words Al Woods
Running a business online has its advantages and disadvantages. To start on the brighter side, it can prove to be a cost-effective and convenient way to do business.
Another pro is that you don’t have the physical restrictions that operating out of a brick and mortar building brings. Having said that, just because you have the convenience of working digitally, it doesn’t make it easy. One of the greatest challenges that e-commerce business owners often face is the cost and hassle associated with shipping. If this is something you’re struggling with, find a few tips on cutting the costs below.
1.) Negotiate with Multiple Carriers
When looking for a way to reduce shipping costs, start by negotiating with multiple carriers. Never take the price of a single carrier at face value as most of the time, there’s an opportunity to negotiate a better deal. To negotiate better shipping terms, start by doing your research as this should give you an idea of what the average cost of shipping is and how much lower you could possibly negotiate.
Understanding what affects the cost such as conditions of the road or the amount of gas used to deliver the item, for instance, is also equally important. This is because it can help you negotiate the cost based on certain factors as opposed to trying to beat down the entire cost as a whole.
2.) Consider Drop Shipping
Another way to reduce shipping costs in an e-commerce business is to remove it from your control altogether. You can do this by choosing to drop ship using platforms like Oberlo which means that the manufacturer would be responsible for preparing and delivering the item instead of you.
Not only would this save you time and money, but it would also eliminate your need to store products. If you don’t yet have a product you want to sell and you’re wondering what to sell on Oberlo, choose something that is an immediate need to people. This way, you’re sure that there is a demand and you can focus your efforts on marketing.
3.) Stick to a Schedule
You can’t control when a customer orders your product, but you can put a system in place for when the order is delivered. To reduce shipping costs for your business, stick to a schedule for outgoing shipments. For instance, you could decide that you’ll schedule one or two days a week for shipping so you aren’t paying for several days at a time. Your goal should be to make sure customers get their products in the shortest time possible without you being at a loss.
4.) Invest in Prepaid Shipping
Prepaid shipping is another viable option to reduce the amount you pay to ship your products. In case you’re not sure how it works, you buy a quantity of shipping labels upfront and put them on packages that need to be sent out as opposed to paying for each package when you send it out. However, this works best when you know the weight you’ll be shipping out each time and can figure out the shipping cost in advance.
