Take on the competition (and win!) with these eCommerce shipping strategies
In a world where the customer rules, small and medium-sized businesses need to get innovative with their eCommerce shipping strategies to compete with the big names.
While smaller brands have the advantage of being able to offer more personalised customer service, with automation creating more options, consumers have a growing appetite for flexibility when it comes to shipping options.
Regardless of the size of your online store, customers will hold it to high standards, and these days that means low-cost or free shipping is a necessity.
If you’re a small or medium sized business, multi-store shipping can help you take on the competition – and win!
Why you need multi-store shipping
For many retailers, selling products from multiple locations is a good way to increase reach and drive sales. Whether you’ve got a bricks-and-mortar shop as well as an online store, or have expanded to sell your products on marketplaces like Amazon, eBay or Etsy, multi-store shipping is vital. It will help you easily and efficiently distribute your products to a bigger audience, as you grow your brand and make more sales.
Stores, stores, stores
When you sell from multiple stores, a shipping solution is invaluable. Just imagine the nightmare of trying to consolidate all those different orders yourself! A solution like Shippit brings all of your sources together, simplifies their management, and makes it easy to optimise your processes from multiple locations.
Single store
Even if you haven’t yet expanded beyond a single store, there’s still a lot of value in a personalised shipping solution. Cloud-based shipping platforms like Shippit integrate directly with your eCommerce platform, meaning you can fulfil orders and track shipments anywhere you are, anytime you like. Plugging into a network of carriers means you can offer multiple delivery options and drive more sales.
Ship from store
Ship from store offers a whole new way of getting your products to customers and keeping your inventory moving. And according to Forrester Research, it’s a trend one in three brick-and-click, omnichannel retailers have already adopted.
The Ship from store method treats each store as a mini distribution centre so that you can seamlessly send items from any location. With its simplicity, flexibility and scalability, ship from store is an attractive option for small and medium-sized businesses to boost the customer experience through low-cost, fast delivery.
Shippit provides cloud-based services and individual dashboards, so each location can stay on top of the fulfilment process to ensure the shortest and most cost-effective route for every single order.
Better stock turnover, better efficiency, and better inventory management
Not only does a ship from store strategy open up your on-the-shelf stock to a whole new online market, but it also leads to an increased efficiency in inventory that can, in turn, improve your entire ordering and inventory management process.
Ship from store also removes the need to stock inventory in a warehouse or distribution centre, by sharing inventory across your retail locations. This may mean you can carry less inventory overall, and experiment with lower minimum quantities.
Tackle the challenge with Shippit
That’s not to say that shipping from store is without its challenges. In order to reap the rewards, you’ll need to put the effort in to effectively manage your stock across multiple locations. A shipping platform like Shippit can make this process easier and remove the frustration of trying to do it all yourself.
There’s lots of room for small and medium retailers to stand out with flexible, fast and cost-efficient shipping from store, and with delivery powered by Shippit you can simplify and save, using multiple delivery options at checkout to turn your shipping into a competitive advantage.
