How to Optimize eCommerce Shipping and Fulfillment

How to Optimize eCommerce Shipping and Fulfillment

by | Jan 31, 2019 | eCommerce

shipping and fulfillment

Your eCommerce shipping strategy can make or break your business. As eCommerce revenue has increased and online shopping has flourished, shoppers have upped their standards for shipping speed and price. Amazon Prime set the standard for shipping policies with their free two-day shipping—this means today’s consumers expect a similar service. If you aren’t meeting their expectations, another competitor (like Amazon) will.

A 2018 study conducted by Pitney Bowes found that over 50 percent of online consumers were disappointed with the shipping and fulfillment service they received last holiday season. With so much dissatisfaction in a very competitive marketplace, there is a ton of opportunity for eCommerce merchants to increase their sales and customer base by providing stellar shipping and fulfillment services. So, how can merchants accomplish this?

Have Clear and Accurate Policies

The name of the game when it comes to eCommerce is convenience for the consumer. Consumers like to shop online because it is easy. However, online shopping can be risky for two reasons: customers can’t see the product before they buy (besides a few photos), and they don’t know if the product will arrive at their address safely and in good condition. Clearly stating the shipping and return policies on your website is the best way to build strong consumer confidence. If they are confident in the services being offered to them, they are far more likely to buy rather than abandon their shopping cart.

Offer Free Shipping

eCommerce is a competitive market. To gain a leg up on the competition, consider offering free shipping, if your business model will allow it. In the same 2018 Pitney Bowes Study, researchers found that over 90 percent of consumers said they would abandon their carts and leave a website that did not offer fast and free shipping.  Although a huge deciding factor in the customer’s decision-making process is the shipping price, the speed of delivery greatly matters as well. If possible, add an estimated delivery date (EDD) to product and shopping cart pages to put last-minute shoppers at ease.

Be Aware of Shipping Changes for 2019

Each year, shipping carriers review their pricing and make adjustments to their shipping rates depending on the economy, fuel costs, and industry demands. 2019 is no exception. USPS, UPS, and DHL Express in the US have increased shipping rates for 2019—be sure you factor in these changes when planning out your shipping strategy for the year. Here’s a breakdown:

  • UPS (Effective December 26th, 2018): UPS Ground will increase by an average of 5.2%, UPS 2nd Day Air will increase by an average of 7.2%, and UPS Standard (to Canada) will increase by an average of 1.8%.
  • USPS (Effective January 27th, 2019): First-Class Package Service will change to zone-based pricing. That means the cost to ship will be determined by both the weight of the package and its destination. Previously, the package weight solely indicated the cost.  Balloon pricing for Priority Mail will be eliminated. Balloon pricing previously applied for packages weighing up to 20 pounds with a size between 84 to 108 inches in combined length and girth when shipping to zones 1-4. Now, the actual weight will be the sole factor in deciding the price. And finally, First-Class Package International Service will increase by an average of 3.7%.
  • DHL Express in the US (Effective January 1st, 2019): Retail prices will increase by an average of 5.1% for their DHL Express Worldwide shipping service.

What ShipperHQ Can Do for Shipping

ShipperHQ, the world’s #1 storefront shipping management software, provides eCommerce merchants with the tools necessary to streamline the shipping and fulfillment process. With the power of ShipperHQ, eCommerce merchants can:

  • Surcharge or discount your live and custom rates
  • Set rules or restrictions based on conditions like geographic zones, specific products, and price, weight, or quantity filters
  • Hide specific rates on conditions you choose
  • Set promotions for a specific range of time
  • Ship products from multiple warehouses or dropship vendors
  • Ship products that need to be delivered on a certain day
  • Set max time in transit for certain items so you can deliver perishable goods

*ShipperHQ is compatible with Magento 1 & 2, Woocommerce, Shopify, and Zoey.

Let’s Talk Shipping

In the competitive online marketplace, there is a ton of opportunity when it comes to providing high-quality shipping and fulfillment service. Contact us to learn what the power of Magento can do for eCommerce merchants everywhere.

What Are Successful Auto eCommerce Merchants Doing to Stay on Top?

What Are Successful Auto eCommerce Merchants Doing to Stay on Top?

by | Jan 24, 2019 | Automotive eCommerce, Digital Marketing, eCommerce

auto eCommerce

2018 marked massive growth of Automotive eCommerce and merchants, as they are now selling everything from parts, to accessories, to services for both B2B and B2C buyers. Automotive eCommerce is no longer a niche segment, it’s a rising standard.

As we enter 2019 and automotive eCommerce revenue continues to grow at an exponential rate, more and more merchants want to reap the benefits by launching their own websites. Expectations for these sites are high as competitors are improving their sites every day.

So how can new automotive sites compete with already established merchants? Following some of these basic rules is a great start.

Product Listings must be Clear, Visible, and Detailed

Automotive eCommerce shoppers tend to be passionate and well-informed. They know what they are looking for and if they can’t find it on your site, they will move to the next where they can. This is why proper SEO techniques and rich product content is crucial. This tactic will increase product visibility across browsers and marketplaces, improving a brand’s presence as well as offering a competitive edge.

To ensure visibility, be sure to include searchable keywords in the title, such as the manufacturer name, type of part, and the reference number. Craft detailed product descriptions and feature reviews beneath product to establish credibility and build trust. Also, be sure to include crystal clear, high-resolution images that allow for zooming in and enlarging (check out our Automotive Images Guide for more helpful tips).

Mobile Friendliness and Adaptability is Top Priority

In the modern world of eCommerce, a mobile-first strategy is required. Customers are shopping via iPhones, Tablets, Androids, Macs, and the list continues. When building a new eCommerce website, this type of functionality is imperative for success. Analyze how your site looks on all types of devices, and note any discrepancies or disabled functionalities.

Consider Offering Free Shipping

Though shipping can present an issue for automotive merchants (due to the size and weight of the products), many successful automotive merchants have found ways to offer free shipping. Whether that be after a minimum order threshold has been met, or as part of a promotional offer, it is something merchants should consider when analyzing their checkout process. High shipping costs are commonly the cause of abandoned carts – so if you can offer free shipping, even for a portion of your catalogue, you should.

Provide Value Through Kits and Bundles

Bundling allows merchants to sell more product while also satisfying customers. You can test out what products sell best with others, or offer a Buy One Get One (BOGO) promotion on certain products. Some merchants are including features such as “recommended products” or “related products” that appear beneath a product listing, to keep the customer enticed and buying more. The more buying options that are available to the customer, the faster they can make a purchase that is right for them.

Navigation Must Follow the Customer Experience

Navigation is crucial to automotive eCommerce because inventories tend to be extensive and associated with the make and model of certain vehicles. More often than not, site visitors won’t waste their time trying to encrypt confusing menus or unclear navigation. This presents a dilemma for merchants: how should your site be organized? Our main message is this: data should fit the customer experience— not the other way around. Consider how a customer actually shops, then construct a process that follows those steps. For more information on navigation for automotive eCommerce, check out this blog.

Allow Customers to Create Accounts

Encouraging customers to create accounts is a great way to improve the overall customer experience. It streamlines the checkout process because customers can save their billing information or quickly reorder something they previously purchased.

Additionally, because automotive eCommerce shoppers tend to be enthusiasts, allow them to gain points for their purchases or enroll them in some sort of reward system. It will build loyalty to your brand and provide an incentive for customers to continue shopping there.

Our Automotive eCommerce Experience

Our experience in the automotive eCommerce industry has given us insights into the challenges merchants face as well as the successful trends many are utilizing. If you need assistance with your automotive-focused eCommerce site or require help with marketing, contact us today.

2019’s 5 Biggest eCommerce Trends

2019’s 5 Biggest eCommerce Trends

by | Jan 17, 2019 | Digital Marketing, eCommerce

eCommerce Trends

As technology continues to get better, so does the eCommerce shopping experience. Below are a few trends in the world of eCommerce that we are tracking in 2019:

1. Smaller Merchants Moving to SaaS Platforms

Just a few years ago, some Software as a Service (SaaS) eCommerce platforms were around but generally lacked the necessary tools and functionality to be full-featured and reliable enough for many eCommerce merchants to consider. Now, technology has evolved enough that SaaS is slowly becoming the new standard.

This year, more smaller eCommerce merchants are likely to make the switch to SaaS platforms for a variety of reasons. For one, this model makes for a much simpler process for small businesses to manage—merchants can access the entire platform via the web. SaaS platforms provide other benefits too, including faster (and typically automatic) site upgrades that are included in the monthly fee and the need for less in-house tech support since the provider managers the underlying platform. Additionally, some merchants who originally chose an open-source platform such as Magento years ago may decide to move over to a SaaS solution, rather than upgrade to Magento 2

2. Competitor Analysis, Redefined

Over the years, defining exactly what and who a competitor is has become more complex. There are: traditional product line (category) competitors, organic SEO competitors, paid listing and advertising competitors, market share competitors (think Amazon), and disruptive competitors that sell only the cutting-edge products that will potentially replace what are being sold today.

This means that when considering tactics on how to compete with other merchants, it is important to benchmark against them from that same tactical space. In 2019, the competitive landscape has shifted, and we have admittedly seen many retailers that haven’t been able to keep up. Often times this is due to having an incomplete or inaccurate picture of who a given merchant’s competition really is.

It’s even possible that the merchants stealing your market share aren’t the ones selling the same stuff as you but are actually in the same boat!

3. A Greater Focus on Capturing Channel & Third-Party Customers

From a trends point-of-view, Amazon, Google, and other third-party sellers are a double-edged sword for online retailers. Having products on Amazon can generate high-volume sales, but can also expose merchants to competitive scrutiny like price undercutting and extreme profit margin pressure.

To counteract this, merchants are now looking for ways to get customers to buy directly from them instead of through the third-party channel. This allows merchants to circumvent the extremely tight restrictions on package inclusions that third-party channels often enforce. Additionally, merchants are offering products and formats like bulk pricing on their site that aren’t offered elsewhere. This leads to better SEO and greater visibility while reducing dependence on third-party channels, both of which will make this a growing trend throughout 2019.

4. Emphasizing Delivery & Fulfillment Marketing

Thanks in large part to Amazon, the new delivery standard customers have come to expect is 2-day shipping. This has forced eCommerce merchants large and small to rethink their delivery and fulfillment strategies in order to compete. But don’t worry—there’s still a variety of ways to do so other than lightning-fast delivery.

Look for many companies to put a greater emphasis on their packaging styles this year. Instead of opting to send customers their product in typical brown-box packaging, eCommerce merchants are getting a leg up on the competition with more colorful, exciting designs. This trend allows merchants to further customize their customer’s experience as well as to differentiate themselves and stand out from other businesses.

eCommerce Trends

Additionally, more merchants have started including printed promo inclusions inside the packages they are sending. This promo can be anything from 20% off a customer’s next order to a free sample of another product. These inclusions can help assuage the low satisfaction a customer may feel in a delivery experience that takes longer than expected or can be used as just another way to keep customers satisfied.

5. Rethinking Page Layout

In an effort to simplify the customer path-to-purchase and overall user experience, many merchants have begun to completely rethink how their webstore is laid out. In a market as saturated as it is today, merchants know that they need better product photography, more unique product descriptions, and better filter options for customers to be happy on their website. 

Put simply, merchants are making the move to a simpler purchasing experience for their customers (which can be harder than you might think). Businesses that learn to make the purchase process simple will see greater conversions and greater customer satisfaction with the order experience.

2019: The Year to Try Something New

2019 is poised to be an exciting year with big changes in the world of eCommerce. These trends are currently helping shape the strategies of merchants both of a large and small scale. Want to talk about applying some of these techniques to your eCommerce business? Contact our team of experts today.

January 2019 Orange Report: eCommerce & Digital Marketing Tips

January 2019 Orange Report: eCommerce & Digital Marketing Tips

by | Jan 17, 2019 | Past Newsletters

JANUARY 2019 ORANGE REPORT

For this month’s Orange Report, we’re sharing a few of our best and most recent blogs that speak on all things Magento, eCommerce, and Digital Marketing. Like always, we encourage everyone using Magento to make the most of its functionalities by incorporating the very best Magento extensions and news.

SIGN UP FOR THE ORANGE REPORT

Everything you need to know about eCommerce, digital marketing, and Magento.

The 5 On-Site A/B Tests Your eCommerce Business Should Try

Ever wonder how a user experience change on your site would affect conversions, but afraid to wreck your existing customer path-to-purchase? In these cases, a tool like on-site A/B testing can be a valuable asset for businesses to utilize.

your subscribers or determine if it’s time to move on.
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The Automotive eCommerce Guide to Navigation and Images

The best Automotive eCommerce sites keep it simple. This guide details how to break down the complexities of an auto site in a way that appeals to customers.


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How User Intent Can Impact Website Traffic

No matter how good your SEO strategy is, your website visitors won’t stay long if they don’t find what they’re looking for fast. Determine the intent of your website’s visitors to better curate content for them.

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The 5 On-Site A/B Tests Your eCommerce Business Should Try

The 5 On-Site A/B Tests Your eCommerce Business Should Try

by | Dec 27, 2018 | eCommerce

Ever wonder how a user experience change on your site would affect conversions, but afraid to wreck your existing customer path-to-purchase? In these cases, a tool like on-site A/B testing—a way to compare one template style to another—can be a valuable asset for businesses to utilize. Even better is that most eCommerce platforms have built-in features allowing merchants to A/B test relatively easily. (If your platform doesn’t, there are plenty of extensions available for testing, too). The A/B testing ideas listed below will help you understand what your customer’s preferences are when it comes to the layout of your website as well as what gets them to select and ultimately purchase a product. Whether you’ve just begun to look into the benefits of A/B testing and are ready to try it for the first time or you’re an expert looking for additional ways to tinker with your website, these tests will help you discover how to best present your website to your customers.

1. Showcase a Prominent Sales and Specials Section

Many online shoppers only end up making a purchase if an item is discounted or at a special price. Making it easier for these shoppers to find the items on sale on your website can be a great way to increase conversions. On your website’s homepage, consider adding a sales and specials section that highlights the best deals your website has and encourages customers to act fast before it expires.
Even if the “on-sale” sale section on your homepage only provides a link to the actual discount page, it still serves as a faster, more efficient way to point customers in the direction in which they may be already interested in heading.

2. Try a Wide-Appeal Products Section

If your homepage isn’t currently being utilized in a way that emphasizes your best-selling products, testing a section that does just this could be helpful. Be sure to include great, enlargeable product images with clear pricing. You can also encourage quick purchases by including an ‘add to cart’ button for each product being showcased.
Testing a best-selling products section is one of the most surefire ways to encourage purchases and increase conversions. Customers life to buy products they know other customers have bought.

3. Make the Search Bar More Prominent

If your website has a vast variety of products, chances are you likely already have an on-site search function in place. However, if that search function isn’t visible or prominent enough, customers may have a hard time using it. You may want to test out a different size or location for your website search bar to see if it makes a difference.
A well-located search bar can help your customers have an easier time locating the products they were looking for, leading to an increase in purchases made.

4. Display a Benefits Bar

If you’re looking to add a bit of an edge against the competition for your eCommerce business, consider showcasing your benefits at the top of the home page. Many companies using this feature to tout any current free delivery deals, discount codes, reviews, and loyalty programs.
If you decide to test out a benefits bar, make sure to include only the most important aspects that set your business apart for shoppers.

5. Live Chat Assistance

Nearly 44% of online shoppers report wishing they had live chat assistance in the middle of a recent purchase. If your business has the personnel bandwidth, try adding the feature to see if your conversions increase as a result of this quick assistance. Not only do chatboxes help with customer service and conversions, but they also serve as a means to build your brand and receive feedback (read more here).
Ideally, set up the live chat assistance feature as a widget that floats somewhere on the side of your website and that can be clicked on to expand. This way customers will be able to use the live chat whenever they need to.

Create a Better Website

These A/B test ideas should help you understand your shopper’s online habits better, allowing you to better cater to their preferences. We recommend rolling out these tests incrementally instead of all at once so you can truly measure how each feature is performing without overwhelming your shoppers with new additions. For any additional help crafting the best website experience possible, be sure to contact our team of experienced developers and solution specialists today.