8 Common Ecommerce Shipping Mistakes To Avoid In 2020

Product Shipping is one of the most essential parts of an eCommerce business. If you are a savvy e-retailer then you might be knowing about the importance and workload behind the shipping process. Ecommerce Shipping is not just about packing the box and delivering the product to users. There is a lot of physical work done after an eCommerce website receives a new order. 

Today, Many woocommerce store owners are committing small shipment mistakes that are affecting their business. Remember your e-store next product order depends on your previous shipment commitment. If you are planning to start a new eCommerce or already have one then it’s better to identify the mistakes carried out by eCommerce business owners. 

Avoiding these mistakes will surely help you to outperform your competitors.  To become successful in the eCommerce business you have to flush on your customers to provide an amazing overall experience to your customers. 

Therefore in this article, we will be discussing the common shipment mistake done by eCommerce business owners.  If your small or medium-sized business is among them, then this article will surely help you to find the shipment mistakes your eCommerce business is committing. After those mistakes, you can easily resolve it by making some changes to it. 

If you are looking to boost your woocomerce sales then check our article on 11 Tips To Boost An WooCommerce Website Sales In 2020

Here are the common WooCOmmerce shipment mistakes carried out by many small businesses: 

1. Not converting manual shipment process  to automated shipment process

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With the world shifting to automation it’s time to shift your manual shipment process to automated shipment process. Many small and medium-sized enterprises commit a mistake by handling their shipment process manually.

Shipping eCommerce products manually requires a lot of effort and it is a time-consuming process. Manuals can take your whole day to generate shipping labels. There are chances that you can commit some small mistakes that can affect your eCommerce business. 

To overcome these small mistakes you can automate your woocommerce shipping process. Shifting to automated shipping processes can save your time and it will also help you to automatically generate the shipping labels after every order. Using an automated shipment process you can optimize your customer’s experience by providing better tracking options and more. 

There are various third-party extensions and plugins available like WooCOmmerce shipping & payment, DHL express shipping, easypost and more in WordPress that can help you in automating your shipment process. You can download and integrate the woocommerce shipping plugin with your eCommerce store to automate your shipping process. You can also take advantage of the print label feature in woocommerce to save your timing. Using these plugins you can customize your invoice and packing slips to make it look more attractive.

2. Not creating effective shipment strategy

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A shipment strategy plays a crucial role in making an eCommerce business successful. Many small and medium-sized eCommerce businesses avoid creating the strategy for their woocommerce store. But they forget that creating a strategy will help them in deciding the best time to offer free delivery to their customers. 

Many eCommerce businesses think that providing free delivery is the best shipment strategy for an eCommerce store. You should know that every customer doesn’t look for free delivery. There are groups of customers who are ready to pay for the delivery of the shipment that arrives sooner. And there are groups of customers looking to schedule their delivery.

So, every customer has different shipment requirements, some mat life fast delivery, few may like free and secure delivery. If you want to be successful in the eCommerce industry then it is recommended to spend some time and create an effective shipment strategy for your woocommerce website. 

3. Not allowing the customer to select the shipment option 

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If you want to outperform your competitor then your woocommerce store needs to provide various shipment options to their customers. Every customer has different requirements, some may look for free delivery, some may look for fast delivery and there are group customers who like schedules delivered depending on their availability. 

According to a recent report, more than 80% of Americans prefer to go with free delivery that arrives within 7 – 10 days. And 19% of the customers are ready to pay for the fast delivery.  By providing various options you are giving access to large groups of customers to select their shipment type depending on their comfort. 

So, if you want to optimize your eCommerce store services then start offering different eCommerce shipping options to your customers. These types of practices will help you to boost your website sales and revenue. 

4. Not delivering the product on the committed shipment day 

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If you are new to the eCommerce industry then you should know that product estimated delivery time plays a crucial in persuading your customers to buy products.  A customer depends on the displayed estimated delivery time. It assures them that they will get the product delivered within the displayed delivery date. That’s why it’s important to mention the accurate estimated delivery date on your eCommerce website. 

Today almost every shopper makes their purchase depending on the estimated time displayed on your product page. If your website is showing a late delivery date then your potential customer may look for the same product on your competitor’s website. But if you are displaying estimated delivery dates within three days and if you are failing to deliver the product. Then your customer may never come back to your eCommerce website.  

Most of the small-medium size eCommerce businesses face difficulties in displaying the estimated delivery date due the extra holidays, weekends and more. So to overcome these problems you can either do it manually (a time-consuming process) or you can opt for woocommerce plugins to calculate the estimated delivery time. There are several plugins available like Order delivery date for woocommerce, product delivery date for woocommerce and more that can help you in calculating the estimated delivery date of a product.

5. Not packing the product properly

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Another very common eCommerce shipment mistake carried out by many eCommerce businesses is sending products with improper packing. Remember your product packaging reflects your business identity and reputation. If your product packaging is failing to impress your customer then they may never come back to buy any products in the future.  

Today with the increase in the number of online shoppers, complaints about product shipment and packaging are arising. Many customers are complaining about receiving damaged products due to improper packing. These types of small mistakes can make your customer frustrated which will directly affect your woocommerce website sales. 

If you want to avoid packaging mistakes then you need to understand that every product has different shapes and sizes. That means depending on the size of the product, you should have the proper packaging equipment like boxes and protective cushions to pack those products. Even for small products, you should be careful while packing and shipping those products. 

There are chances that improper packing can damage the product and your customer will never show interest in receiving the damaged products.  Damages not only affect customer acquisition but it also affects your revenue. Whenever a product is damaged either the e-store or the shipment carries have to pay for the product. And most of the time shipping carries point out improper packing to be the reason behind the damage of the product. 

A small mistake can affect your store sales, customers and your revenue. If you want to succeed in the eCommerce industry then you should know that your product packaging affects your next order. If your packaging fails to impress your customer then they will never return for any future orders. 

So, try to avoid product packaging mistakes and make your customers happy by delivering the product at the right time without any damages. If you are facing difficulties in solving product packaging issues then you can consult with your shipping carrier about the packaging process. Determine the size of your product and depending on that you can pack your product. 

6. Inaccurate product weight   

Talking about the weight of the product, many eCommerce businesses depend on the product weight to know the actual shipping cost of the product. A small difference in product weight can affect the final shipping cost. These types of issues occur when a customer purchases multiple products. 

Today many eCommerce businesses round off the weight of a product to make the shipping process simpler. If you ship a single product then it will not make much of a difference.  But when it comes to shipping multiple products together then the difference in weight troubles eCommerce business owners. 

Not only that, but many eCommerce businesses are also dependent on the roughly estimated weight of the product. the real problem during the product shipping time when the weight of other materials like boxes, protective cushions and more add up. 

Instead of using an estimated website, you can consult with your shipping carrier about the weight policies and depending on that you can determine the actual weight of the product after shipment. It will also help you to determine the exact shipping cost of the product. 

7. Managing shipment tracking manually 

Many small businesses are committing a common mistake by handing their order tracking manually. A small business targeting local cities can get product orders between 100 -200 / per week. Managing these many orders annually can confuse you in providing the right tracking ID to your customer. This type of practice can affect your business badly. 

A manual process involves generating shipment tracking id for each order then sending it to your customer. To avoid all these, you can shift your business to an automated shipment process where you can get accurate tracking id automatically for every product shipment. It will also help you to automatically notify your customer about the shipment tracking details and ID. 

8. Depending on Single shipping carrier 

If you are operating a medium or large scale eCommerce business then it is recommended to select multiple shipping carriers for your woocommerce store. Depending on a single shipping carrier can impact your business and amaze your relationship with your loyal customer. 

Most of the time businesses operating in different countries face issues using single shipping carriers for their business. For example, if your eCommerce business is targeting a specific country then it’s good to go with a local courier service. But many times these courier services fail to deliver products in different countries on time compared to international courier services like DHL, FedEx and more. 

So, if you want to outperform your competitor then opt for multiple courier services that can deliver your product on time without any delay. You can select the shipping carrier depending on factors like their flexibility, scalability, geographical area and their reputation. You can also download WordPress plugins like woocommerce multi-carrier shipping and more to handle the multiple shipping carriers. 

Conclusion

So, if you want to run a stress-free eCommerce business then it recommends optimizing your product shipment process. Your e-commerce website may help you to attract more customers but your product shipment will help your woocommerce store to get the next order form the same customer. Optimizing your shipment process will also help you to improve your customer experience which will improve your reputation and sales. 

You can use all the above tips to improve your e-store shipment process. Implementing this tip will assist you in rectifying the shipments mistakes carried out by many of your competitors. Remember small mistakes in your shipment can directly affect your eCommerce business reputation which may result in loss of money. That’s why it is recommended to analyze the mistakes carried out by your eCommerce store and always learn from your competitor’s mistake.  

Frequently asked questions:

1. How to set up eCommerce shipping options in woocommerce? 

If you want to set up shipping for your woocommerce store then you can do while setting up your woocommerce wizard or you can go to your WordPress dashboard -> Navigate to woocommerce -> click on seating. In the top menu, you can find the Shipping option, Click on it and determine the shipping zones. Remember always display the accurate information of your store in the (store setup option) it helps woocommerce in calculating the actual cost of shipping depending on your location and your customer’s location. 

2. How do I calculate woocommerce shipping costs?

You product Dimensional weight and size help Courrier partner in calculating the cost of the shipment.  If you want to know how to calculate DIM (dimensional weight) then you can multiply the length, width, and height of the box, then divide it by the standard DIM divisor. Many company losses there that’s why it is recommended to use boxes for your product wisely. If you are shipping small products then use the boxes depending on the size. A small difference in weight can make you pay for the extra shipping charges.

3. What is a flat rate shipping method? 

Flat rate shipping is a type of product shipment method where the product shape, weight and size is not considered. One single flat rate is charged for every product shipment. Many eCommerce businesses are using flat rate shipping to ship their products as it is a cost-effective method. You can use a flat rate shipping method for your marketing strategy to attract more customers to your store. 

4. What is the difference between flat rate and standard shipping? 

If we talk about flat rate shipping then it allows eCommerce store owners to ship all the items at the same price if the package is meeting shipment carrying requirements. In flat rate shipping, there are predetermined delivery dates that cant be changed until you shift that package to priority shipping.  Whereas in Standard shipping the cost of the product depends on the package size weight and other measures. In Standard shipping, you can use an urgent shipping option to deliver your products faster to your customers.

5. Can I ship a flat rate? 

Yes, you can, many shipping carriers are offering flat rate shipping for eCommerce businesses. For example, USPS offers flat rate shipping for all items fitting into their pre-measured boxes. If you are looking to ship your product on a flat rate then it is recommended to check courier partner’s terms and conditions before opting for their services. 

6. How can I reduce my shipping costs? 

There are various options available to reduce the shipping cost of your products. Using the below tips you will be able to save additional charges that you are paying to your courier partner. 

  • You can negotiate with various shipment carrier to select the best and cheapest carrier for your eCommerce store 
  • Use the packaging materials provided by your shipping carries. using your packaging material can add an extra-dimensional fee.  
  • Shift to automated shipment process
  • You can use prepaid shipping to reduce your shipping costs. Many courier services provide additional discounts to eCommerce businesses paying the product shipment cost in advance. You can get up to a 20% discount if you go with prepaid shipping. 

7. Is DHL cheaper than the USPS? 

Many factors define the shipping cost of the product like the item value, dimension of the product, weight, distance and more. Compared to DHL, USPS offers more affordable shipping rates. If you are running a small eCommerce business and confused between selecting the right courier partner for your store then it is recommended to go with USPS.  

8. How can I improve my woocommerce shipping process? 

Various ways help your woocommerce store to improve the shipment process like: 

  • Use proper documentation while shipping your products 
  • Make sure that you communicate with your warehouse team for every product packing and dispatch.
  • If you are using a manual shipping process then shift to an automated shipping process. 
  • Try to maintain good communication with your courier service partner 
  • Use proper tool and technology to locate your product shipment 

9. How do you organize the shipping and receiving process? 

If you are looking to organize your shipping and receiving process then you can start with managing your shipment handling team. You can divide your shipment handling team into two groups. The first group can have all the details about the outbound orders. Your second team can manage the shipment receiving process. And my sure that all the staff working in the product packing and dispatching department are well connected with your shipment handling team. 

10. What are the different shipping methods? 

There are various shipping methods available that you can use to dispatch your products: 

  • USPS First Class
  • USPS Priority
  • FedEx OverNight 
  • USPS First Class International
  • UPS Two-Days
  • FedEx Express 
  • FedEx Ground
  • USPS media mail