shipping costs of these services:

1. The dimensional size of the package

The package dimension plays a very important role in determining the FedEx shipping cost. The larger the size of the package the higher is the shipping cost.

2. Weight of the package

Like the size of the package, weight plays a role in determining the shipping cost too. The heavier the package the higher is the shipping cost. 

3. Delivery speed

FedEx offers a lot of different services, the main differences between them is the delivery speed. The faster the delivery service, the higher is the shipping cost. 

4. Delivery location or Destination 

Delivery location is an important factor in calculating the FedEx shipping cost. As the distance between your warehouse and delivery location increases the shipping cost increases too. Also, if you have to deliver your package to a remote area, FedEx will charge you will an extra shipping amount. Since all of the above factors influence the shipping cost. Fortunately, there are plugins like WooCommerce FedEx Shipping Plugin with Print Label that give you the real-time rates for various FedEx services based on all of the above factors. These plugins integrate tightly with Woocommerce You can integrate your WooCommerce and you can display carrier-calculated real-time FedEx rates on your cart/checkout pages based on the above factors. Also with this plugin, you can print the shipping label within your WooCommerce store itself.  Now that we know, what are the factors that affect the FedEx shipping cost let us see how we can save the shipping cost. 

How to save the FedEx shipping cost

1. Use your FedEx account number

By using the FedEx account, WooCommerce store owners can avail of all the discounts and benefits associated with their account. Also, WooCommerce store owners can negotiate the shipping rates with FedEx based on their shipping volume.  You need to have a FedEx account number to set up FedEx for your WooCommerce store.  You can enter the FedEx account number along with API details on the WooCommerce shipping plugin.  After which you can display carrier calculated real-time rates at a cart/checkout page and print shipping labels within the WooCommerce orders page. 

Set Up FedEx into WooCommerce store using FedEx Account number

2. Choose the most cost-effective FedEx shipping service

FedEx offers lots of shipping service for WooComemrce store owner to choose from. The feature which sets them apart from each other is the delivery speed. You can select the FedEx shipping services under your budget. If the delivery speed is not the priority for the package then you can use FedEx ground as the shipping service.  within the country, FedEx Ground delivers faster you expect. In some cases, Ground services deliver within two to three days. The main advantage of the FedEx ground is that it offers cheapest shipping rates when compared to other FedEx shipping services. 

Use FedEx ground on your WooCommerce store to save money

WooCommerce store owners can show the FedEx ground services to their customers by enabling it on the WooCommerce FedEx Shipping plugin. 

Enable FedEx ground on WooCommerce to save money

If you are shipping internationally you can use FedEx shipping services like FedEx International Ground and FedEx international economy.  If speed is the priority on your WooCommerce store, where customers expect their product to be delivered overnight you can choose FedEx Standard Overnight. Out of all the FedEx overnight services available FedEx Standard Overnight is cheapest. 

use FedEx standard overnight for the cheapest overnight shipping service

3. Check the additional fees

WooCommerce store owners using FedEx as the shipping service should be aware of all the additional shipping fees and surcharges. Check whether you are paying for service which you want be needing like Saturday delivery, signature on delivery, etc.  Also, Give precise declared value estimates on your shipping documentation to stay away from expenses for valuations higher than important to cover losses.

4. Make use of the FedEx Money back guarantee

If FedEx can not deliver the product within the promised time you can apply for refunds. With FedEx money-back guarantee you can expect peace of mind with the delivery time.  FedEx offers a money-back guarantee for the shipping services like FedEx Ground, FedEx Express and FedEx Freight services FedEx Shipping services for a money-back guarantee
  • FedEx Express (US): You can request the FedEx refund for every US shipment if FedEx misses out to deliver the product on the promised date. 
  • FedEx Express (International): FedEx will offer the money-back guarantee in the event of failure to deliver within the promised time. Barring the customs delay.
  • FedEx Ground: A money-back guarantee applies to FedEx Ground shipments to business addresses and FedEx Home Delivery shipments to residential addresses within the U.S., and to FedEx International Ground shipments if WooCommerce store owner chooses the brokerage-inclusive option. 

5. Use the FedEx Convenience Network to avoid pickup charges

WooCommerce store owners can drop your products to the FedEx convenience center to save the pickup charges and also for last-minute shipments. There are three ways in which you can drop off your packages. You can find FedEx nearest drop off location here.
  • FedEx Express DropBox: You can drop your express packages in one of the 40,000 FedEx Express DropBox available in the US.
  • FedEx Office Location: There is more than 1800 FedEx office location. You can drop off your package in any one of these offices. 
  • FedEx Authorized ShipCente: Ther are 6500 FedEx Authorized ShipCente, so find one near to your Warehouse and drop the package there.

6. Pack Smartly

Packing plays one of the most important roles in the shipping cost. Packing also adds up to the weight and the dimensions of the package. So, WooCommerce store owners must pack smartly and save the shipping cost. Some of the tips to save the shipping cost trough packing are:
  • FedEx Packages: You can buy the package from FedEx and reduce the shipping based on it. 
  • Packing Materials: By using packing materials smartly you can save the shipping cost. Try using the smaller packages whenever possible and bauble wraps mail for shipping the small and non-fragile products.

7. Use FedEx Freight Service

Freight is the FedEx service of shipping merchandise in enormous amounts by means of land, air or ocean. FedEx Freight is economical to deliver practical cargo all incorporated into one streamlined LTL arrange. This shipment technique spares both expense and space. To use the FedEx Freight the total weight of the package needs to be between 150 and 15,000 pounds. By default, FedEx freight is not supported in the WooCommerce store. In any case, with the assistance of the WooCommerce FedEx Shipping plugin, you can configure Freight Account, have live rates show up on a cart/checkout page and you will likewise have the option to generate shipping label(BoL) for FedEx Freight. To use FedEx freight Fill the FedEx Freight Account information along with the Address and the Freight Class. 

FedEx setup on your WooCommerce store

You can add the heavier product of large quantity into a cart to check real-time rates of FedEx freight.

FedEx Freight on WooCommerce cart page

8. Use FedEx One rate

For WooCommerce store owners who ship small packages, FedEx one rate is the best solution. WooCommerce store owners can predict the pricing and choose the shipping method according to their needs. FedEx one rate shipping service is restricted to the US only. The Unique Feature which sets FedEx one rate apart from the other FedEx shipping services is that that there is no weighing or measuring of shipments under 50lbs. This means that you don’t have to worry about the weight qualification of the orders. For FedEx one rate WooCommerce store owners do not have to pay additional surcharges charges like the fuel, residential and delivery area surcharges. WooCommerce store owners can set FedEx one rate by using the WooCommerce FedEx Shipping plugin. This plugin gives you the option to enable FedEx One rates.

Enable FedEx on WooCommerce store to save shipping cost

You can read here more on how to save shipping cost by using FedEx one rate.

9. Use a timesaving WooCommerce shipping plugin

WooCommerce store owners can save time by managing their shipments by using WooCommerce FedEx Shipping Plugin. With this plugin, WooCommerce store owners can automate the shipping by displaying the real-time shipping rates at cart/checkout pages, print shipping labels within WooCommerce, and provide real-time tracking to customers.

FedEx shipping rate on a WooCommerce cart page

WooCommerce FedEx Shipping plugin supports all the plugin that a WooCommerce store owners needs. You can also schedule your FedEx pickup by using this plugin.

Schedule FedEx Pickup within WooCommerce

By using WooCommerce FedEx shipping plugin WooCommerce store owners can fulfill the orders within the WooCommerce store. Hence it reduces lots of manual work and saves a lot of time for WooCommerce store owners. 

Conclusion

Saving on Shipping cost should be the topmost priority for any WooCommerce store. So, in this article, we have discussed what are the factors that determine FedEx shipping cost. This article also covers the 9 things you can do to save the shipping cost for your WooCommerce store. For any query regarding this article please feel free to share it in the comment section below. For query regarding the WooCommerce FedEx Shipping plugin contact our customer support, our support team will be happy to help you with the integration of WooCommerce store with FedEx shipping plugin. Hope this article will be helpful to you, happy shipping 🙂  

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