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How to Reduce Shipping Costs
Nov 15, 2021 by Kitty Wong
Current Situation
In the past two years, the pandemic has had a strong impact on our daily lives in many ways. For example, it ignited one of the strongest small business booms in history. While it is undeniable that a lot of startups, ecommerce, local and small businesses are benefited by the new normal, statistics also show that they are facing a spike in shipping costs. According to McKinsey (2021), it now costs up to six times more to ship a container from China to Europe than it did at the start of 2019.
Retailers seldom talk publicly about shipping because it is the not-so-glamorous side of a business. However, shipping cost does hugely affect your balance sheet, and the quality of the courier you choose directly impacts the customer experience. Currently we are in the peak seasons of courier shipping (August to October) as retailers are stocking up goods for the upcoming holiday season, thus prices of shipping are at an all time high. This is why we would like to share a few hacks on how to reduce shipping costs.
Tips to Reduce Shipping Costs
1. Be smart when charging shipping
2. Compare carrier options
Avoid sticking with the same carrier, whenever possible businesses should compare and change their carriers based on price, delivery speed and promotional offers. Carriers have seen an incredible rise in their profit margins since the start of the pandemic and offer extremely competitive prices that are constantly changing in different regions. Therefore, it is important to compare and use the most economical carrier options for each region you ship to.
3. Composition and weight of packaging
Generally, carriers will charge you according to the dimensions and weight of your package, hence it is important to always optimize the size and weight of your package before shipping. This can be achieved by using lightweight recyclable packaging materials and reducing empty spaces in your package. If you cannot reduce the size or weight of your package consider cutting cost by purchasing packaging materials in bulk to offset the surplus you are paying on shipping costs.
4. Always ship at discounted volumes
| Most carriers will offer discounted shipping prices on reaching a certain volume of orders, these discounts scale with the volume of products being shipped. So it would amass a large cost saving to ship out a large number of orders at the same time. This can be set-up by conducting flash sales on your online store when you want to hit the volume for discounted shipping. |
5. Choose flat rate shipping on larger orders
For large orders, always choose flat rate shipping if the option presents itself. Flat rate shipping simply means that the price of shipping each parcel is the same regardless of the weight and dimensions. This will certainly save you a lot on shipping costs, especially if you are supplying large orders prior to the holiday season.
6. Source with Sourcy
At Sourcy, we don’t charge any sourcing or service fees. Enjoy worldwide door to door deliveries. We pride ourselves on our shipping policy, where we will find a product for you within 2 working days and deliver it straight to your doorstep within 7 days after you place an order. Along with that, if our products have any quality issues that don’t meet your expectations, a 100% refund will be provided. So source from us today and reduce your costs risk free!
If any of the above shipping tips help you out, be sure to let us know. To try out our services, visit us at Sourcy. You can check out our extensive lifestyle product catalogue featuring a limited-time launch discount right now, or try our free customised sourcing service by uploading a picture of the products you are interested in and we will find them for you.
We look forward to sourcing for you.
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