Ways to Reduce Delivery Costs for Your Business

Delivery costs could weigh your online business down. Even if you have affordable products, people won’t patronize you because they don’t want to pay the excessive shipping costs. In some instances, you might have to shoulder these expenses. Find a way to reduce the delivery cost and maximize potential profits. These techniques might help.

Create a shipping zone

It’s not advisable to ship to places far from your warehouse. It takes time before the order arrives. It also costs more money. The best option is to create different zones. For the first few months of your business, you can only deliver in the nearest zones. Once you establish popularity and the demand in distant locations increases, you can open up to more zones. You can even waive the shipping costs for nearby locations. However, if you don’t see the point in shipping in remote places, there’s no need to do it.

Reduce dimensions

You can also decrease the dimensions of your packages to make them lighter. If they can fit in a smaller box, it helps. Look for an appropriate package where the items won’t get damaged and will arrive intact. Smaller dimensions also mean the shipping fees will be cheaper. However, you shouldn’t force big items into small packages when your products are too big.

Look for discounted supplies

Packing the items for shipment is also costly. Look for suppliers that can offer these packaging supplies at an affordable cost. You could reduce the expenses if you get the supplies at a lower price. Be willing to purchase in bulk if it means you get a more significant discount. However, you can’t sacrifice the quality of the packaging materials in exchange for a low cost. You don’t want the shipment to get damaged because you chose cheap supplies. If the order doesn’t arrive intact, you will end up spending more to resend items.

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Find online selling platforms

You don’t need to do everything if you own a small business. You can partner with online selling platforms to receive help advertising your products. These platforms also have partnerships with shipping companies that might help you get a lower price for the shipment. Ask about the best deals offered and choose your partner wisely.

Place a flat rate on all shipping fees

Using the average cost of shipping fees in all transactions, you can set a flat rate. It helps offset the cost of shipment to distant locations with the nearby areas. It also guarantees that regardless of the size or quantity of the items purchased, the buyer will pay a minimum amount for shipment.

Divide the cost

Instead of telling your customers to pay a huge amount for shipping, you can divide it by half. The remaining half will go to the actual price of the product. The total cost will probably be the same, but your customers wouldn’t feel that the amount went heavily on the shipping cost. You may also shoulder a small percentage of the fees so you don’t have to drastically increase the price of the product.

Require a minimum amount for every transaction

When people order items from your store, they will probably pay a minimum amount for shipping. Sometimes, the amount paid for one item is roughly the same as someone who ordered five items in one transaction. It seems unfair, but shipping companies usually compute the cost in terms of distance. There’s also a range on the weight of the items per delivery. Hence, it seems unfair that someone has to pay the same amount despite not buying a lot. To solve this problem, you can set a minimum amount. In doing so, any customer wouldn’t feel cheated. You also get the chance to sell more items at once.

Open more warehouses

For now, you can only afford to run a warehouse. You have a small business, and it might take a while before you earn enough profits. However, if you can afford to open more warehouses in the future, you should go for it. By then, you already identified the places where there are more orders. You can deliver them quickly and help your customers reduce the shipping costs due to the location of your new warehouse.

Negotiate with the shipping company

If you decided to partner with a shipping company, you can negotiate the price. If you intend to have a long-term partnership, the shipping partner will probably agree to your requests. A steady transaction will convince the shipping company to agree with the deal. If your business grows and has more orders, the company will also benefit from it. Should your efforts fail, you can always pitch to other potential partners. You will eventually find one that will agree to your terms, or at least meet you halfway.

Try prepaid

You can prepay the delivery services to receive a bigger discount. It’s like buying a prepaid card for your mobile device. It’s easier to get a better deal if you pay in advance. Check the difference between prepaid and post-paid services before you enter into an agreement. You can adjust the prepaid amount depending on how your business evolves in the future. You might have to purchase more if your company is starting to grow, and orders are pouring in.

If you successfully try these changes, you can maximize your profits. The chosen delivery partner should guarantee the speedy arrival of your orders. You don’t want to get cheaper delivery fees but end up with late arrivals. Given how tough the competition among online stores is, delayed delivery could harm your company. Read reviews to find out more about what other people think about these delivery services.

You can start by testing the waters. See if you feel satisfied with the services. If you don’t you can keep looking for other choices.