A Guide to Various Shipping Methods And Benefits
Online shopping has been in existence way before the Covid-19 pandemic. It is only the IT savvy people who are comfortable with shopping online, especially those from the younger generation. These also includes those from the older generation who were taught to use the online shopping platforms and found the convenience of online shopping.
Since the pandemic started, online stores began to enjoy an increase in the number of customers and their sales began to increase because many stores were forced to close to curb the spread of the virus. Those who have not done online shopping were left with no choice but forced to turn to online shopping for convenience during the pandemic. Many are beginning to enjoy the ability to shop in comfort without leaving the safety of their home.
With more stores opening up to online facility for their customers, these stores are competing among themselves by offering more varied shipping options to attract more customers. As their businesses grow, online stores are able to provide better quality services such as better and faster shipping options. In order to stay ahead of their competitors and enjoy more return customers, online stores are coming up with various shipping ideas and popular methods.
The most effective and most popular marketing tool in driving more sales to online shopping sites is the free shipping option. When this option is included, customers are encouraged to make the purchase as they can save on cost of shipping. When this option is not included, customers may just leave without even looking through the products or they may have second thought about making their purchase.
There are multiple ways to offer free shipping, such as limiting free shipping to a specific shipping zone or setting a minimum purchase price to qualify for free shipping of their purchase. In order to avoid lose in profit, merchants can choose not to make free shipping option available for cheap commodities, bulky or heavy items.
Merchants selling in bulk and heavy items prefer to seek the service from shipping companies. And the most convenient way is to get quotes to move pallets from multiple shipping companies. Once they receive the quotes, they can make comparisons between quotes. Pallet shipping is one of the most common methods of packing in freight transport and it is easy to move, load and unload.
Another option is using carriers such as DHL, UPS, or FedEx. The customers get to choose a shipping option and the shipping rates is calculated depending on the shipping distance, weight, size and quantity of products.
Merchants can also provide a flat or fixed rate shipping method to help cover shipping or packaging expenses. Every customer pays the same fixed shipping rate, it doesn’t matter where the destination is, or what size or value of the purchased item. Another shipping method is to charge the customers depending on distance of the location. The further the location, the higher the rate. This will allow the online store to customize the shipping rate to cut down on expenses and help generate income.
