If you are in an ecommerce business that must deliver a product to a customer, you know how changes in postal rate increases can really hurt your business. You don’t need a small business loan calculator either to figure out that the more you charge in shipping, the harder it’s going to be to compete against the brick-and-mortar stores that may carry the same product. If there is one thing more that customers hate worse than taxes, it is shipping and delivery fees. They add no value to the product they get and yet it is a cost of doing business that you have to take into account. There are ways to manage the costs, if you sell online, but it will be up to each business owner to decide what works best for them.
Include Shipping Fees
If you decide to include shipping fees in the price of a product, be sure you mention them before the checkout process so they don’t come up as a nasty surprise. Try to keep them to a minimum by using media mail or bulk mailing processes that can reduce costs.
Discount Shipping Costs
You might want to offer coupon codes for discounts on shipping for the next orders to get customers to purchase again. You can send them to repeat buyers who have already bought a lot in the hopes they’ll buy some more.
Free Shipping
You can see at what price point you can offer free shipping and just eat the costs as a normal part of doing business. Maybe you can give free shipping with orders over $50 and anything below has to pay shipping.
Avoid Shipping
One smart way that ecommerce business owners deal with shipping costs is to avoid it all together. You can do this with software that can be directly downloaded from the Internet or e-books that can be read online or via am e-book reader. Think outside the shipping box and you stand to make a greater profit while achieving the ultimate in customer satisfaction – instant delivery.