Shipping costs are a particularly high expense for retailers. Neglecting them or not taking them into account in the overall cost optimisation strategy risks reducing the overall profitability of the business.
While customer behaviour has changed significantly with the digitalisation of e-commerce, the demands in terms of shipping are increasing, and with them the costs. It is important to carefully study and optimise them in order to improve the performance of one’s business.
Optimising costs for e-commerce
Last mile delivery or logistics is a primary parameter that consumers consider before they shop online. As a result, it has a considerable impact on customer acquisition and loyalty rates.
However, it turns out that shipping costs are very high. Constraints and developments linked to online consumption, such as delivery times, packaging, insurance and parcel tracking or customs formalities add to these costs. It isn’t easy to provide free shipping or reduce the costs, given their importance.
This does not stop delivery costs from being a great differentiating factor. By reducing them you can attract new customers and promote customer loyalty. The challenge for the e-merchant is therefore to charge consumers little or nothing without having to bear the brunt of it. And the solution to this is to optimise costs.
Read more: 3 innovations in e-commerce logistics
The importance of measuring and understanding costs for a good return on investment
The first way to optimise your costs is of course to know them. And in this context, the expenses to be foreseen are possibly:
- packaging
- conditioning,
- shipping rates,
- storage costs and
- handling,
- customs duties and taxes,
- Returns management,
- after sales service…
In a second step, the key is to know how to measure them. Investing is inevitable. But to obtain a good ROI, the rule is to increase revenues while reducing costs.
As such, compulsory expenditure items must be chosen carefully. One of the tips for reducing some of them is, for example, to choose a mail item, if the items are not bulky. Since the price of the shipment will actually depend on the weight, size, destination and dispatch countries or insurance, this option remains the most advantageous in terms of costs.
Read more: How to improve e-commerce logistics
Know the rates according to the provider:
In order to keep up to date, we have selected the sites with a regular and updated report of the different parcel shipping rates. They are well-known and reliable partners to ensure the delivery for an e-commerce activity.
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Improve the customer delivery experience
Whatever the circumstances, it’s strongly recommended to control and even eliminate certain cost items. This is particularly possible with the Boxia solution, which minimises product returns and delivery incidents.
These events, which are known to generate significant logistical and commercial costs. Proactivity and anticipation are the main advantages of our online parcel tracking tool. By notifying customers at all stages of the delivery process, after-sales service management is less demanding and the related costs are automatically reduced.
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Boxia is a tool that allows online retailers to inform their customers in real-time throughout the delivery process and therefore reduce the number of calls and e-mails to their after-sales service by up to 40%. Boost your customer satisfaction with a unique and effortless delivery experience. Contact us now for more information or to see a live demo of our platform!
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