We’re smack in the middle of the busiest shopping season of the entire year. This time of year is a huge opportunity for e-commerce businesses to get ahead but only if you play your cards right.
Shipping and delivery have a massive impact on your business. It can often mean the difference between a sale lost or a sale won.
Here are the top three shipping tactics you should consider implementing right now!
Free Shipping
While free shipping isn’t exactly an original idea, it is crucial. Whether we like it or not free shipping is an effective way to boost sales and that’s just the truth.
In fact, according to Invesp, “9 out of 10 consumers say free shipping is the top most incentive to shop online more and orders with free shipping average around 30% higher in value. 93% of online buyers are encouraged to buy more products if free shipping options are available whereas 58% of consumers add more items to cart to qualify for free shipping.”
If you’re not offering free shipping you’re alienating customers and losing out on sales. Unfortunately, as business owners, we know that free shipping isn’t really “free” at all. There are two main ways to recoup the costs though.
- Increase the Product Prices: Customers would rather pay more for your products than to pay for shipping. Raising the prices of your products can help you pay for that “free” shipping that customers love so much.
- Minimum Order Free Shipping Offer
Another way to recoup shipping costs is by requiring customers to meet a minimum order amount in order to earn free shipping. This also allows you to increase your average order value so really it’s a win-win.
Clear Returns and Exchanges Policy
A big consideration for customers doing their holiday shopping is your returns and exchanges policy. You should already have a clear policy in place but if not, there’s no time like the present to establish one. You want your customers to feel secure in making a purchase.
You might even consider creating a temporary, extended holiday return policy. Nobody wants to risk having a family member stuck with a gift they don’t like or can’t use. A holiday return policy can give a customer the peace of mind they need to purchase.
Here are a few things to consider when developing your return policy:
- Who pays for return shipping?
- Which shipping carrier should you use?
- How long do customers have to make a return?
- What condition do products have to be in for a full refund?
Offer a Variety of Shipping Options
Having a variety of shipping options is extremely helpful for shoppers trying to get orders where they need to be on time. For some customers, standard shipping will do just fine and can help them save a bit of money. But for shoppers trying to find the perfect last-minute gift, expedited shipping options are a must.
The majority of customers will still use standard shipping but having those options can make a real difference.
Another thing to keep in mind is making sure you process orders quickly. If a customer pays for overnight shipping they expect the order to arrive the next day. If it takes you one, two, or three days to process orders your customers won’t be happy.
In fact, 49% of shoppers say that same-day delivery makes them more likely to shop online. In addition, 61% of consumers are willing to pay more for that same-day delivery. So if you’re not already offering these types of shipping options, it’s something to think about implementing ASAP.
The Takeaway
This time of year it’s crucial to get your shipping tactics right. If you can do this it’s possible to attract more customers and increase sales. These are just a few of the shipping tactics you should consider implementing ASAP. It’s understandable though that order fulfillment can get overwhelming during the holidays but here at Ship Central we can help.
At Ship Central we’re a third-party e-commerce order fulfillment company. We can get you on-boarded in 24 hours and start shipping for you within just a few days, the process really is that easy.