Shipping is an expensive part of any ecommerce business. Therefore, it is wise to cut corners wherever you can to save on costs and grow your business. However, that may not be as easy as it sounds. 

Your shipping bills can contain additional expenses over existing shipping fees that can put a dent in your wallet and deter your plans to save on shipping costs. 

One of such expenses is an oversize charge, which unfortunately is a common expense for businesses dealing with particularly large products such as pianos, washing machines, refrigerators, etc to name a few. 

With the right optimization techniques, businesses dealing in large goods can reduce the impact of oversize charges. But first, let’s understand the basics.

What is an Oversize Charge?

An oversize charge is a surcharge levied on packages that exceed the carrier’s permitted weight. This charge is applied to the package’s actual weight or dimensional weight, whichever is higher.  

Major carriers such as FedEx and UPS treat oversized packages differently according to their own calculation and nomenclature.

FedEx Oversize Charge

A FedEx Oversize Charge is applied to packages that exceed 96 inches in length or 130 inches in length and girth. 

As we mentioned, the surcharge will be based on the greater of the package’s actual rounded weight or dimensional weight with 90 lb as the minimum billable weight. 

FedEx also suggests that the package shape and dimensions may change during transit, affecting the package’s dimensional weight and surcharge eligibility. In such cases, FedEx may make appropriate adjustments to the charges at any time.

UPS Large Package Surcharge

A Large Package Surcharge is applied to each UPS package when its length plus girth [(2 x width) + (2 x height)] combined exceeds 300 cm but does not exceed the maximum UPS size of 400 cm.

Large Packages are subject to a minimum billable weight of 40 kg in addition to the surcharge itself. 

UPS does not apply an Additional Handling charge when a Large Package Surcharge is levied.

Catching up with the Price Hike for Oversize Charges in 2022

If these surcharges don’t worry you enough, keep in mind that FedEx and UPS increase the rates of these surcharges YoY. Not to forget the additional peak surcharge during the holiday season. 

In 2022, both FedEx and UPS increased the rates of their services by an average of 5.9%. This applies to oversize and large packages as well, making you, the retailer, feel the brunt end of the price hike. 

Here’s a quick rundown of the FedEx and UPS Oversized and Large Package price hike.  

FedEx price hike for Oversize Charges in 2022

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As of January 24, any packages sent under FedEx Express and Ground services will cost a minimum of $110 to a maximum of $145 (which was $105 in 2021) based on the designated FedEx zone of the destination.  

Similarly, FedEx Home Delivery will cost anywhere between $135 to $170 from a common $130 for all zones in 2021. 

That’s not all! Oversize Packages under International Express and International Ground services will now cost $145 per shipment, a significant increase over $105 the previous year.

UPS price hike for Large Package Surcharge in 2022

Just like FedEx, UPS too has increased the rates for Large Packages with effect from December 26, 2021. 

Commercial packages that are considered large and oversized can cost you between $110 to $140 based on the zone under which the destination is marked. 

Residential packages, on the other hand, are even more expensive and can cost you between $135 to $165, with an increase of $10, $15, and $20 based on the respective zones.     

While this rate change did not come as a surprise to many, it shows shipping carriers’ stand on oversized packages. They have made it downright difficult for shippers to ship heavier items without paying a pretty penny.

What Do Oversize Charges Mean for Your Business?

While retailers are still coming to terms with the effect the price hike will have on their margins, those who deal with furniture, gym equipment, mattresses, home appliances, etc are worried even more. These particular retailers will now have to come up with other inventive means to make up for the loss.

Shipping carriers would no doubt get the better end of the deal when such products are shipped. But, the main motive behind the rate hike seems to be the need to compensate for their significant losses due to COVID-19 without regard for ecommerce businesses, who went through the same ordeal.

However, all things considered. There are still ways for your business to make sure that the damage as a result of Oversized Packages surcharges and regular increases in their rates is trivial.

What You Can Do to Minimize the Impact of This (Significant) Hike

1. Try renegotiating the terms of your contract with your shipping carrier (in this case FedEx or UPS) and work out a cheaper alternative if you are a bulk shipper.
2. Consider choosing Freight services if your profit margins are affected too much (delivery usually takes 4-6 business days).
3. If the alternate service options aren’t working out, you could consider shipping with other carriers who can accommodate oversized packages at better rates.
4. If the product consists of various parts that could be divided and shipped, then you could dismantle it and then send it. This would work with automobile parts, electronics, gym equipment, furniture, or bikes.
5. In the case of mattresses, investing in compression boxes or packaging might be a tad more cost-effective than paying the oversize price.

How Lateshipment.Com Can Help

Does your company have an issue with oversized packages? Many shippers really have no idea of what they are paying for when they pay an invoice from their shipping carrier. 

In this case, LateShipment.com can help you reduce your shipping costs from additional expenses such as Oversized charges. 

Firstly, LateShipment.com helps you regularly audit your shipping invoices and claim eligible refunds to recover up to 20% of your shipping cost.

Apart from delivery issues, this also includes incorrect surcharges and billing errors such as duplicate entries and complex DIM weight errors, helping you save up to $170 per package in 2022.

That’s not all! We can also help you renegotiate your contract with your shipping partner. 

LateShipment.com provides you with carrier performance reports that let you dig deeper to uncover gaps, know where you’re seeing profits, and review areas where you’re not.

The reports equip you with good data while renegotiating contracts with shipping carriers and can help things work in your favor.  

Not just that, keeping a close watch on carrier performances and claiming regular refunds also ensures better service quality by your shipping carriers.

In conclusion, LateShipment.com’s automated Parcel Audit and Refunds solution can help you with these Oversized Charges and Large Package Surcharge with FedEx and UPS respectively.

The post How to Reduce the Impact of Oversize Charge on Shipping Costs appeared first on Lateshipment.com Blog.

As a retailer who ships to your customers, have you struggled to choose the carrier that suits best for your business?

Luckily, there aren’t hundreds of companies for you to skim through and choose the ultimate one, which is obviously a tedious process.

There are three basic choices for you — namely, DHL, FedEx, and UPS.

The three private giants have been in business for decades and have transported billions of parcels. Yet, there remain doubts aplenty about each of their strengths and weaknesses.

What about USPS, you ask?

The government-run carrier is most often significantly cheaper and a great option for small business shipping. It, however, does not have the variety of short-term expedited options that DHL, FedEx, and UPS have.

For our purposes, we will limit our study to the three private carriers, so that you can choose the carrier that is tailored to your business.

DHL Vs. FedEx Vs. UPS: Comparing the Carriers

Although competing with each other daily, DHL, FedEx, and UPS have their uniqueness. Knowing in-depth about them, their services, their pricing model, etc can help you understand them better. 

Let’s start with DHL.

DHL

DHL is an American-founded company that is now part of Deutsche Post. It is headquartered in Bonn, Germany.

Today, Deutsche Post DHL is known to be the world’s largest logistics company. Its international game is by far the strongest among the three, and it is the only carrier that delivers to sanctioned nations like North Korea.

DHL operates a gamut of services to cater to the shipping needs of its customers – Some of its domestic non-freight service types are DHL SameDay Sprintline, DHL Express 9:00 Domestic, DHL Express 10:30 Domestic, DHL Express 12:00 Domestic, DHL Express 18:00 Domestic, and DHL Express Easy.

Its international non-freight offerings include DHL Sameday Jetline, DHL Sameday Sprintline, DHL Express 9:00, DHL Express 10:30, DHL Express 12:00, DHL Express Worldwide, DHL Express Envelope, DHL Express Easy, and DHL Globalmail Business.

Since DHL is a non-American company, it is not permitted to make domestic flights between U.S. airports. As a result, it contracts U.S. domestic services to other carriers.

Dr. Frank Appel is the current Chief Executive Officer of Global Business Services and Ken Allen is Head of eCommerce Solutions at DHL. The carrier currently employs 590,000 employees including trainees.

FedEx

An American multinational corporation founded in 1971, FedEx is headquartered in Memphis, Tennessee.

In its early days, FedEx was the pioneer that introduced an overnight shipping service as well as a system capable of tracking packages and providing real-time location updates. Today, it operates services in over 220 countries and territories. Within the US, it’s possible to pick up, drop off, or ship at more than 50,000 FedEx locations.

FedEx offers the following service types for non-freight shipments within the US – FedEx SameDay, FedEx SameDay City, FedEx First Overnight, FedEx Priority Overnight, FedEx Standard Overnight, FedEx 2Day A.M., FedEx 2Day, FedEx Express Saver, FedEx Ground, FedEx Home Delivery, and FedEx SmartPost.

The carrier offers the following service types for non-freight international parcels – FedEx International Next Flight, FedEx International First, FedEx International Priority, FedEx International Economy, FedEx International MailService, FedEx International Priority DirectDistribution, FedEx International Economy DirectDistribution, and FedEx International Ground.

Frederick W. Smith is the founder, Chairman, & CEO of FedEx.The organization has over 570,000 team members worldwide and operates 5,000 hubs and facilities. 180,000 motorized FedEx vehicles pick up and deliver over than 12 million shipments per day

UPS

UPS, the oldest of the three majors and the reigning private behemoth in the US was founded in 1907.

Today, UPS has a presence in 220 countries and territories. It delivers an average of 24 million shipments per day.

UPS offers non-freight shipping service types for both domestic and international shipments –  Within the US: UPS Express Critical – Domestic, UPS Ground, UPS Next Day Air Early, UPS Next Day Air, UPS Next Day Air Saver, UPS 2nd Day Air A.M., UPS 2nd Day Air, and UPS 3 Day Select.

International: UPS Express Critical – International, UPS Worldwide Express Plus, UPS Worldwide Express Shipping, UPS Worldwide Saver, UPS Next Day Air, UPS Worldwide Expedited, UPS 2nd Day Air, and UPS Standard.

David Abney is the current Chairman and Chief Executive Officer of UPS. 495,000 employees work at UPS locations worldwide with a majority (413,000) based out of the US.

DHL, FedEx, or UPS: What Works Best for Your Business

While DHL, FedEx, or UPS each work in the same niche, retail businesses who choose their services often come from varied domains that require different catering from shipping carriers. This is what makes the three major carriers unique — working best for specific kinds of businesses.

DHL vs FedEx vs UPS: Shipping rates compared

The shipping price for DHL, FedEx, and UPS depends on 

• The kind of package shipped
• The destination, and
• The expected date of delivery. 

All three carriers offer express shipping solutions, with the possibility of same-day collection and next-day delivery. However, these services come at an extra cost.

Added with the already skyrocketing shipping prices are the service rate increase these carriers pull off YoY. Similar to the years before, DHL, FedEx, and UPS have increased the rates of their services by an average of 5.9% this time. But if there’s something to make you feel better — all three carriers provide the option to file refund claims for service failures on their part. 

Meanwhile, to find out which one is cheaper, DHL, FedEx, or UPS, compare the price estimations for their domestic and international shipping below.

• DHL shipping rates
• FedEx shipping rates
• UPS shipping rates 

DHL, FedEx, or UPS: Suitable shipping options

Here are a few details about the shipping options of DHL, FedEx, and UPS to help you get an idea about which one of them might best serve your requirements.

DHL, FedEx, and UPS – each of them have their own unique pros and cons: 

• FedEx is strong with overnight shipping and expedited 2- and 3-day deliveries
• UPS is strong with a ground shipment game, and
• DHL has the broadest global presence among the three and is the most vocal about its environmental commitments.

Apart from all these aspects, an important factor i.e always overlooked while choosing a carrier is their delivery performance. Especially during times of high volume such as the holiday season or the pandemic period, shipping carriers have been known to have struggled to deliver on time amidst supply chain limitations.

Therefore, irrespective of shipping with DHL, FedEx, or UPS, start automatically auditing your parcel invoices with a tool like LateShipment.com to instantly save up to 20% of your shipping costs. 

• Recover refunds for 50+ carrier service failures like Late Deliveries, Lost Shipments, and Billing Errors
• Gain delivery performance metrics to know where you’re seeing profits and review areas where you’re not
•  Compare cross-carrier spending to identify those that require reevaluation.
•  Not just DHL, UPS, and FedEx — supports all major global shipping carriers supported

DHL, FedEx, or UPS: What to choose

Like we said earlier, all three are behemoths with their own distinct advantages and disadvantages and it is actually quite unfair to pick the best one out of them. 

Ultimately, the choice between the three carriers comes down to your own specific business needs. A good ploy would be using multiple carriers for different requirements so that you get the best in each of them.

The post DHL Vs. FedEx Vs. UPS: Shipping Carriers Compared in 2022 appeared first on Lateshipment.com Blog.

When you ship through DHL, FedEx, UPS, or USPS most packages make it to their destinations intact and on time. But, what about those rare occurrences when packages are lost in transit? Who exactly gets blamed when this happens? The seller or the shipper?

In most cases, it is the retailer who bites the bullet. This is because customers the accountability of the package from checkout to delivery falls on the business they ordered from rather than the shipping carrier, a third party.  

Customers who’ve lost their packages are often aggrieved and take their grievances to social media and call out your brand. Just like this: 

Hey @amazon thanks for ruining Christmas and losing my brother's Christmas present. What's the point in 2 day shipping if you lose the package?

— Eddie Smedley (@GettinSomeSmed) December 23, 2018

And what exactly happens when posts like this catch the attention of their followers/ your potential customers? 

Your brand reputation takes a huge hit, customer churn rate hits the roof, and staying ahead of competitors becomes next to impossible (Uff 😤)

Worry not!

Here are some tips for retailers on how to handle lost packages, (spoiler alert!) save on shipping costs, and improve customer loyalty.  

Step 1: Determine if the sent packages are really lost

If a package that was en route to a customer goes certifiably missing and has not arrived at their doorstep four or five days after schedule, then it can be officially considered lost.

When you suspect your packages as lost, wait it out a maximum of seven days beyond the day of expected delivery.

Sometimes, there are packages that turn up after being rerouted somewhere along the chain (they might have also been incorrectly scanned or sorted).

In most cases though, the issue is either a wrong address or a weather-related one. Quite simply, it is not unheard of for a package to turn up a day or two late.

In case the tracking number shows that the product has as ‘delivered’ and the customer still files a complaint about the package being lost, then it has to be treated as a stolen package. 

Here’s how you can prevent package theft.

Step 2: The packages are lost. Now what?

In case if your customers’ packages are truly lost, they naturally expect a refund or a replacement. 

If the shipping carrier is unable to locate the packages, you need to file an insurance claim to cover the combined insured value of the lost packages. This requires the tracking number, proof of value of the item, and proof of insurance.

When you’re shipping valuable products, it is always wise to insure the shipments. 

Remember that apart from the insurance sum, the carrier also has to fully refund the shipping costs for failing to deliver the package safely to the buyer. 

Once the claim is filed and investigated, you will receive your dues via the original mode of payment be it through check or credit card.

Meanwhile, make sure YOU send the customer a replacement or a refund with a sincere apology. 

Step 3: File a Refund Claim for the Lost Packages

• File refund claims for DHL lost packages here 
• File refund claims for FedEx lost packages here
• File refund claims for UPS lost packages here 
• File refund claims for USPS lost packages here

Step 3.1: How do I file a claim for lost packages?

The tracker on your package is usually true to its name and rarely allows packages to get lost. But on the off chance that the shipping label comes off, or the package is torn and the contents scattered, you’ll have no choice but to file lost package claims with the carrier.

Here are a few things you need to keep in mind if you’re going to file a claim for FedEx lost packages.

1. If the contents of the package cost less than $100, you can complete the entire form online and request a refund without documentation.
2. In the event of the package costing anywhere above $100, proper documentation is necessary for the claim to get processed.
3. Documentation can include FedEx pickup records, photos of the damaged or lost contents, and proof of value documentation.
4. Claims have to be filed within 60 days for US shipments and in 21 calendar days for international shipments (with all supporting documentation filed within 9 months of delivery date).
5. The tracking number that was initially allocated to the package is vital to the process and has to be provided.

After a scheduled inspection, your claim will be processed and you can track its progress.

In the case of other shipping carriers, you can file claims online through the following links and within the following deadlines.

• UPS lost packages claim (file within 5 months online, within 9 months through customer service, and within 45 days if it is an uncollected C.O.D)
• USPS lost packages claim (file within 60 days for all services except Priority Mail Express, First class, and Surface Mail)
• DHL lost packages claim (file within 30 days)

Note: Filing Refund Claims for Lost Packages by Yourself Is a Huge Hassle

Apart from running your hectic business, manually submitting claims with shipping carriers by yourself is a huge hassle for more reasons than one:  

• Tedious Process – The process to file a claim manually is an exhaustive one, you will have to deal with multiple forms, proofs, and document submissions

• Time-Consuming – After submitting a claim, you won’t get your refund immediately, it takes at least 5-7 days or forever to get a refund for one single package

• Not Cost-Effective – The amount of time and money you will spend to get a refund will be greater than the compensation you will probably receive
• Inefficient Use of Resources – This process doesn’t have a definitive output and require lots of back and forth communication along with document re-submissions

Worry not! You can make use of a parcel audit solution such as LateShipment.com to help you effortlessly recover refunds for lost packages while you focus on your core business. 

Step 4: How Lateshipment.Com Helps You Handle Your Lost Packages

LateShipment.com’s Parcel Audit and Refunds solution effortlessly audits your invoices and helps save up to 20% on your shipping costs. The best part is that it takes less than 2 minutes to set-up and seamlessly integrates with your existing workflow.

Our parcel audit and refunds solution: 

1. Not only submits claims on your behalf but also constantly follows up till issue resolution. 
2. Makes sure that all claims are submitted within the timeframe of the carrier(s).
3. Not just lost shipments, but also helps you recover refunds for 50+ service failures like late deliveries. 
4. And best of all this, you don’t have to pay anything out of your pockets. We only charge 50% of the refunds you’ve received, that too only when it is successfully recovered.

Sure, refunds are great for your business. But getting them doesn’t help in mitigating the pain of a loyal customer who might have lost  packages such as birthday gifts or an anniversary surprises.

That’s when our other feature Delivery Experience Management (DEM) platform can help. DEM is particularly helpful if you are a bulk shipper who uses multiple carriers and would prefer an efficient automated workflow.

Step 4.2: How Delivery Experience Management (DEM) Platform Works

Delivery Experience Management platform keeps you in check the status of the parcel and helps you stay ahead of lost or damaged packages with ease. It is easy to use and tracks every package you send via major carriers like FedEx or UPS.

When a certain package takes a detour, DEM sends out an alert to the sender and the receiver. This helps you foresee a delay and handle it proactively.

If you send out several packages at once, and some of them are suspected lost by our automated system, you are intimated of that as well.

Since you get to know well in advance if one or more packages are flagged as lost, it gives you an edge when you get in touch with the carrier to resolve the issue or send a quick replacement in case of a time-sensitive delivery.

The value we add to businesses is most evident when experienced first-hand. 

Try LateShipment.com now. 

 Or, get in touch by writing to us at sales@lateshipment.com

The post Lost Packages 101: How to Handle Them appeared first on Lateshipment.com Blog.

People judge a book by its cover, a movie by its trailer, and a parcel by its packaging.

 

When you ship a product across and the customer has a first look, the packaging that matters.

 

A neatly-packaged product delivered without any flaws speaks volumes about brand credibility more than a wonderful product that turns up at a customer’s doorstep haphazardly packed.

 

But packaging isn’t as easy as it sounds. It is an exhaustive task that requires considerable planning and work. 

 

Packaging heavily depends upon the types of products that you sell. 

 

T-shirts, books, pillow covers, etc. are fairly straight-forward and don’t entail much worry. But what about packaging odd-shaped objects? Well, that certainly requires some creativity. 

 

Let’s explore how one can package odd-shaped and odd-sized products not just flawlessly and creatively but also efficiently. 

 

But first…

What Are Odd-Shaped/Sized Objects?

An odd-shaped object can be anything from an ornate vase to a car mirror, or a tire. Basically, anything that doesn’t fit into the mold of a square or a rectangle. 

Let’s say you have a sculpture, cycle, or even a car bumper to ship; they fall into the category of odd-sized objects as they cannot be contained within a usual carton box. 

Why Packing Odd-Shaped/Sized Objects Can Be a Headache

Shipping odd-shaped or odd-sized objects can definitely be a headache because: 

 

1. Your packages could hit the over-sized category
2. Shipping them will be expensive 
3. They need special packaging
4. And they might be logistically challenging.

 

Particularly if you’re a retailer dealing in odd/oversized products, imagine shelling out significantly high amounts month on month in the form of shipping costs! 

Read till the end to know how you can effortlessly save up to 20% on your shipping costs!

Like we said earlier, packaging odd-shaped and odd-sized objects certainly requires some creativity. But it’s not rocket science, so let’s see how you can DIY!

How to Pack Odd-Shaped/Sized Items

Packing odd-shaped objects is not rocket science. 

But how exactly do you pack them in the first place?

The secret ingredient is picking the right packaging material that will ensure easy wrapping as well as utmost safety in transit.

Packaging odd-shaped objects has been made much easier with the variety of materials available today. 

What Are the Materials Used for Packaging

Some of the widely used packaging materials include sturdy cardboard boxes, bubble wrap, shrink wrap, stretch wrap, polystyrene, corrugated plastic, inflatable air cushions, paper, plastic-coated paper, pressure-sensitive tape, foam sheets, and styrofoam peanuts.

The following infographic shows what materials can be used to package some of the most common odd-shaped items.

Most odd-shaped or sized objects can just fit into your corrugated box with the right packing materials. However, in some cases, your odd-shaped object can be larger than a single box and may require more protection than a plastic wrap. 

 

In that case, it is best to get custom-shaped boxes or make them yourself

How to Make Your Own Custom Boxes

If you prefer to make your own boxes for packaging, you need to keep in mind that it can entail significant time and effort. This after you have done your research to choose the right kind of packaging for your product. 

 

Otherwise, all it takes is some creativity to make odd-sized boxes. 

 

1. Once you have wrapped and secured your odd-shaped object, place it in a sturdy cardboard box.  
2. Take another, similar box and place it below or next to the first box, based on your object’s dimensions. 
3. Remove the flaps of the second box to have an extra tall/wide packaging container. 
4. Properly seal the boxes together.

Here Are 7 Packaging Tips that Will Come in Handy:

• Use corrugated boxes for rolled goods. A bag or plastic covering is usually not enough.
• If you’re packing a tire, use pressure-sensitive tape to wrap around the entire width of the tire in a full circle.
• Do not leave any sharp edges poking out. Paste pieces of cardboard or use small polystyrene covering to blunt the edges.
• Protect the item by adding layers of bubble wrap, crumpled paper, or foam sheets based on the value of the package. This will ensure that the content sits securely within the box. Also, add a layer of protection on top of the object before closing the lid. 
• Always test the strength of the box you’re using, especially if you’re packing heavy items like working models or gym equipment.
• Add a sign that says your package is “fragile” with directions on how to carry it as a guide for the handlers at the carrier facility.  
• If you cannot find a surface flat enough to stick the address on, use a transparent tape to fully tack it on the object. This will ensure that the address strip does not fall off easily or get lost during transit.

How to Do It the Cost-Effective Way

Considering how most odd-shaped items are packed in boxes that are too big for them, it is no wonder the Dimensional pricing hits the roof. 

 

There are times when you realize the cost of shipping and product costs are almost on the same level.

 

Custom crates too cost an arm and a leg these days.

 

So, how to make packaging cost-effective?

 

The DIY method has its pros and cons. On one hand: it is cost-effective and you, better than anyone, know the perfect fit for your products. 

On the other hand, packaging weird-shaped objects is a tedious and cumbersome process. Also, say if your package was damaged in transit, the onus is on you as carriers won’t accept the liability.   

To counter skyrocketing shipping prices, retailers can make efficient use of packing materials to decrease the dimensional weight of their parcels as much as possible. Going with cost-effective packaging options based on an object’s requirements also helps.

How to Handle DIM Weight Challenges

Shipping carriers have shifted to the Dimensional Weight Pricing method, where the cost of the shipment depends on the dimensional weight rather than on the actual weight of the package.

In the case of most odd-sized packages, the DIM weight is considerably more than the actual weight of the object.

For example, a sports goods manufacturer who deals with custom-made helmets or baseball bats or golf clubs will pay for boxes that are not a snug fit for the goods being shipped. 

The odd shape of a golf club or a bat defies the dimensions of any ordinary box and the box will have to be stuffed with other packaging materials to ensure a tight fit. 

The shipper ends up paying for the oversized box, the packing peanuts or paper, apart from additional surcharges.

One of the best ways to counter this situation is to negotiate with your shipping carrier and reduce the DIM weight denominator by which you are billed. This has the potential to reduce your shipping costs.

All things said and done, there are chances that you may still overpay your shipping carrier. To counter this, you can make use of a parcel audit solution like LateShipment.com that can claim shipping refunds on your behalf.

Go Beyond Functionality

Packaging in today’s retail sphere is about much more than just functionality. 

So, whatever your item’s shape or size may be, try and customize it to suit your brand image. This can increase brand recall even among new customers and will give your eCommerce store an edge over competitors.

A personalized tag or unique wrapping paper can make a lot of difference.

With sustainable practices such as green packaging becoming the norm these days, you can also opt for biodegradable materials or those that can be reused and recycled later. By going green, you not only reduce your carbon footprint but make an impact on your customer’s mind as an ethical brand. 

The better your packaging, the more lasting your customers’ impression will be. Quality packaging will increase customer trust in your brand and build a perception that is highly beneficial for your brand in the long run.

As for packaging materials, use locally sourced items as much as possible.

Reuse boxes as much as you can, and build custom-sized ones out of bigger old ones.

Put all that glue, tape, and knives to good use by creating the perfect-sized boxes. This will ensure that you don’t need to unnecessarily stock up on corrugated boxes or other packaging materials and leave them lying around.

On the off chance that there’s an item that is exceptionally hard to package, you can always go in for the professional packaging services offered by FedEx, UPS, or another carrier. 

Both FedEx and UPS offer a safety guarantee on their packaging, so your product will be in good hands. If you’re shipping electronics, then it’s a great idea to use them.

Learn more here:

• FedEx packaging
• UPS packaging

A Little about LateShipment.com

LateShipment.com is the world’s only logistics cloud tool that helps businesses of every size reduce shipping costs by up to 20% and provide memorable delivery experiences to customers at scale.

At LateShipment.com, our focus has remained steadfastly on the last mile, typically the part of the logistics chain that is the most opaque.

LateShipment.com  allows you to have your monthly shipping invoices automatically audited for 50+ shipping carrier service failures and claims refunds on your behalf. The claimed amount is directly deposited into your account. This can save you up to 20% on your overall shipping spend.

Our automated shipping refunds solution:

• Audits your monthly shipping invoices
• Submits refund claims to your carrier(s) on your behalf
• Deposits the refunded amount directly into your account

That’s not all!

LateShipment.com’s Delivery Experience Management platform helps you craft outstanding post-purchase experiences and build long-lasting customer relationships.

Our groundbreaking post-purchase solutions help businesses effortlessly bridge the post-purchase CX gap and discover new ways to delight and retain customers.

Our high-impact post-purchase offerings allow you to: 

• Stay on top of order deliveries, particularly those facing delays

Track in-transit shipments in real-time across multiple carriers on a single dashboard.

Receive predictive alerts about parcels facing delivery delays & take remedial action.

• Over-communicate and reduce customer anxiety post-purchase

Proactively identify and communicate with customers facing delivery issues. 

Automate order status notifications via eMail or SMS throughout the delivery lifecycle.

• Reinforce your brand identity with custom order-tracking assets

Provide brand-consistent order tracking pages to customers & drive repeat purchases. 

Embed self-serve order tracking widgets on your website and order-related emails.

• Leverage order tracking moments to increase sales and reduce returns

Increase sales with personalized product recommendations on your tracking page.

Reduce returns by providing relevant product usage information on tracking assets.

• Know if customers were satisfied or not with their delivery experience

Capture customers’ Delivery Satisfaction (DSAT) rating after every order delivery.

Measure the average DSAT score of every customer to optimize shipping & delivery processes.

• Access data-rich reports

Gain critical insights about your shipping spend and carriers’ delivery performance across service types and geographies to take data-driven decisions and make shipping efficient.

How good is that?

The best part is, it takes less than 2 minutes to see LateShipment.com in action without any change to your existing workflow.

The value we add to businesses is most evident when experienced first-hand. Try LateShipment.com now.

The post How to Package Odd-Shaped/Sized Objects for Shipping? appeared first on Lateshipment.com Blog.

Every year, shipping carriers increase the rates for their services, hitting retailers below the belt, as if the damage they do during the holiday season weren’t enough.

This year, there have been identical rate increases across both carriers on multiple services.

FedEx has announced its General Rate Increase (GRI), which will be effective from January 6, 2020, with an average increase of 4.9% on Express shipments and 5.9% on FedEx Freight.

UPS, on the other hand, will increase the rates of its services an average of 4.9% effective from December 29.

However, one can see an increase of more than 11% in certain cases.

Being aware of shipping rates can help you plan out your shipping strategy in advance and put you ahead in your last-mile game.

That might seem a challenge, but worry not! In order to save you time, we’ve charted out the data for you!

Some of the highlights from the upcoming price changes

FedEx has increased the rates of its International Premium®, Express, Ground Multiweight®, Freight, and SmartPost services.

In addition to the mentioned services, it has also increased its additional surcharges in the following ways:

• A rise of 25% on Extended Service Area Delivery from $140 per shipment to $175.
• An increase of $200 on Ground Unauthorized Packages from $675 per package to $875.
• Their surcharges for weight will apply on FedEx Express® and FedEx Ground® U.S. domestic packages if a package has an actual weight greater than 50 lbs, which was earlier applicable only for shipments with a weight greater than 70 lbs.
• Surcharges applying to any freight handling unit that measures greater than 70 inches along its longest side will now be applied to unit measures greater than 62 inches along its longest side.

UPS, on the other hand, has made the following changes:

• A rebill fee for each request to change the billing account for a shipment.
• A prohibited Item fee for packages containing prohibited articles or restricted articles not in compliance with all UPS policies & procedures and applicable laws & regulations if found in the UPS system. 
• Value-added services and other charges will apply to undeliverable packages returned to the shipper. A late payment fee will be applied if an invoice is not paid in full by the invoice due date. 
• The weight threshold for applying an Additional Handling surcharge will be lowered from 70 pounds to 50 pounds actual weight for UPS Ground and UPS Air services.

Impact of these rates on retailers

Despite being aware of these shipping rates and taking effective measures, there is still a worry for retailers as these rates tend to add up.

Retailers who routinely ship large packages, use long-zone express, three-day express, or ship to remote areas are likely to be subjected to an increase much larger than the stated 4.9%.

They will need to face the list of multiple, additional surcharges that make their way into their shipping bills.

With retailers barely escaping getting caught in the holiday last mile, all these increased rates from the start of the new year will be their next challenge.

After all, this is just because of carriers looking to make their last-mile delivery processes more profitable.

How businesses can reduce their shipping expenditure and minimize the damage incurred

Here are a few ways to minimize the impact of the price hike on your business.

1. Stick to freight if you’re shipping oversized packages more than regular-sized ones. Anything that requires additional handling will put a dent in your pocket for sure otherwise.
2. Generate shipping labels online. There are sites like Shopify that give you great discounts. As of this year, printing a return label will be twice as expensive. 
3. The larger your box, the more you pay, regardless of the size of the item inside. Even odd-sized objects won’t cost you additional handling charges if you package them right. You can read more on packaging odd-shaped objects here.
4. Analyze your carrier’s performance and get insights on performance lapses such as delays or lost parcels. This will put you in control of shipping rates and help you negotiate for better rates. 
5. You can also take note of data-rich shipping reports and conclude which carrier works best for which type of delivery / destination / cost / customer / product.
6. If you ship in significant volumes, sign up with multiple carriers. Carriers tend to offer better discounts during such situations to ensure a shipper stays on.
7. Claim refunds for all the eligible service failures. There are over 50 of them that can get you a refund!

Check out other ways to reduce shipping costs here.

Conclusion

With these rates coming into effect right after the surcharges in the holiday season end, it is clear that shipping is not going to get any cheaper and will require a proper strategy, like while playing a game of chess or minesweeper. 

While having a better understanding of these rates and shipping contracts with carriers is necessary, making use of technology that keeps you in control of your last mile and ensures that carriers always keep their word can help you ace your shipping game.

A Little about LateShipment.com

LateShipment.com is the world’s only logistics cloud tool that helps businesses of every size reduce shipping costs by up to 20% and provide memorable delivery experiences to customers at scale.

• Save up to 20% on Shipping – Automatically audit your shipping carriers’ invoices and recover refunds for 50+ service failures & billing errors including late deliveries.
• Real-Time Visibility – Monitor your outbound & inbound shipments across multiple shipping carriers on a centralized window, in real-time.
• Critical Delivery Alerts – Pay attention to daily deliveries with predictive delay alerts and more on a purpose-built dashboard for support reps.
• Proactive Issue Resolution – Proactively communicate with customers to prevent them from having bad experiences due to delivery failures.
• Custom Delivery Notifications  – Send custom or automated delivery status notifications for events like “shipped,” “attempted,” & “delivered.”
• Branded Tracking Pages – Build fully-customizable order tracking pages for your customers to improve brand recall and sales.

You can start using these features in less than 2 minutes without the need for any IT/business process change or coding. And the best thing is that LateShipment.com is a simple cloud-based plug-and-play solution that can seamlessly integrate with the tools you already use.

The value we add to businesses is most evident when experienced first-hand.

It’s that simple!

Click here to start saving money on your shipping and provide outstanding post-purchase experiences.

The post Understanding the Increased Rates of FedEx and UPS for 2020 appeared first on Lateshipment.com Blog.

Unless of course, you have your own delivery fleet to do your bidding.

On the off chance that you don’t, this article is for you.

The co dependent relationship between shipping carriers and retailers spans several decades. Like it or not, almost every retailer blindly relies on carriers to fulfill last mile delivery. Needless to say, it isn’t always an equal partnership.

Opaque policies employed by shipping carriers leave retailers with bare minimum data regarding their shipments. The result is a huge number of unexpected customer calls demanding to know package whereabouts. I mean, you’d tell them if you knew right?

Haven’t you ever wished you had more information to work with?

Focused on bridging this gap and empowering you with the data you need to excel in the last mile, we bring you this exclusive report – Driving Ecommerce Last Mile Delivery Success in 2019. 

Do you offer same day shipping?

Two day shipping became the norm in last mile delivery when Prime brought it into play. Amazon introduced one day shipping after that, and it set the bar a little bit higher for every other retailer out there. The needle has slowly moved from there and come to settle on same day shipping now.

If your business does not offer flexible shipping options including same day shipping, then your chances of holding out in a highly competitive retail landscape just came down by a significant margin.

Let’s say you do offer a variety of shipping options. How do you stay in control of the packages you ship out after a third party carrier takes over the process? It’s not the middle ages anymore when you sent out a bird and prayed it didn’t get eaten by predators on the way.

No. These are times when customers expect to be kept in the loop as to where their purchase is at all times. Right up till the moment it arrives on their doorstep, they hold retailers accountable for keeping them informed of the whereabouts of the package.

• So how do you hold your shipping partner accountable for their performance? It’s your brand reputation at stake!
• How do you offer customers flexible shipping options? It’s not just an option, it’s a necessity!
• How do you know which service types are perfect for shipping the product you deal with? The wrong one can cause multiple delivery exceptions.
• How do you know an express same day delivery is going to make it on time? Forget the Money Back Guarantee, the customer is going to be livid if it doesn’t turn up on time after paying a premium!
• More than anything, how do you reduce customer churn due to delivery mishaps? Acquiring a new customer for each one that leaves is extremely expensive!

What you need is an unbiased source that can bring you industry shipping industry data which shipping carriers generally do not make freely available. This has the potential to give your business a competitive edge by improving last mile delivery.

What’s the key? What makes you stand out?

At LateShipment.com, we seek to bridge this divide and equip retailers with the data required to make smarter shipping choices. In order to do this, we have researched and analysed the shipping patterns and shipments of 100 diverse retailers within the US. The retailers chosen for study belong to different geographical locations across the US, with shipment volumes ranging from 500 to 50,000 packages per month. All are small and medium businesses, a few of whom also ship cross border.

The sole purpose of this study was to offer key insights into the workings of the last mile delivery space by providing retailers with transparent and unbiased shipping data.

Retailers from over 20 retail categories have been analyzed and grouped on an industry basis to provide targeted insights and data.

This report essentially

• Analyses delivery performance of 100 online retailers who ship with FedEx, UPS or both.
• Provides a retail category specific audit of services to determine which works best for whom
• Analyses on-time delivery performance of Priority Express services like Overnight, Next Day and 2 Day services
• Dives into delivery metrics and the impact of late deliveries across the retail value chain
• Gives insight into building a last mile strategy that can help your business win, serve and retail customers.

Carrier Performance Analysis

All shipments shipped by the 100 retailers chosen for study during January to March 2019 through both Ground and Express services of FedEx and UPS have been analysed in depth. Priority Express Service types like Overnight and Next Day have been tracked to better understand how even Premium services can suffer a noticeable percentage of delays.

Service Audit for Retail Categories

Over 20 retail categories have been analysed in this subset. There are seven major groups like Food and beverages, Apparel and accessories, Electronics, etc. Service types used by each specific industry has been audited for delivery exceptions, and any exception singularly noted is highlighted.

For instance, the Auto Parts and Home Improvement category had the least number of delays at 4.8%.

The path to driving last mile success

Last mile success is the key to creating wholesome customer experiences. Not only does the report provide unbiased shipping data for multiple retail categories, it also derives insights from this data and shows how businesses can leverage it to their advantage in the last mile. Last mile delivery exceptions can be minimized to a huge margin with data driven shipping strategies.

Be you a retailer belonging to a specific industry or a media person looking for industry data, this study is something you need to get your hands on. This is just the first in a series of reports revolving around industry based shipping data and statistics.

Here’s a sneak peek at some of the highlights in the report!

1. FedEx Priority Overnight and UPS Next Day Saver faced the most number of delays
2. Cross border shipments faced 4X more delays than domestic ones
3. The 3PL industry had the most number of delays at 7.6%

There are plenty more useful statistics and insights coming your way. All you need to do is hit download, sit back and enjoy some transparent and neutral industry based shipping data. Sounds like the perfect weekend read, doesn’t it?

The post Report: Driving Ecommerce Last Mile Delivery Success in 2019 appeared first on Lateshipment.com Blog.

Marijuana sales brought in $11.3 million, eclipsing alcohol sales by a huge margin.

That’s right ladies and gentlemen. Binge drinking days are on the decline. The legalization of cannabis by Canada in 2018 has opened up a market filled with myriad possibilities.

A market with an estimated value of 23.4 billion by 2022!

Here’s a quick glimpse of investors in the market, industries with future potential and shipping cannabis.

Not a drug. A leaf.

A year ago, retailers wouldn’t have dreamt of lining up their shelves with marijuana. Now they’re dreaming up creative ways of using and marketing cannabis and its associated products.

Marijuana that is widely in use today comes from the herb Cannabis sativa. The compound in cannabis that produces the high is a cannabinoid called THC (tetrahydrocannabinol). When it comes to medical or wellness products, another cannabinoid called CBD (cannabidiol) is used.

CBD is accepted for its many health benefits, while THC is not legalized in many places due to its  psychoactive nature.

This is where hemp comes in. It is legal is most states due to its high CBD content. As CBD has the property of counteracting the effects of THC to an extent, hemp is relatively weaker than its relatives (the legal ones have less than 0.3% of THC!).

This fiber is well known for being a better alternative to cotton. The fact that it was illegal to raise hemp in most states prevented farmers from using this easy to grow herb all these years.

The US Farm Bill passed in 2018 legalizes the cultivation and use of hemp across the United States. The effects of this Bill are still being speculated, but what this means to retailers is obvious.

Not only can farmers grow this cash crop easily, the profits and value will far exceed that of cotton or any other plant grown for industrial use. Hemp fiber can be used to make hardier clothing, eco sustainable paper, biofuel, food and building materials. Hemp oil or CBD oil is also a hot commodity at present.

Source: Statista

A friend with weed is a friend indeed

So who’s gotten a seat at the table?

The recent legalization of cannabis in Canada has blown open the market for retailers in both the US and Canada.

As it is restricted in many states within the US, retailers are partnering up with Canadian companies like Aurora cannabis and Tilray or buying shares into Canadian cannabis businesses.

As for stocks, just the mention of cannabis seems to skyrocket them at the moment. This has been true for companies like New age beverages corp., IntelGenx technologies and Alkaline water.

Even Shopify has gotten its share of the pie by becoming the website provider for many major deals including Aurora cannabis!

Alkaline Water, Corbus Pharmaceuticals and IntelGenx saw a more than 50% hike in market shares after announcing their plans to include CBD in future products.

The cannabis market has also seen unexpected growth in Europe. A previous estimate of $200 million has now grown up to $1 billion euros due to the involvement of some big names like Anheuser Busch, InBev NV, and Novartis.

Got a friend in Canada who can produce some good stuff? You should be getting on a call with him/her right about now!

Of course we know how to roll.

Some companies got into partnerships. Others have pulled their sleeves up and jumped headlong themselves.

The sudden spike brought about by the legalization of cannabis in Canada has pushed several big names into the fray.   

Nobody wants to be left behind, and the properties of CBD have become a great selling point (just like kombucha did earlier). The current US market for cannabis infused beverages is at around 6%. This could easily become 20% by 2022.

Even Coca Cola is considering setting foot into the cannabis beverage scene.

We’re talking a market worth $600 million in the next four years. This has the solid potential to outpace the growth of other retail categories in cannabis products.

Those who are currently pursuing the cannabis beverage market aggressively include Constellation Brands (producers of Corona) and Molson Coors Canada.

There are also interesting startups like California dreamin which advertise cannabis infused beverages that give consumers a light social high with just 10 mg of THC!

California Dreamin is one of those headlong divers we discussed earlier. Let’s not forget the rest who are more cautious, and choose to analyze industry data and risks before throwing in their bet.

Firms like canaccord genuity have popped up to cater to the needs of these cautious souls. Boasting a global presence, they do market/equity research as well as investment banking. With a high profile clientele like Aurora cannabis, they’ve gained quite some popularity.

Wondering where to grow?

If all these seem like high profile ideas to you, and you’re looking at something a little simpler to start off with, then you might want to consider the following options.

1. Cannabis accessories has become a formidable market in its own right (it helps that accessories aren’t deemed illegal anywhere).
2. Did you know there are even CBD infused pet snacks? They are proven to help pets  with chronic pain, inflammation, arthritis and seizures.
3. Already in the pharmaceutical business? CBD based drugs like Epidiolex that are slowly gaining approval can help you scale your business.
4. Food products like nutrition bars or quick snacks that contain minimum levels of CBD (their high nutritive value is quite the USP) or even THC (if legal).
5. Beauty and skin care products that are infused with CBD. It’s got all the properties for clearer skin, muscle relaxation, and whatnot.

Can we ship it? Yes we(ed) can.

Shipping cannabis has always been problematic. Within the US, mailing it from a legal state to an illegal one has been happening for several years (despite being considered a federal offence). Shipping carriers have found and reported illegal cannabis being shipped through fake names and addresses.

The legalization in Canada has brought about other shipping concerns. Firstly, legal stores seem ill prepared to deal with the huge influx of orders pouring in from customers.

Secondly, they need to figure out faster shipping options to get orders delivered on time. When the latest Canada Post strike occurred, orders were delayed by over a week in Ontario and a few other parts of Canada. Figuring out an alternate shipping plan in case of such unforeseen circumstances would be beneficial to cannabis retailers.

While recreational cannabis users can accept the delay (even if it had been meant for a weekend), those who need it for medicinal uses cannot be made to wait.

If you’re shipping cannabis within the US, these are the places it is currently legal in.

1. Alaska
2. California
3. Colorado
4. Maine
5. Massachusetts
6. Michigan
7. Nevada
8. Oregon
9. Vermont
10. Washington
11. District of Columbia
12. Northern Mariana islands

But you still cannot mail it like any normal package. Mailing it through the USPS is an outright federal offence even within states that have legalized cannabis use. As for FedEx and UPS, they can open any suspicious packages at will. Considering this, it is always wise to ensure

• That you check the legislature of the state or place you ship cannabis to
• Double check the allowed volume of marijuana even if it is legal
• Alert your carrier to the new item you will be shipping through them and submit appropriate documentation where necessary
• Package the contents in heat insulated air tight packaging so that they don’t smell of the trademark scent.
• Clear specifications of shipping and return policies on your website

Online stores like Ignite CBD and Tweedle Farms sell legal industrial hemp that they produce. The sites give out authentic information on what consumers can expect from each of the products. The shipping and return policy for CBD oil and other products is also given in detail.

If you’re foraying into shipping out cannabis or cannabis products to your customers, creating a brand identity now will create an edge over later competitors. Gain a niche of loyal customers with well sourced products, excellent customer service and hassle free last mile deliveries. Services like LateShipment.com can help you with last mile competency and ensuring that customers receive their packages on time.

If you liked this article, you might want to check these out too.

1. A comprehensive guide to cross border shipping
2. A LateShipment guide to win your last mile

The post CBD Or THC: Getting The Ball Rolling For Your Cannabis Business appeared first on Lateshipment.com Blog.

We knew winter was coming, but not exactly like this.

The blizzard caused by the arctic blast in certain parts of the US and Canada has made life difficult for many. Several states in the Midwest witnessed temperatures of up to -50 degrees (which hasn’t been recorded in decades)!

Check out this picture of the arctic blast shared by NASA. Quite chilling.

Normal life has come to a standstill as people have been advised to stay indoors, and schools and offices have been closed. Unsurprisingly, package delivery has been delayed across the US and Canada.

Major shipping carriers like FedEx and UPS have issued service alerts on their websites and via email letting customers know which zip codes will experience delivery delays.

How are shipping carriers handling the blizzard?

Shipping carriers have shut down operations in the most affected areas and are working on contingency plans.

The UPS Worldport hub in Louisville, Kentucky for instance has operational difficulties and the carrier has notified customers in advance of the possible delay in all packages shipped out from there.

Most of us are familiar with the communication from carriers like UPS and FedEx stating cease of operations in certain areas as the safety of delivery personnel was in question. Even those hardened to extreme weather conditions happen to find this arctic blast quite intense. With weather cold enough to freeze boiling water midair, it certainly is unsafe for workers to be out delivering packages.

Amazon had to close fulfilment operations across several areas in the Midwest as freezing temperatures slowed operations down to a standstill.

You can check out UPS Service Alerts and FedEx Service Alerts here.

Is the freeze getting to retailers?

Retailers have also put up a delayed shipping tab on their websites so that shoppers are not disappointed with surprise late deliveries.

Despite the prior notifications, shippers have no way of identifying the exact packages that are delayed till its too late. Wouldn’t it be much easier if you could notify customers a little in advance about the certainty of a delay? Instead of a overall warning on the checkout page.

On the other hand, shippers will also be missing out on the refunds that they usually collect for late deliveries. This is because of the fact that any delays or exceptions caused due to weather conditions or natural disasters are not covered under the UPS Service Guarantee or the FedEx Money Back Guarantee (weather is out of their hands, after all).

So any refunds are out of the question. Unless they are for any of the other 50 odd service failures that are likely to occur without any assistance from the bad weather.

States with maximum impact on package delivery

Of all the states affected by the arctic blast, the worst affected ones are: Iowa, Illinois, Michigan, Chicago, South Dakota, Pennsylvania, Wisconsin, New York, Minnesota and Nebraska.

LateShipment data collected since the arctic blast began show that the states with most number of delayed packages are Nebraska (9.3%), Minnesota (5.7%) and Illinois (4%).

UPS shipments faced maximum delays in the following states.

FedEx shipments were delayed mostly in the following states.

With UPS, the states with most number of delays so far are Minnesota, Illinois and Wisconsin.

As for FedEx, Nebraska, Minnesota and Wisconsin faced the most number of delays.

What can your business do?

Yes, it’s quite difficult to get into work and field those customer calls on packages that are dreadfully behind schedule. But there are a few things you can do to ensure things don’t go from bad to worse.

There are several online tools like LateShipment.com that track your packages for you across multiple carriers and let you know precisely which ones are likely to be delayed.

All you have to do is turn on the automatic notifications feature, and your customers get notified in advance! That’s like more than half your frustrated customer calls reduced.

Besides this, you can also work out a plan where customers can do free returns for products that have been damaged or perishables that have arrived too late. Offer a replacement or a discount voucher. That will ensure they stay on even after the disappointment.

Stay tuned for any service alerts from FedEx and UPS.

Do contact us if you need any more tracking information on packages delayed due to the weather.

Let’s bundle up till the weather lets up!

The post Know What Service Alerts In The US By UPS and FedEx Mean (And How To Handle Weather Delays) appeared first on Lateshipment.com Blog.

Wait a minute…

What about all those last minute buyers who are still browsing your site? Them that frantically try to pick a present for the relative they forgot about till now.

Or if you’re one of those last minute people reading this, yes, you certainly should panic a little. Especially if you had forgotten and speed ordered your kid’s present. Grab your boots. Physical shopping ain’t that bad.

Christmas is less than a week away, and packages meant for the occasion need to get there on time. No matter what.

On going through the data accumulated since the beginning of this holiday season, we realised there were specific areas bound to experience more delays than the rest.

Areas where delivery congestions were happening more often than not.

What if your business was shipping to that area in the last minute? Then your package is definitely not reaching the customer on time.

That’s where data comes handy. What you’ll find below are a categorized list of areas that have consistently faced delays or other delivery exceptions since the holiday season began (November 26, 2018- December 20, 2018).

If you’re shipping out to any of these areas, then you better be on the lookout. Your package may not make it to its destination on time.

State of delivery delays in specific states

So which states are hotspots for the most number of delays? Where would you need to carefully monitor your packages?

Of all the states in the US, the following have witnessed the most number of delays for FedEx shipments.

As you can see, states like New York, North Carolina, Georgia, Wisconsin, Utah, Massachusetts and Maryland sported the highest recorded number of delays ranging from 10%-12%.

For UPS shipments, the following states saw a high rate of delays.

With UPS, the highest delay percentage ranged from 7% to 9%, which shows a noticeably better performance that FedEx so far. States with the highest number of delays include Indiana, Pennsylvania, New York, Maryland, Virginia, Tennessee and Florida.

States like New York, Maryland, Pennsylvania and Georgia have faced a considerable number of delays with both FedEx and UPS shipments.

On close inspection, you can see how a majority of these states are densely populated.

Cities with close calls

Let’s get down to cities.

Where would you have to guard your package and keep replacements ready for high risk zones?

Here’s the top seven you need to watch out for.

Looking at specific cities, Miami, Los Angeles and Denver faced the most number of delays at 8-9% while shipping with UPS.

Other cities with a high percentage of delays include New York (8.05%), San Francisco (7.91%), Dallas (7.82%), Brooklyn (7.19%) and Philadelphia (7.03%).

For FedEx shipments, the cities with markedly higher delay rates include Washington, Salt Lake City and New York with delay percentages of 11%.

Other cities that saw a high rate of delays for FedEx shipments include Los Angeles (10.88%), Cincinnati (10%), Miami (9.67%), Portland (9.06%) and Seattle (8.36%).

As of now, UPS seems to be on the fast track this holiday season, delivering better performance than FedEx in most parts of the US.

If you would like more insight on understanding and overcoming delivery congestions this holiday season, you can read here.

For more predictions on holiday specific shipping, here you go.

In case your current shipping strategy is more of a pain than a well oiled machine, we’ve got you covered on that front too.

Retailers and shoppers alike need to be aware of these areas that face high congestions during Christmas time so that nobody gets disappointed when a package doesn’t turn up.

Go on ahead and make alternate arrangements well in advance folks!

May the force be with your package.

The post Know Why Your Christmas Packages Will Be Late. Hint: Santa Isn’t To Be Blamed appeared first on Lateshipment.com Blog.

Celebrities who are at the pinnacle of their careers usually receive much acclaimed endorsement deals from huge brands. We’ve seen Daniel Craig sip a Heineken in three movies straight, Michelle Wie model Nike products, and Usain Bolt experiment with different Puma shoes since he was a teenager. The difference today is that most celebrities choose to create and promote their own brands instead of going in for commercial endorsements for existing brands.

This has led to the rise of various new brands with excellent PR and Marketing teams behind them. The greatest tool used by these celebrity brand owners is social media. They use these accounts to turn their fans into buyers! Instagram is perhaps the most used platform for these promotional activities.

Apart from celebrities and their instagram accounts, there are also instagram influencers. These are people who are followed heavily not because of their celebrity status but because of their expertise in their domains. Celebrities liaise with these influencers to spread the word on their brands.

Let us look at 5 uber successful celebrity brands slaying the market with their Instagram strategies:

Kylie Jenner and Kylie Cosmetics

Kylie Jenner is 21 years old and is all set to become the youngest self-made billionaire. She has over 250 million social media followers and an affordable line of cosmetics, targeted at young instagram followers. Her marketing success has made it to Forbes. What is it that works for Kylie Jenner and Kylie Cosmetics?

Her products are built to appeal to her target audience. She knows her audience and she speaks to her Instagram and Snapchat followers like she would be speaking with her friends and family. Digital marketing researchers have numbers to bolster their claims that Instagram is the platform for brand discoverability, Youtube is for shopping recommendations and Snapchat is for documenting shopping experiences. Kylie focuses on all three platforms. She plays around pop culture when she presents stories. ‘On Wednesday Matte Lip Kit’ is a reference to the popular Mean Girls, for example. There is a certain fluidity between her daily life and her brand promotion. This causes the overlap between her fans and customers. She is, end of day, a celebrity and fans want to know what she does during the course of her day. So, along with her personal photos and videos, she includes her merchandise.

Her pure marketing strategies show behind-the-scenes aspects of her products. Fans get to see the factories where the cosmetics are made. She promotes new collection launches with flash sales. Her insta feeds include her celebrity family and she taps into the potential of instagram influencers like MakeupShayla and Nicol Concilio for that much needed validation. Her photos and parts of her promo videos and stories have cosmetic swatches on various skin tones. This works in her favour.

But the most important Instagram marketing strategy is the celebrity selfie!

Here is something as simple as what you and I would post:

Kylie maintains a girl-next-door image on social media and that works. This post is from her personal account. And she makes it a point to promote @kyliecosmetics from her personal posts as well! She’s one of the most well paid influencers on social media today with each of her Instagram posts valued to be a million dollars.

Jessica Alba (The Honest Company)

Jessica Alba is the founder of the billion dollar worth ‘The Honest Company’ and her motto is ethical consumerism. She has a range of safe baby products from detergents to diapers.

Jessica is a seasoned social media marketer and she touches upon the safe, organic and momma-baby and family chords just the right number of times in her insta posts. Her stories are an instant connect with fellow mums, with gym work out posts and baby milestone celebrations. There are witty quotes that can come from any frustrated mum who cannot find time away from gazillion diaper changes. Now, remember that mothers, the largest part of Jessica Alba’s clientele spend a lot of time scrolling through social media posts when they are feeding their babies or doing household work. And between these posts and videos and stories, there is also product promotion. Jessica’s personal background stories about her own childhood issues of allergies caused by factory made products and her inspiration to create a brand of safe products comes up now and then.

True to the name of her company, she keeps her pictures honest! She posts pictures of her kids and when there’s troubling feedback, she gets to ground zero and offers her defense.

She doesn’t miss a chance to leverage a trending hashtag to her advantage. Here’s an article mentioning a post from Jessica Alba where she cashes in on the royal wedding: https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-5749407/Jessica-Alba-gushes-Honest-Companys-chief-color-consultant-did-Meghans-makeup.html

Lisa Vanderpump (Vanderpump pets)

Instagram is a visual medium. And there are two photogenic things that can make everyone go Awww. One, Babies. That is taken by Jessica Alba who is slaying the baby market on Insta. Two, dogs. Lisa Vanderpump has capitalised on that Awww factor as is evident from her Instagram feed. Most of her photographs and videos are of cute pups and dogs. The video of a pup lazing in a dog spa can bring a smile even on a cynic’s face. Now, Vanderpump Pets has a dedicated Instagram page that offers neat categories on grooming, retail and such. Her feed captures real people with their real dogs and strikes an instant connect with followers.

Rihanna (Fenty Beauty)

And that is what matters in the Instagram marketing space. Within 4 days of its Instagram launch, the handle had 1.4 million followers. What does Rihanna do differently? When Rihanna says her brand makes cosmetics for 40 skin shades, she says that with a mosaic of women from various races. She markets her products with influencers of all races and that is a huge advantage. Rihanna’s greatest USP is her inclusivity.

It’s 2018 and we are still grappling with finding nude shades of lipsticks and perfect foundations for the non-Caucasian skin tones. And this is what Rihanna addresses on her instagram feeds. Representation from all skin tones also includes real people on streets, not just models. Most beauty brands have a 1% fan engagement while Fenty Beauty’s Instagram account was able to reach 10.41% fan engagement. It generated almost 80K influential posts within the first month. Such is the reach that Rihanna’s Fenty Beauty has.

Rihanna’s marketing strategies are time tested and text book. But they work! She is very regular with her posts and that is of primary importance. What sets her apart is that she engages with her fans. She follows them back on Instagram. Imagine Rihanna on your list of ‘followers’!

Sarah Jessica Parker (SJP Collection)

It is no surprise that Carrie Bradshaw helps other shop. Sarah Jessica Parker, best known for her role as Carrie Bradshaw in Sex and the City, leverages her popularity to the maximum possible extent. Her Manolo Blahnik shoe loving character struck a chord with many, many women back in the SATC days. And she has progressed to selling shows under her SJP Collection via Instagram. Her feed is all about shoes. She includes several public figures and fashionistas to feature in her photos. Parker says that she collects customer sentiment, expectation and feedback from Instagram to her design in an attempt to address customer issues and give them what they expect. She says, ‘“I think it’s really good for business, to feel that the business is always being scrutinized by a very informed consumer, an educated consumer,” said Parker. “The higher the expectations, the better for us. The customer is such a huge part of the business. It’s very different from what I feel the retail experience used to be, where you create something and you offer it up and there were expectations that therefore you will buy it. Now consumers are part of the design process and you’re constantly considering what they need, what they want. Without that exchange, I feel you’re left with no business.”’

“What do you have to offer that is uniquely your product? “There’s so much out there in the world. Nobody needs just another pair of shoes or just any bag. Why does this thing you’re offering demand time, attention and dollars from your community?” – Sarah Jessica Parker

Look at this Instagram post of SJP that has garnered 65000 likes!

One of her most successful, viral posts for SJP, this post has a shot of Parker lining her shoes on the steps of the iconic, unforgettable house that Carrie Bradshaw occupied in Sex and the City. It strikes an instant chord with her followers. Most of marketing is not about selling but about managing a connect with the audience. And this has worked wonderfully as an instagram marketing strategy.

Not to be left behind, there are several non-celebrity brands as well that are doing a great job on Instagram. I’ve listed a few of them here.

Bloom & Wild

One of the most successful online florists, Bloom & Wild is a brand that is on top of the instagram marketing game. Of course, the business lends itself to powerful photo based marketing. What is more picture friendly than flowers?!

And whenever Mothers’ Day or Valentine’s Day is around the corner, the marketing team at Bloom & Wild brings about some really interesting game changing tactics that everyone should learn. Even on normal days, when it’s not a season that flaunts flowers, it is normal to see the company’s instagram handle update its pictures regularly. And during festive times, they run contests and dish out spa vouchers and flowers. The move sure works, every time!

They run marketing themes that also remind people that Mother’s Day (or any other occasion) is right around the corner. And they keep reminding people enough!

Poshmark

Poshmark, the online community that serves as a forum to let people buy and sell fashion goodies, aces the Insta Game. It is one of the early adopters of Instagram and they clearly have an edge now!

Amanda Weiss, Marketing Manager at Poshmark, says “Poshmark has almost 80,000 followers right now on Instagram and our most popular hashtag, #PoshStyle, where women share outfits they’ve scored on the app, has been tagged in over 55,000 photos. Instagram has been a huge driver for us to bring community members back into the app while also allowing new users to discover the magic of Poshmark, making it a very valuable tool for the company.”

They have leveraged the hashtag functionality to the maximum, clearly.

Poshmark constantly evolves and updates itself with the latest trends. Here is a post where the brand encourages customers to put up pictures of their purchase!

Burt’s Bees

There is much to do with apiaries and selling apiary produce, proves Burt’s Bees!

To celebrate its 30th birthday, Burt’s Bees hosted a global Beeday event and engaged its entire online community to take part. Happy Beeday was the buzz for a while. It is vitally important to note here that Burt Shavitz, the founder of Burt’s Bees lives in the country, without internet!

Like other successful brands, Burt’s Bees focuses on real users of their brand and posts pictures engaging these normal users. You will find a lot less celebrity endorsement for the brand, on Instagram. But what amazes you is the onslaught of everyday users and their happy faces! They also get users excited with different organic blends depending on customer feedback and expectations.

Ipsy

It is no surprise to see Michelle Phan instagramming her way to success. Phan is one of the most well-known beauty and makeup related social media influencers today. She is a household name and people run to her instagram videos for makeup and beauty recommendations. In her marketing campaigns, she keeps things real. For example, she never forgets her Viet roots and her struggles. She has not just her videos, but videos of several vloggers and influencers conglomerating under Ipsy to recommend, sell and market!

What does Ipsy do differently? They work on their referral program and never let followers forget the referral program.  People refer others and gain points that they can redeem! And friends don’t really turn on you for referring when it comes to beauty!

Chubbies

You have a lot of marketing scope, especially the cheeky kind, when you name your brand Chubbies and sell shorts!

The brand caters to a wide audience. You see family audience, soccer families, father and son bonding with their shorts on. Think outside the shorts, says Chubbies.

The post Instagram Inspiration: Celebrities & Brands Who Are Killing It appeared first on Lateshipment.com Blog.

Introduction

Chapter 1: Taking Our First Step To Make Shipping Count

Chapter 2: Importance Of Carrier Accountability In The Last Mile

Chapter 3: Technology To Put You In Command of Shipping and Delivery

Chapter 4: Leveraging the Power of Shipping Data

Chapter 5: The Pulse Of Your Last Mile In Real- Time

Chapter 6: Give Your Business An Edge With LateShipment.com

Chapter 7: Our Vision For the Future

The magic word that can provide a definite competitive edge in retail is ‘last mile’. Every retailer faces the challenge of keeping up with demanding shoppers who are spoilt for choice. One misstep, and the customer walks off to a competitor. It’s all about speed. Anywhere. Anytime. Anyhow. Do you offer that to your customers?

Every single one of you would be aware of the fact that your loss of control over the last mile usually stems from outsourcing it to shipping carriers who make it all the more difficult.

That’s why LateShipment.com. Technology that gives you a competitive advantage when it comes to your last mile. Here’s our story.

Chapter 1

Taking Our First Step To Make Shipping Count

That’s right. We do.

If you take a look at how retail is doing today, you’ll realize the pervasive presence of omnichannel strategies and extensive use of technology. We’re talking intelligent drones, AI powered shopping, and AR for dynamic personalization.

The world of retail has come so far from the times of trade and barter. But there is one aspect of retail that has been loathe to change over the years. Shipping. Despite the fact that technology has invaded every other field, the tech resistant shipping industry has been holding retailers on edge for far too long. Last mile visibility has become something of a luxury. Unless you have a superior in house system to track every package leaving your warehouse, you are at risk of reaching out to customers in the dark (quite literally).  What constitutes one of the most important facets of a customer’s journey simply cannot be allowed to be muddled by a third party carrier who does not have the same interests at heart.

Carrier accountability has never been a given, as sheer necessity has forced retailers into letting carriers wield the upper hand. Shipping carriers have taken advantage of this and made their refund claim processes deliberately complex and time consuming to ensure many retailers never file the claims. The shipping industry makes billions of dollars every year just because the claim process is not automated!

As a retailer, your prime focus should be on sales. The operational side of the business has to be a well oiled machine that does not require much of your time. In an era of automation and data intelligence, it isn’t quite difficult to get a competitive advantage with technology. What’s essential is to take a grounded look at how shipping successfully finishes what a retailer began on site. Crafting a remarkable customer experience hinges on the last mile of the journey.

It is this idea that gave birth to LateShipment.com. The company moves to bring in more trust and transparency to the world of shipping as a whole, by making available the kind of technology used by industry giants to businesses of every size. At the core, we aim to help businesses build a strong last mile strategy by ensuring carrier accountability through these factors:

1. Constant monitoring of all shipments
2. Collecting eligible refunds for carrier service failures

Chapter 2

Importance Of Carrier Accountability In The Last Mile

Claiming refunds is an integral part of carrier accountability. Carriers tend to perform much better when certain shipments are constantly monitored and refund claims are filed immediately.

You do not have to choose between which carrier’s shipments you want to track or file claims for separately. LateShipment.com’s intelligent automation ensures that multiple carriers are tracked simultaneously and claims are filed on your behalf.

The claim process is purposely made expensive and time consuming by shipping carriers specifically to dissuade shippers from filing for refunds in case of service errors. This gains the shipping industry over $3 billion in unclaimed refunds every year! To bring an end to this and hold carriers accountable for their performance, it is extremely important for shippers to claim the refunds that are rightfully theirs. LateShipment.com for instance claims refunds for over 50 carrier errors. You can read more about the 50 errors here.

An automated parcel audit is the way to go if you want to optimize on shipping costs for your business. But it is important that you take a look at the other side of the picture as well.

Despite shipping refunds making you feel great and saving you quite a bit of shipping costs at the end of the day, the other side of the story is not that good for your business.

At the tail end of every refund you receive for a shipping carrier error, is a frustrated and angry customer whose order didn’t make it on time. Or whose order was damaged upon arrival.

When you look at it from a customer centric perspective, the joy of receiving refunds does not really cut it when an unhappy customer is on the line. Over 50% of customers rarely choose to shop from the same retailer again after a bad delivery experience. Repeat shoppers are another story altogether.

Providing a memorable last mile experience to customers needs to top your list in order to earn the trust of repeat customers and entice new customers to keep coming back for more.

The key herein is to have an eye on the refunds while your focus is on the bigger picture- the customer.

Keeping this in mind, we decided to help retailers provide a seamless delivery experience. With our completely automated service, you can not only collect every refund that is your due, but also focus on holding carriers accountable for their performance. We give you the space to work on things that hold first priority in your business, and take over the heavy lifting on secondary activities like shipping and monitoring carriers.

Chapter 3

Technology To Put You In Command of Shipping and Delivery

We’re not gonna say we’re working on it, and it’s a prototype. We’ve got you covered.

At LateShipment.com, we believe that a shopper is not only at the core of creating a great customer experience, but also at the centre of your supply chain. In this era of shopper-led retail strategy, supply chains need to revolve around them to maintain market competitiveness. Offering a seamless customer experience is therefore key to your omnichannel success.

When our journey began, our prime focus was on creating awareness among retailers of the money back guarantee policy and claiming refunds for every eligible service failure to keep a lid on shipping costs.

Once the entire claim process became automated, we realized we held a lot of data that would highly benefit retailers of all sizes. This was data that was not available elsewhere! This led us to expand into helping improve carrier performance and prevent last mile mistakes before they happen.

So gradually, a more customer centric approach came into play.

How could we benefit customers more?

What could we offer that would give them an edge?

We realized the importance of making data available to customers that wasn’t easy to get from shipping carriers.

Sure, customers wanted to track their packages and file claims for delivery exceptions. But they also needed handy information that would help them build better shipping strategies. And that was something we could do. After tracking over 25 billion packages we had ample data on carrier performance and stats to help out customers who needed access to the data.

Some of the benefits of LateShipment.com include

1. Intelligent automation: investigate your shipments for over 50 carrier service failures like lost parcels and instantly file for refund claims.
2. Advanced shipment tracking: capture 130 data points to track parcels in real- time and get deeper transit and delivery status insights
3. Predictive error detection: instantly get notifications on potential delivery failures like delivery delays or lost packages and fix issues before they affect customers.
4. Actionable logistics reports: make data driven decisions to evaluate carrier performance and optimize supply chains
5. Ease of use: cloud based service integrates easily with existing business processes
6. Smart dashboard: monitor all shipments across multiple carriers on a single platform and get instant notifications for delivery exceptions.

Taking control of your last mile is made much easier with this tool. It integrates across platforms and can work with any existing system you might be using.

Chapter 4

Leveraging the Power of Shipping Data

As the data required by customers had to be broken down into segments for ease of use, we set about cataloguing them.

After working out what reports would best suit specific teams of a business, we built them into our dashboard for easy access.

These extensive reports give you data on everything from geography specific carrier performance to delays divided by service type. Let me take you through all the reports we currently offer.

Shipment Report

This report is designed to give you overall shipment data in one place. The shipments that leave your warehouse are categorized by date, service type, and shipping costs. You can also see how many claims have been filed and their cumulative value.

Shipping Spend Report

If you’re looking for data on how much you’ve been spending on shipping, or the difference between last year’s discount and this year’s, then this is the report for you. Yearly shipment values can be segregated by date, and the average cost per shipment can be measured and analyzed. This report also includes a graphical representation of this data on a monthly basis.

Chronological Report

This report is for when you need to know the value of either individual or bulk shipments in a specific window of time. It gives you a detailed monthly and yearly break up of shipment value.

Carrier Performance Report

If you’re wondering how to evaluate your shipping carrier, then this report is for you. It gives you an in depth report on carrier performance for the last six months. The report also includes a graph that shows package delay rate divided by hours delayed and days delayed.

Claims Filed Report

You can keep track of all the claims we have found eligible for refunds with this report. It shows the number of claims submitted by LateShipment.com on your behalf. You can also see the carrier, account and service type for which each claim has been filed.

Refund Credits Report (by service and invoice type)

For easy reference of all the refunds credited to your account versus those that are still being processed, you can use this report. The refund credits report is separated into a service type report and an invoice type report. In the service type report, you can see which service types have been granted refunds, the amount credited in your account for individual tracking numbers, etc.

Geographic Report

We understand that you will need specific stats on carrier performance based on different geographic locations you ship to. Let’s say you want to figure out where to situate your next fulfilment centre at. Then this will be your go to report. You can get a geographic mapping of the destination country and state each package is shipped to. This will give you an estimate of which areas receive faster or better delivery service as compared to others from the same service provider.

Comprehensive Report

When you need an overview of which shipments are scheduled when, then this is your go to report. It offers you a comprehensive view of each tracking number, the estimated date of delivery for that number, the actual delivery date, and delays if any.

Billing Report

Finally, you would definitely want to know how you’re being billed for our services. LateShipment.com’s billing process is clearly accounted for each return and can be seen on a monthly basis. You can see a summary of the amount payable for individual claims or shipments as well. All paid and pending payments are listed in a detailed manner.  

Apart from the reports, LateShipment.com automatically files refund claims for all eligible packages. No matter how many carriers you use, we can ensure on time claim filing as per the contract you have with your carrier. Your shipping carrier data is protected with bank grade security, and you can read more on our security measures here.

Chapter 5

The Pulse Of Your Last Mile In Real- Time

Pulse is our real time shipment tracking software that can simultaneously track all your packages (no matter how many you ship), across carriers (no matter how many you use).

Your support team will be fully equipped to identify and mitigate last mile mistakes effectively with a tool like Pulse. It also helps you inform customers about potential delays, missed deliveries, rescheduled deliveries, failed deliveries, misrouted packages and the like.

The Pulse dashboard is designed to give you valuable insight into the current status of your packages.

A few highlights of Pulse include:

1. Real time shipment tracking facility
2. Predictive notifications for packages bound to be late/lost
3. Notifications to customers when delivery exceptions are detected
4. Intimation about returns en route to your warehouse at any given time
5. Flagging orders that require immediate attention

Your game plan for the holiday season can be at its best this year if you can proactively prevent most delivery errors before they even occur.

No more frantic customer calls demanding to know where the delivery is.

No more increased customer churn because of delivery mishaps.

No more loss of revenue owing to a difficult refund claim process.

You can gear up this season and bring your customers the best experience they have availed so far. Pulse can give you the necessary edge that will set you apart from competitors.

You can read more about Pulse here.

Chapter 6

Give Your Business An Edge With LateShipment.com

Are you just starting out in the retail space? Or are you a veteran well versed in the fickle trends that possess the industry? LateShipment.com can suit your business no matter how big or small.

Join us and

• Increase customer retention
• Bring down delivery exceptions
• Proactively prevent delays
• Decrease customer churn rate
• Save up to 20% of your shipping costs through refund claims.

Allow our experts to chart out a shipping strategy that will be tailor made to suit your needs. We can also provide helpful data that will make a huge difference in your negotiations with your carrier.

To know more about how LateShipment.com has helped different retailers,  you can read our case studies here.

Not only can you grant your business the power of last mile visibility, you can focus on other things that demand your attention and leave the shipping audit to us.

You’d be surprised to hear how our pricing policy works. We do not get paid unless we collect a refund for you. Every other service (the reports, the shipment tracking, et al) comes free of charge. When we do get a refund, we collect 50% of the claimed amount as our fee. That’s basically no out of pocket costs for you!

Chapter 7

Our Vision For the Future

To put things in perspective, we at LateShipment.com firmly believe that every business should have the tools and data necessary to take control of their last mile deliveries. Unbiased shipping data should be readily available for a retailer to hold shipping carriers accountable for their performance, and overpaying for shipping should never be an issue.

A lucid and transparent shipping policy is the way to solve all this, and we aim to achieve that with our efforts. LateShipment.com was built with the purpose of leveling the playing field for retailers. From our humble beginnings, we have now grown to tracking more than 75 Million shipments on behalf of our customers and would love to add your shipments to the list.

Join us in our mission of making the last mile delivery space more transparent and fair.

If you liked this blog, then you might want to check these out too!

1. The Big picture: Think Beyond Shipping Refunds and Claims
2. The Real Cost of Late Delivery
3. 10 Best Ways to Reduce Your Shipping Costs

The post Parcel Audit & Shipment Tracking: A LateShipment.com Guide To Win Your Last Mile appeared first on Lateshipment.com Blog.

Data Data Data

Trust me when I say data is the most powerful tool in your arsenal. It can help you in multiple ways, especially when it comes to the holiday season prep. You can use data from the past few years, taking into account the changes you have made and why (floral prints and bell sleeves might come into fashion again!), and create a complete strategy.

Consider Starbucks’ Pumpkin Spice Latte that is available only during a certain time of the year. The idea is to make consumers associate that particular product with the season and crave it (they nailed it, considering how it is their most popular seasonal drink!). The coffee mogul initially got the idea from competitor Dunkin Donuts and their Pumpkin Donuts which was available only in the fall!

Ask yourself the following questions.

What were your bestsellers? (those are your special snowflakes)

Was there any major flop? If yes, why? (put yourself in a customer’s shoes)

Did you run out of some unexpected hot sell? (didn’t see that one coming?)

Did a specific promotional campaign do particularly well? (using it again is not a crime against creativity)

Did customers consistently return any product? (might want to look into that one)

Answering these questions will be all the more easier if you’ve got extensive data on your hands. Your entire holiday season inventory can be double checked, orders to vendors can be placed in advance, and product defects if any can be fixed in time! Besides, you can focus on the best target group for your business, and employ your best marketing strategies to reach out to them well in advance.

If you’re looking for efficient tools to manage or sort out your inventory, we’ve got a list of the best ones you can use right here.

Build you own Holiday castle

Stores that have specific themes for the holidays build their entire strategy around it. Everything from the marketing emails they send to the kind of packaging they use, reflects this chosen theme. It works really well, as it definitely increases brand recall among newly targeted customers and gives existing customers something new to look forward to.

Check out this ad by Nike for last year’s holiday Black Friday sale. Simple, minimalist, and succinct, it targets Nike’s huge loyal fan base. There simply is no need to announce the percentage of discounts offered, or the special promo codes to use. The ad spells out the brand’s confidence in its product and reach.

With a majority of shoppers shifting to the convenience of online shopping from the comfort of their homes, it’s a big deal to create the wow factor the minute they enter your online store. Minimalist, theme centred, and easily accessible sites perform extremely well as compared to ones with slower loading times thanks to heavy imagery or content.

Check out the Adidas ad for the same. It certainly is more verbose for one.

Another important thing to remember is to make the mobile version of your site run smoothly as over 64% of shoppers use their mobile phones or tablets to shop. If your store has a separate app, that’s great too!

Make sure your IT team is on call all through the holiday rush to immediately deal with any tech issues that may arise. You definitely do not want your customers moving on to check out another site because yours had glitches in it.

Your holiday theme can be consistent across all platforms, and you can personalize your emails to understand customer behavior better. Tracking all marketing assets can show you the problem areas customers face, or specific areas on site that lead to drop offs, and you can concentrate on fixing them before the rush hits. Introduce a loyalty program if you don’t already have one, as you can never go wrong with exclusive member only deals.

When the going gets tough, the tough get going

Remember that cringe worthy moment when your competitor put up something huge and extravagant that completely put your efforts to shame? Well, let me tell you there’s no harm in learning new things. The task before you now is to figure out how your competitor achieved their goal, and what made it so different from yours.

Did they have a bigger product marketing team working full time?

Did they throw in freebies like free shipping that you couldn’t afford?

Or was there some new technology they risked experimenting with?

The thing here is, watching and learning from peers will help you go a long way in choosing the areas you want to compete in. There is absolutely nothing wrong in borrowing ideas from a peer’s last year theme or promotions if they were exceptional.

Check out what Walmart has done for their Halloween promo!

People are going to be comparing prices left, right and centre once they start shopping. Run through the pricing offered by competitors. Try to offer Free Shipping as much as you can. Atleast at some minimum cart value.

When it’s holiday season, the tough certainly do get going. Surviving in the brutal retail landscape is no piece of cake. Earn your place by paying close attention to prices, shipping, customer experience, site design and ease of access.

The art of communication

When was the last time you successfully nailed a negotiation with your shipping partner and felt on top of the world?

Your shipping carrier will be one who delivers on your promise of an efficient last mile. No matter how great all your products and overall strategy may be, you need the guarantee of an exceptional last mile delivery to achieve the targeted level of customer experience.

In order to negotiate the best deals with your carrier, you need to know your stuff. We’re talking shipping terms, previous contractual clauses, the discounts offered to peers, and the like. If you need more information regarding negotiating shipping contracts, you can read this post.

Records of excellent profits in your previous quarters will make shipping carriers vie for your account. So all you have to do is arm yourself with the right data and kill that negotiation!

What’s the shipping plan?

First things first. Don’t ever surprise the customer at checkout with your shipping prices. Ever!

That’s just asking for cart abandonment, and that’s not what we’re aiming at.

It is definitely possible for you to offer free shipping and still make profits. You simply might not have a choice at times, especially if all your competitors are offering free shipping in their stores. Try assimilating the shipping cost into the product cost as much as possible. Or else, go for a minimum order value that would qualify the customer for free shipping.

If you’d like to know more on how to offer free shipping without going broke, you can read here.

The magic of wrapping paper

This might seem like a tiny thing, but it has proven results. The unwrapping experience is an important tactile pleasure a customer enjoys before witnessing the product that was hitherto seen only through a computer/ mobile screen.

Your packaging needs to suit whatever grand holiday plan you’ve come up with. It’s got to be strong enough to withstand the transit to a customer’s doorstep, while being aesthetically pleasing at the same time. Not asking for much eh?

If you’re packing fragile items or oversized ones, you’ll need special packaging materials. Stock up on plenty of those way before the rush hits. Buying in bulk will always be cheaper than rushing to a store after you run out of materials mid holiday rush.

Don’t crimp on the small things that let you customize/ personalize your packaging!

If you’re packaging odd shaped items, and need some help, this can help you.

Your staff could be your best brand ambassadors

How good is your rapport with all the staff on your payroll?

Feeling comfortable and happy in the workplace will help the members of your staff advocate your brand even outside. Offering special staff discounts and vouchers doesn’t hurt either.

The holiday season is when your customer support team and marketing teams are fully swamped, and you need to bring in more staff just to handle the rush. So if you can turn all your existing staff into brand ambassadors who will be well versed in handling customer queries or issues, then you can save on more than half the cost of hiring new holiday recruits.

You’re gonna be fielding calls from customers right up till day their package is supposed to arrive. Prepping all your staff on how to answer these calls or just be helpful to irate customers will be a huge plus when the pressure starts getting to you. Make sure you strategize staff training into your holiday schedule.

It all boils down to ensuring your staff have a great working atmosphere that will put them in the holiday season cheer with minimal or no effort.

Rate your shipping carrier

Alright. Time to be honest.

How would you rate your shipping partner on a scale of 1 to 10?

Wait, what criteria would you rate them for in the first place?

Yep, you’re going to need extensive data on carrier performance to handle that.

This is where services like LateShipment.com come in. You can get all the data you need to gauge carrier performance and hold them accountable. But hey, that’s not even the best part. The best part is all this data is readily available and free for any shipper who needs it!

You need to ensure that the shipping partner you choose for the holiday season is highly capable of handling the rush and working well under pressure. They form a key link between you and your customers, and providing a fulfilling customer experience depends on them.

What you can do is to divide your shipments between different carriers (either regional or domestic) depending on your varying shipping needs. Keep in mind that speed and efficiency are the things to look for, and not just economical options.

Automation is efficiency

If most of your ecommerce store’s processes are already automated, good!

If not, it’s high time you got into the automation gravy boat.

Let me give you a few instances of where automation can come in handy.

• Consider how much easier order fulfilment would become with the right set of inventory management and fulfilment tools! (for more about best automation tools/ services you can read here)
• Managing that big warehouse space becomes less of a mission impossible conundrum and becomes actually manageable when you use a warehouse management tool.
• Holiday season packaging can be more time and labor consuming than any other time of the year. Automating this process can save plenty of time and let you allocate the man power to other areas like sales where it will be much needed.

Automation, data science and machine learning can help you offer your customers the best. Say for instance, there’s a customer who tried to order a particular item from your store more than once. You could offer to help them with the checkout process. The following email also offers free shipping over $50! The customer often ends up buying more than they planned, and all that remains is to get it to ‘their doorstep on time.

Stick to timelines

As you well know, there’s plenty of holiday prep to do.

Remember that not everybody shops last minute, and a vast percentage of the population begin creating their wish lists months in advance.

All your promotional campaigns, time oriented offers and shipping vouchers should coincide with this. Analyze customer behavior from previous years, figure out when they start browsing for holiday supplies or presents, and give it to them at the right time. They’ll love you for it, and your store will gain a definite competitive advantage!

Fix the holiday timeline in advance and ensure that everybody sticks to it. Create set timings for inventory stocking, content updates, offer releases and campaigns. Everything.

This will help with minimizing cart abandonment and ensure better customer retention.

Hope this holiday checklist helps you get ready for this season way better than any other. Wishing you the best of holiday magic!

The post The Ultimate Retailer’s Checklist For Holiday Season 2018 appeared first on Lateshipment.com Blog.

What’s new with this surcharge?

As per this recent FedEx price hike, the additional handling charges for packages weighing more than 70 lbs will increase from $12 to $20. The same will apply for international express package services.

The ground unauthorized package charge will increase from $300 to $675.

What this means for retailers

This hike will be a disadvantage to several shippers, say for instance furniture or automobile retailers. These rate increases specifically target niche shippers who ship heavy or oversized products. This highly minimizes the impact (as it is aimed at only specific industries), and shipping carriers get to escape the brunt of the backlash that is usually inspired by such sudden price increases. If there are around 100 shipments in transit, and a few of them get damaged or unevenly distributed, the change in dimensional weight is inevitably billed to the shipper.

The irony is that shipping carriers try to penalize customers for mistakes, while they do not own up to their own mistakes and offer automated refunds for service errors.

In many cases, the mistake in dimensional weight billing lies on the carrier’s side but is slapped onto the customer and billed to his/ her invoice. It’s high time shipping prices became transparent and these unfair pricing policies came to an end.

The post What the recent FedEx price hike means for retailers appeared first on Lateshipment.com Blog.

Finding a shipping partner to work with is no easy task as you well know. A third party carrier takes over your shipment, and you have no control of it till the customer or the carrier gets back to you. This takes a lot of trust and research on your part I’d say. Especially if you want each customer who shops with you to have a memorable post purchase experience.

Here are 5 important factors that can help you choose the right shipping partner to suit your business.

Prices that don’t scare your wallet

That’s the first thing you look at before anything else. Does the carrier fall into your shipping budget?

Image source: Proship

Consider local carriers first as they always offer better pricing than the major carriers. What your local carrier cannot handle can be distributed between other carriers depending on their performance in specific areas. There are also services that are specially designed for retailers like DHL ecommerce that you can check out.

Apart from this, there are additional surcharges that are billed to your invoice later. So these surcharges might decide which carrier is more pricey even if their base rates are almost the same. You can read more on shipping surcharges here.

If you take an oversized package for instance, FedEx would charge $72.50 per package without negotiation. UPS charges $650 for  any product that weighs over 150 lbs!

Oversize rates are calculated by choosing either the actual weight or the dimensional weight of the product (whichever is greater), and an additional handling surcharge is applied as well.

When shipping in bulk, it is wise to make note of all these differences before choosing one carrier. The dimensional weight pricing followed by major carriers is yet another thing you need to keep in mind. It is possible to negotiate good deals even when dimensional weight pricing is in play. Consider the following example.

A baseball bat that actually weighed 2 lbs was weighed at 8 lbs based on its dimensional weight.

This raked up the shipping costs for the sports retailer.

To negate this effect, they negotiated a deal with their shipping carrier (FedEx in this case) to increase the dim weight divisor based on which they were billed.

The results were remarkable, as the shipping charge of each package was brought down by approximately $4!

This is how far negotiating deals with your shipping carrier can help optimize shipping costs.

Reliability and convenience go hand in hand

Reliability and convenience top the list if you’ve got the pricing sorted out.

How does the pick up work? Do you have to drop if off with the carrier or will they pick it up for a nominal price?

What about the specific location you’re shipping to? Does the carrier have a great track record with the area?

Here’s a graph generated from LateShipment data that shows the percentage of delays committed by carriers divided geographically.

Consider different services from the same carrier. Which one would be better for which part of your business? FedEx for instance dominates the air, while UPS provides far better ground services. Keep all this in mind before you choose a particular service type.

Check out this breakdown of delay rates based on service type.

Customer experience is everything.

The last mile is quite possibly the final frontier to conquer when it comes to customer experience. Winning it will make a lasting impression in the minds of customers, thereby providing a seamless post purchase experience.

Image Source: Hyken

Go with a carrier who has a proven track record of efficient and smooth last mile deliveries. A carrier with a solid money back guarantee in place is also usually confident about their ability to deliver on their promise.

Customers today prefer extensive tracking facilities for their packages, just as they would for an Uber. If you’re using a shipping carrier whose tracking is not that great, but has otherwise been a great fit for your business, you can go in for tracking tools or softwares. LateShipment.com provides real time tracking on all your packages across multiple carriers, and even sends in notifications to customers in case of predicted delays or changes in the delivery schedule.

When your customer support team can handle delivery exceptions proactively, there is a noticeable improvement in the customer experience front. People choose to stay on with a brand despite a few delivery mishaps when they are warned well ahead of time, given due compensations, and overall treated as a valuable customer.

Performance is key

How exactly can you rate a carrier’s performance? Comparing the pricing or contracts is a piece of cake compared to evaluating carrier performance. The immense amount of data it takes to do that is mind boggling if you’re a small business owner. This is where services like LateShipment.com can help you. Take a look at the following graph that shows the percentage of delays recorded for different industries in the US for the year 2017 (data was collected after tracking over 25 billion shipments in real time across carriers).

Depending on the areas you are shipping to, geographical data can be collected and used to determine if a different carrier should be used for specific areas. If you’re shipping to say Puerto Rico or Hawaii, FedEx would be the best idea as they deliver faster than the UPS or any other carrier to those locations. Eventually, it all boils down to the fact that your customers receive their packages on time no matter where they live. So the carrier who has the fastest and most efficient track record with that area will be the best bet even if they prove to be a little more expensive than their competitors. The following map shows the percentage of delays recorded in specific geographic locations for UPS shipments.

Using criteria like this, carrier performance can be determined and you can choose the best fit for your business.

All it takes is asking

Truly. You need to get your data ready and go have a discussion with your shipping partner regarding discounted rates for the next quarter. Carriers tend to get more competitive with prices when there is another carrier vying for your business at the same time. Collaborating any sister businesses you may have, or allying with other ecommerce stores to ship your products can help in increasing the quantity of your shipments, thereby ensuring better shipping rates.

For holiday season shipping, most carriers void the money back guarantee in your clause if you are already availing a discounted price. So make sure you negotiate a separate holiday shipping contract that would ensure the presence of the clause along with a bulk discount.

After analyzing carrier performance and negotiating prices, all that remains is to gather customer feedback on the delivery they received. The customer always comes first, and any friction in the last mile has to be resolved immediately. Finding a shipping partner or multiple ones to juggle various aspects of your shipments might seem like a truly daunting task in the beginning, but once you’ve established a good working relationship, it’s smooth sailing from there.

Hope this helps you choose the right shipping carrier for your business!

The post 5 Factors to Consider When Choosing A Shipping Carrier appeared first on Lateshipment.com Blog.

But somewhere along the way, even the best of us seem to get sidetracked by the nitty gritty of running a business. Focus on the customer gets distorted into a multitude of different things that seem to simultaneously require your attention.

If you plan on surviving the highly competitive retail space, the not- so- linear line between pre purchase and post purchase strategy needs to be revisited. The last mile has now become the ultimate hurdle to overcome for any retailer.

Image: marketoonist

Meeting customer expectations demands crafting a unique and handcrafted experience. In the age of Amazon’s one day delivery, creating an exceptional last mile experience is the way to a customer’s heart.

Technology could be the best way to do this. For when necessity arises, the gods of tech always step in.

When shipping turns crippling

One of the major areas where being customer centric becomes problematic is shipping. A third party shipping carrier takes over the shipment, and you basically lose control of it right then and there till it reaches the customer. The waiting period is made more painful if there are agitated customer phone calls demanding to know the whereabouts of a package that already seems to have been delivered according to your logs.

The only way to counter the effect of handing over the reins to a shipping carrier is to constantly monitor them and hold them accountable for their performance.  Considering the fact that your interests do not align, ensuring a great last mile delivery to every customer is something that rests on the retailer’s shoulders.

Ensuring better carrier performance

Holding carriers accountable for their performance can be achieved by filing claims for all eligible service failures committed by the carrier. This makes it expensive for them to commit errors, and therefore brings better performance to the table.

A manual audit of your shipping invoice is a laborious task (you might still miss something), so an automated audit would be the best bet when it comes to shipping. This is partly due to the fact that there are over 50 carrier errors you need to be aware of, and surcharges to add to it! Any of these might have been miscalculated or mistakenly billed into your invoice.

Considering all this, it is certainly wise to opt for an automated shipping invoice audit.

The big picture: Refunds or the last mile?

Let’s say you have an automated audit process in place. You might be using internal resources or an online tool, depending on what your business needs. The great thing about the audit would be that you don’t have to lift a finger to get the refunds that are rightfully yours. At the end of every month, you get the report along with a chunk of cash you otherwise would not have noticed you were missing out on.

Despite shipping refunds making you feel great and saving you quite a bit of shipping costs at the end of the day, the other side of the story is not that good for your business.

At the tail end of every refund you receive for a shipping carrier error, is a frustrated and angry customer whose order didn’t make it on time. Or whose order was damaged upon arrival.

When you look at it from a customer centric perspective, the joy of receiving refunds does not really cut it when an unhappy customer is on the line. Over 50% of customers rarely choose to shop from the same retailer again after a bad delivery experience. Repeat shoppers are another story altogether.

Providing a memorable last mile experience to customers needs to top your list in order to earn the trust of repeat customers and entice new customers to keep coming back for more.

The key herein is to have an eye on the refunds while your focus is on the bigger picture- the customer.

Two birds. One stone. Happy customers.

When we at LateShipment realised that the big picture was going out of focus to several retailers, we decided to create a solution that would ensure

1. Proactive prevention and addressing of last mile issues
2. Automated refunds and
3. Carrier accountability

This is how (LateShipment.com) Pulse was born. As a service, LateShipment.com strives to bring more trust and transparency to the world of shipping. This helps businesses predict and fix delivery exceptions even before they happen, working around existing shipping strategies.

The value of predictive softwares can possibly be measured only in proportion with increased customer retention per se. What makes this a wonderful resource for any retail business is that it equips more than one team to handle both customers and revenue.

The customer support team for instance, could be on top of all the orders that require immediate attention, and notify customers when a delay becomes inevitable. Or even send in a replacement for time sensitive deliveries when the predictive software shows that a delivery is not going to make it on time for that party!

The fulfilment team benefits from a predictive tool too. The data collected on the shipping carrier becomes a valuable resource to analyse and compare performance rates between carriers. It also comes in handy when negotiating prices with your carrier.

As for customers, it will not turn into a case of blaming the retailer for the carrier’s error. If informed well in advance and kept in the loop, their brand loyalty only tends to increase. They can also time their availability to collect the package, so that multiple delivery attempts are avoided.

Your business gets those coveted repeat customers, along with extensive data on the shipping carrier you use, plus the refunds! I guess that’s technically three birds then.

How Pulse works:

Like I said before, Pulse is our real time tracking dashboard that keeps track of multiple shipments (it tracks over 25000 packages at any given point of time). The tool uses around 150 data points to predict the course of any package that might deviate from the set path. Some of the major features of Pulse include,

1. Real- time tracking across multiple carriers on a single dashboard
2. Predicting delays beforehand
3. Pinpointing orders that require immediate attention
4. Estimated number of returns at any given time
5. Notifying customers in advance regarding delivery exceptions

When the customer comes first, the customer will last.

We realise that putting the customer first is vital to the success of any business (in theory). Bringing it to practice is an entirely new ball game. Not only does it require extensive strategic planning on your part, it also involves paying attention to the needs of a customer.

When it comes to shipping, around 60% of customers expect fast delivery options which they are willing to pay for. This makes it all the more critical for retailers to step up, proactively fix delivery issues, and explain the situation beforehand in case of unavoidable circumstances. Customers appreciate being informed and kept in the loop even if the there is a slight change in the schedule.

Your focus should therefore be on the trail of unhappy customers left behind each refund you retrieve, and not solely on the money. The revenue from returning customers will more than make up for the reduced number of shipping refunds you receive.  

Minimizing the number of claims you dispute will automatically increase the number of repeat customers and help in building a loyal customer base.

The post The BIG Picture: Think Beyond Shipping Refunds and Claims appeared first on Lateshipment.com Blog.

Slowly but surely, Green technology has infiltrated almost every field there is. Including logistics.

A notable example would be DHL’s attempts to stem the production of greenhouse gases in all its operations with DHL Go Green, in accordance with the Kyoto Protocol.

The Kyoto Protocol is one of the treaties signed by over 192 countries to reduce the level of greenhouse gases emitted by their respective industrialized nations. Incidentally, Germany is one of the nations who have ratified the set target of bringing down emission levels, while the US has not ratified.

DHL’s Go Green Initiative

The global logistics giant not only officially commenced its new Mybill (an e- bill instead of the traditional paper bill), it has also stamped a $3 fee on every paper bill that is requested. This new regulation implemented from July 1, 2018 clearly shows the company’s take on opting for a more environment friendly choice of billing. Customers are encouraged (or subtly pushed) to choose the electronic billing option unless they are willing to pay extra for a paper bill.

The  Deutsche Post DHL group which was founded in Germany has been built on the foundation of environmental awareness and contributing to the well being of the planet. This might explain why they have become the first logistics company to take up the mantle of bringing down the level of GHG in all their logistics operations. The company went so far as to purchase the electrical vehicle manufacturer Street Scooter in 2014 to produce its own vehicles that used clean energy sources. Full operations are expected to begin in the second quarter of 2018.

Image source: DHL

Here’s what the company does to help the climate change program:

• Calculates all transport related emissions of carbon dioxide and other greenhouse gases (when a client opts for DHL Go Green), and provides a comprehensive carbon report.
• The carbon report maps all emissions from the DHL network, and is also featured on an online carbon dashboard that can map emissions upto individual shipment level.
• Issues annual certifications for public use and authorized third party verification for emissions.
• A multitude of other environmental options suitable for businesses like waste management, extended producer responsibility and lead environmental partner.

Image source: DHL

Climate change goals

Complete transparency and reliability are assured by DHL in optimizing carbon emissions, and creating a green logistics sphere.

These are the future goals for DHL Go Green that have been delineated by the company.

1. As the 2020 goal of 30% reduction in GHG emission was achieved earlier in 2016, a new goal of 50% was set for 2025.
2. The long term goal is to achieve zero emissions logistics by 2050.
3. Employ electric vehicles and bicycles to bring down local air pollution in the last mile by 70%
4. Make more than 50% of customers’ supply chains greener by helping them incorporate Green solutions.
5. Join partners to protect our forests by planting one million trees every year.

     Image source: DHL

The environment friendly Mybill

DHL has now begun aggressively pursuing its goals of nudging clients towards an environmentally sustainable future. The environment friendly Mybill has the following advantages:

• Paying invoices online across multiple payment options
• Email notification for new invoices
• Reviewing payment history online
• Dashboard that can track all DHL accounts
• Select individual items on invoice for further details

You can find more information on Mybill here. 

DHL can be commended for its notable efforts to approach the logistics industry in a manner considerate to burgeoning environmental needs, and trying to influence the supply chain industry to do the same. Innovation and implementation have gone hand in hand for this logistics company, and in doing so they have raised the stakes for other US based major shipping carriers like FedEx and UPS. Stay tuned to see what DHL’s competitors are willing to do with the ball in their court.

The post Green Logistics: DHL Treks Toward Zero Emissions 2050 appeared first on Lateshipment.com Blog.

According to the Walker Sands report for 2018, free shipping has become a major deciding factor after Amazon set the standards high.

Image Source: Walker Sands

Retailers have been forced to climb aboard this bandwagon irrespective of the damage to their bottomline (what with soaring shipping prices and additional charges).

Contrary to what it may seem it, this certainly isn’t the end of the world. Here are three strategies that will help your ecommerce business offer free 2 day shipping without going broke.

1. Free shipping on orders above $X

This is one of the simplest ways to hold on to your profit margin and still offer customers free shipping.  One, this encourages customers to choose high-value items. Two, they end up adding a few other items to their cart in order to qualify for free delivery. Adding personalized suggestions of lesser priced items that are related to the purchase during checkout can make it easy for customers to make up their minds about qualifying for the free shipping option. This also drastically minimizes cases of cart abandonment.

Adding the shipping cost to the product cost can be helpful in the case of items with a low-profit margin. On items like jewellery where the profit is mostly over 50%, it doesn’t put a dent in the retailer’s pocket when free shipping is provided.

Apple, for instance, offers free shipping on any order above $50 on all products except the customized Macs.

Image Source: Apple

Pros:

1. The difference between product profit margin and shipping cost is usually negligible for most items
2. Encourages customers to buy more
3. Brings down cart abandonment

Cons:

1. Results in losses when too many minimum value items are ordered in bulk

The following study by statista shows the actions taken by digital shoppers in the United States to qualify for free shipping as of February 2017

Image Source: Statista

Around 48% of customers add items to their cart with the sole intention of qualifying for free delivery, and 44% choose even the slowest shipping option if it’s free. Imagine the edge you can gain by offering free and fast shipping!

2. Got an exclusive membership?

Offering a customer loyalty program or exclusive membership is another strategy that can even out your free shipping option. When you offer free 2 day shipping across all products for an yearly or monthly membership, it ensures that customers do not go in search of competitor sites in the interim and are happy about the exclusive benefits availed through the membership.

With stores like Walmart and Target joining the ranks of Amazon in offering exclusive membership programs to qualify for free and fast shipping options, smaller retailers can see if the same works well among their target audience.

Image Source: Amazon

Pros:

1. Customer retention will be at its peak
2. New customers will be lured by the prospective benefits available to members

Cons:

1. Non members may be persuaded to try other sites if the membership cost is too high
2. The membership price must be calculated precisely in a data-based manner, otherwise losses cannot be controlled during the middle of the membership period.

3. Promo codes and free shipping offers never go out of style

When you’re trying to build an extensive customer base, you can provide limited period free shipping during the holiday season, or free shipping promo codes based on certain criteria like past purchases, referrals or social media advertising.

Some of the high-end retailers who have increased online sales over the last year by offering free shipping for limited periods include Macy’s, BestBuy, PetSmart, Rent the runway, Instacart, and Wholefoods. Deliv has enabled Shopify retailers like Nordstrom, the Outnet, Farfetch, Bloomingdales, Saks Fifth Avenue and net- a- porter to offer same day shipping at nominal prices. These stores do offer promotional vouchers for free shipping that would increase customer turnover.

Image Source: Macy’s

Pros:

1. The exclusive treatment increases level of customer loyalty
2. Word of mouth advertising and referrals would increase
3. Site visitors during free shipping offer times can become recurring customers

Cons:

1. When there are no offers on shipping, new customers rarely shop
2. Cart abandonment can rise if shipping cost is totalled during checkout

In a highly competitive retail landscape, etailers and multichannel retailers alike need to up their game in order to stay ahead of competitors. If all your competitors are offering free shipping options, then you simply cannot afford to stamp a price too high at checkout for shipping costs. Try integrating the cost of shipping into the price of the object so that you need not compromise too much on shipping costs.

Free shipping does not necessarily mean fast shipping, but not delivering on the promise of the last mile can be a major setback for your business. Holding your shipping carrier accountable by constant monitoring of shipments and claiming refunds for service errors can help in demanding a superior delivery performance across the last mile.

The above strategies can be used to stay ahead of the curve and create a loyal customer base for your ecommerce website. Follow a (or create your own) shipping strategy that will suit the products you sell, the consumer base you target and will set you apart from the competition.

Deliver a superior last mile experience along with the free 2 day shipping and watch your profits grow. Here’s to winning the last mile!

Related Post:

Is your business overspending on shipping?

Compare Shipping Rates of USPS vs UPS vs FedEx vs DHL in 2018

The post Best 3 Ways to Offer Free 2 Day Shipping Without Going Broke appeared first on Lateshipment.com Blog.