As we continue to find ways to live in the pandemic, eCommerce is becoming more common and prevalent. Technology continues to find ways to evolve, whereas government policies and regulations have a huge influence on the way people consider eCommerce shipping solutions. With time passing by, businesses are changing, especially those related to retail outlets or online stores. According to a survey, around 51% of the people find it difficult to conduct in-store shipping during the COVID-19 pandemic.
As is proved from the survey, people are becoming more inclined toward online shopping to conducting their preferred eCommerce shipping strategies. They have started looking at the best eCommerce websites on the internet, making it easy to search for their preferred eCommerce products. This change in behavior within the customers is expected to have a long-term evolution in the eCommerce marketing trends.
What is Ecommerce Shipping?
Before we look into the best shipping solutions used by the customers, it is important to know what eCommerce shipping strategies actually are. They are defined as the methods that enable you to ship products to your customers’ doorstep. It involves all the shipping choices/options required to conduct a purchase in an online store. Nowadays, how you ship eCommerce products and the way it is received by your customers has a huge influence on their satisfaction score.
Image taken from Strikingly
Consequently, we can say that shipping eCommerce products also involves securing your product via firmly sealed packaging. This also means that you must have a shipping partner that takes care of your product and packaging integrity. Product packaging has a massive influence on your shipping strategy and the customer experience. A reliable website builder, such as Strikingly, enables you to add shipping preferences as part of your online store. It allows the customers to go through the checkout process efficiently.
Best Shipping Strategies
1. Store Pick-up
The store pick-up option is one of the few eCommerce shipping strategies that can only work when you have a physical store for your customers to access. This fulfillment procedure of ordering products involves your preparation of the customer’s order and giving the green signal when it is ready for pick-up. As the payments and transactions take place online, the only thing left is your customers picking the product from your physical store. Even though this process is pretty old-school, it still contains a few benefits, such as:
- Zero shipping cost
- Minimum shipping time
- More buying or orders taking place
- Minimum checkout hesitations
Strikingly enables you to add store-pick up as a shipping option in your online store. Through this shipping and fulfillment option, you can the address of your physical store and when customers can pick up their orders. After the checkout, this will also remove any shipping costs.
2. Shipping on Same Day
As you can guess by the title, this is one of the most common eCommerce shipping strategies globally. When you ship products through this option, your customers are expected to receive that product on the same day as it was ordered, or they had paid. This shipping policy needs you to have your products ready to go alongside a reliable and trustworthy shopping service partner.
Alternatively, your physical inventory and online store are in sync. With this shipping option, you can also provide your customers with the facility of cash-on-delivery payment. If you go by same-day shipping in your online store, you are expected to have the following benefits:
- Door-to-door service
- High probability of positive customer feedback
- Expenses to ship eCommerce products can be passed on to the customers
- Improved customer loyalty
3. Shipping Free of Cost
Free of cost shipping is arguably one of the most favorite eCommerce shipping strategies. Because this shipping procedure is free of cost, it has proven to improve customer satisfaction scores and turnout. Customers welcome the idea of not paying a penny for shipping their products. You can create a specified schedule for shipping your products. If you include this shipping option on your online store, you are expected to have the following benefits:
- Increased online sales
- Increased eCommerce orders
- Minimum abandoned checkout carts
- Improved customer satisfaction score
By adding this option to your Strikingly store, you will set a certain number of orders that your customers would have to accumulate. When going to the checkout procedure, your customers will see the option of free shipping. Free shipping will also enable you to convert your customers into repeat customers.
4. Live Rates
Sometimes, the exclusivity in the online store may also prove pivotal in the customer’s decision to buy a particular eCommerce product. This is precisely the case with live rates. This is one of those eCommerce shipping strategies in which you charge your customers depending upon the courier’s rates in the original time. However, this strategy isn’t popular with the marketing trends because the retailers find it difficult in their marketing advantages.
5. Flat-Rate Shipping
Flat-rate shipping is a common option for shipping products. If you have flat-rate shipping as part of your eCommerce shipping strategies, you want one specified rate when shipping eCommerce products. For those who don’t know, regardless of the weight and size, the product's price remains constant. However, you have the tendency to add external shipping flat rates for further products. The benefits of flat-rate shipping are as follows:
- Fixed shipping rates
- Consistent shipping time
- Cheap, especially for local shipments
- No need to measure the size and weight of the product all the time
Image taken from Strikingly.
Strikingly enables you to add flat-rate shipping to your online store. You can decide upon the flat rates for every first order or additional item on the order list. Furthermore, Strikingly allows you to accommodate changing flat rates as per the location it is to be delivered. This would also help you manage specified areas that you can deliver to.
6. Expedited Shipping
Expedited shipping is one of those eCommerce shipping strategies that takes around three to five days for domestic shipping and around a couple of weeks for international shipping. Through this shipping option, your customers can get their desired products earlier than the expected date, ultimately generating positive feedback.
Image taken from Strikingly
For every eCommerce store on the internet, positive feedbacks have a huge influence on their shipping orders. If you have a strong reputation, you will see an increase in your shipping orders. If not, people will look into other eCommerce websites. Even though this shipping option costs more than the standard version, it is worth it because customers can get their product quicker than their expected date. By having an expedited shipping option in your simple store, you are expected to have the following eCommerce benefits:
- Improved customer service and high satisfaction score
- Product safety
- Improved customer loyalty
- Minimized checkout carts abandonment
Implement Multiple Shipping Options on Strikingly
Just like many of the website builders online, Strikingly is a firm believer in eCommerce shipping strategies. As a result, we allow our users to include multiple shipping options in their simple store. For example, we enable you to implement standard and expedited shipping in your simple store. By doing that, your customers will have the chance to select one during the checkout procedure. Moreover, you can also create one option for standard shipping and expedited shipping. It is important to note that this feature is only available for Pro users and above.
Image taken from Strikingly
If you want to add a shipping option to your simple store on Strikingly, you must go through the following steps:
- On your Strikingly website editor, click on “Store” before going to “Shipping”. This page will have several shipping choices
- Make sure that you click on “Add Shipping Option”
- You must finalize your shipping rule, region, rates, option/choice name, and shipping guidelines as shown above
- Once you are done, click on “Save” to activate the option
Conclusion
Shipping and fulfillment are two things that are very easily taken care of by the top website builders globally, such as Strikingly. As an entrepreneur, you would require all the accessibility of the top website builders in implementing your eCommerce shipping strategies and bringing your products to your customers' doorstep. You must not let them down with your pricing strategies and product quality as far as the customers are concerned.
Image taken from Strikingly User’s Website.
As an entrepreneur, it is your responsibility to have the same level of concern and dedication related to your eCommerce product when delivered to your customer’s house, just like it is in your online store. Strikingly believes that building an excellent eCommerce website is an effective solution for shipping eCommerce products. If you have issues related to developing your eCommerce website, make sure that you consult with our Happiness Officers right away. So, sign up on Strikingly today and get access to all the features related to online shipping.
