Choosing the RIGHT Shipping Strategy for your Store

Posted on January 17, 2018 by admin

As some of us start to reconsider our various business strategies for the year, one area we should critically examine is our shipping process.

Unknown to most of us, we lose customers every day due to ridiculous packaging and shipping fees. A lot of customers might like your products, heck, the product’s price might even be enticing, but in the end, these would-be customers leave your store for another.

What could be the problem here?

The answer……

INSANE SHIPPING FEES!

So, today, I’ll be dishing out some key strategies we can use to keep customers from leaving. Without further ado, let us dive in!

FREE SHIPPING

The whole idea behind the free shipping offer is to bait your customer and seal the deal. Having said that, we wouldn’t want to be offering free shipping while it cuts into our profit margins, this is counterproductive and can be detrimental to business. So, when offering free shipping, we should ensure that we are doing it the smart way.

Free shipping is usually good for domestic orders. When you offer free shipping, you are taking up some of the costs, as there is really no free shipping, in reality, someone has to pay. You can lessen the burden by slightly increasing your price.

Also, you may try to optimize your free shipping to be available for a minimum amount of orders OR a certain kind of product. This would definitely spike your sales, NO DOUBT! Combine this with the proper advertisement of your products and your free shipping offer, and you are guaranteed to be smiling to the bank! This is a proven success formula.

CHARGE YOUR CHARGE

Okay, this sounds a bit confusing… let me break things down.

Charge your charge just means you charge your customers what you pay for shipping. i.e., you are operating on a real-time shipping setup.

Store like Shopify offer these services, and it can be a lifesaver.

You make use of real-time shipping calculators and charge your customers based on what is actually happening; this would help build trust between you and your customers, as it would show that you have a transparent operation and that you don’t hike your shipping fees to rip off your customers as many other people do.

Although it is not as persuasive as free shipping, operating this way would enhance trust and let your customers know that they are getting the best deal!

FLAT RATES

Another method to working out shipping prices is to offer flat rates. Here, you can propose flat rates for every package, or flat rates for weight ranges and order totals. Using this method means you have to be on your toes, you must know the average shipping price for shipping a package. You must be conversant with this figure and any changes to it so that you don’t overcharge or undercharge your customers.

A lot of successful stores use this method, but one thing you should know is that every business is different so what works for one might not work for the other. So look at your product’s statistics and figure out which method works best for shipping and pitch your tent there.

Want more information on some AMAZING shipping tips and tricks?? Then hurry and check out our video courses right here.

Have a great week!

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Last Wall Comments

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Cyril says at 23:14 et

What do you suggest for product quality inspection?

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Spider Fuji says at 21:18 et

I have a question to Amazon, not to you guys... Does Seller support have a number I can call?

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David says at 21:18 et

You can get direct support through seller support.. Use the contact seller support link at the bottom of the page and request response by call back, they will call you if it is an issue which can be dealt with on the phone. Also I found following Amazon.com 866-216-1072
877-251-0696 206-266-2992 Cust. service Seller support

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Elena76 says at 21:22 et

UPC? what's that code? better to buy from original or from resellers?

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Uncle Sam says at 21:23 et

UPS is Universal Product Code A barcode used for tracking trade items in stores. It usually has 12 numerical digits, which are uniquely assigned to each traded item (GS1 US). You can buy it on speedybarcodes and other sites.

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Julian says at 21:23 et

OMG!! today i see ... part of my inventory seems missing? what to do?

Claudia says at 21:23 et

Go to Inventory > Manage FBA Shipments and check if they were received correctly by warehouse? if not, file a report and amazon will research and investigate and credit you for missing or lost units. Finally, check to see if there have been any recent inventory adjustments by using the Inventory Adjustments Report and check to see if there are any ongoing warehouse transfers using the Inventory Event Detail Report.

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Ray says at 21:26 et

How can i do a basic photo setup without paying too much for professional fotographer??

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Ted says at 21:26 et

a) in case of BIG products like umbrella, put 2 chairs and white sheets and take your photos, then remove background in photoshop
b) in case of small products use white BOX-setup like this http://imgur.com/a/VcRVM

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Dr. Jam says at 21:39 et

Any great FBA podcasts to hear?

Claudia says at 21:39 et

Check Resources. Scott Amazing Seller is top one!

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daniel says at 17:08 et

i'm new to FBA, whats ungating thing??

Claudia says at 17:08 et

Daniel, there are actually quite a lot of them including watches, jewelry, health and personal care, grocery, collectibles, beauty, automotive, clothes and accessories, and also luggage and travel accessories. So all these categories are selling really well. That’s why, guys, a lot of people are trying to get ungated and approved in these categories. And, obviously, the best of the best are those three: grocery, health and personal care, and beauty categories.

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Tyro Meg says at 17:09 et

In the past, it was actually very easy to get ungated. The requirements are different in each category, but in general, what you need is to provide commercial invoices, and I really mean commercial invoices and not receipts or so-called pro forma invoices

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Gab says at 17:09 et

Those invoices must be dated within the last 90 days and they must have your name or business name on them, they must have contact information of your business address, phone number, email, and website, and must have names of the products that you purchased, and of course, they must have documents issuer name, address, phone number, and email, and website. And you can obscure pricing information if you want.

Claudia says at 17:10 et

I am preparing a new video about UNGATING!

Claudia says at 17:10 et

but I need to be honest with you, guys, as of time of the recording of this video, it’s no longer easy anymore and your real chances of ungating are around 15-20% only.

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Tyro Meg says at 17:11 et

There are a lot of so-called ungating scams on Amazon. Those services are offering you guaranteed ungating for like $400 or $300 payment, but you need to understand that there are no guarantees and nobody can influence Amazon’s decisions

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tom says at 23:53 et

Just got ungated....only took two weeks....had to get an invoice from the manufacturer and a screenshot of the FDA registration from the manufacturers account...

Claudia says at 17:13 et

if you are just starting out, I would highly recommend that you first avoid categories that require ungating, all of these categories. So there are thousands of thousands other categories that you can start selling in so there is no shortage of categories and most of them don’t require any approval or ungating. And then, if you really want to scale up your business and you want to really grow, then you can start ungating process if you already have success of other products in other categories.

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Alice says at 17:15 et

I agree Claudia, i would stay away from ungating if you are new to this and go whitelabelling and don't have your own brick and mortar

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Victor says at 15:03 et

My problem is I am selling too fast and often run out of stock... Should i rise prices to slow down or let it run out of stock?

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chris says at 15:03 et

Dont rise prices it will lower your BSR and ranks... Run out of stock swinging and refill fast!

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Alice says at 15:04 et

forecast.ly and cashcow pro will help you manage inventory and plan better! hope it helps!

Alexander says at 04:18 et

When choosing a niche should I stick to single kind of product like memory sticks for example, or should I have different kinds of products on my shopify store?

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Mike says at 04:20 et

Here is a post i made about it https://sellslikehotcakes.co/blog/index.php/2017/03/30/everything-store-vs-niche-specific-store-better/

Andres says at 04:42 et

Hello new one here.....Is there a video on how to choose your product and niche?

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Mike says at 04:43 et

Of course Andres, a big part of both Shopify master and Amazon FBA video course is devoted to it, please take your time to watch!

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Kylie says at 08:54 et

welcome Andres... there is also a new cool tool with automatic daily ideas for the product that sells well, called Garlic press smasher
http://sellslikehotcakes.co/garlic_press_smasher.php

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Mike says at 09:01 et

Yes, for example today

Idea of the day:
Acorn Chrome Lug Nut and Lock System (1/2" Thread Size)
(Selected automatically. Come back tomorrow for more product ideas)

Sales Statistics:
Total sales volume of top 10 sellers / month: 3463 (Recommended 3000+)
On Average top 10 sellers are selling 385 units per month. (Recommended 300+)
Reviews: top 10 sellers have average 277 reviews
Average price of the product from top 10 sellers: $31.25 (Approximate FBA fees: $6.25)
Top 10 sellers approximate average gross profit per month $12846.11

Claudia says at 12:02 et

right, new idea every day!

wade says at 05:00 et

I know that combating procrastination is an important common theme here – But I think maybe you guys have forgotten how intimidating and overwhelming some of this is. Yesterday for about 6 hours I was really going though some negative emotions – Thinking no way this can work and no one is going to responded to these products I am putting up – What took me out of this funk was 1) the fact that I am starting this business for very little money 2) the realization that doing something I least had a better shot and making it than I had doing NOTHING – Might sound simplistic but that’s the edgy thinking it took for me. I think what maybe the more experienced folks here have disregard is how over whelming it can be when you can latterly chose ANYTHING for you shopify niche and product line – that is awesome and daunting all at the same time….. God I hope I get the White label level soon …LOL One last thought fear of success and fear of failure seem to go hand in hand and feed off of one another…

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adam says at 05:02 et

Wow well said Wade. I went through similar hardships when starting out... What if people don't buy my product? What if it's too late? But then again what do I have to lose? It's not like i am investing 100,000 into this.

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Rob says at 05:03 et

Good Luck Wade! You are on the right track just by giving it a try. 99% of people fail because they never start and give it a chance.

Jimmy says at 03:41 et

Hi, may I know why my price in Shopify will change automatically for itself?

Jimmy says at 03:41 et

I think the price has changed because of the vendor change their price in Aliexpress, may I know how to solve this problem? Thanks.

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Rob says at 03:41 et

If you use the apps such as OBERLO to link alixpress to shopify then you can set auto update of the prices in the settings of oberlo!

Jimmy says at 15:36 et

Ok, noted with thanks.

Bill says at 08:19 et

So Im new....still doing research for a niche...what I'm finding is using the Hotcakes competitor spy tool, when I do find something that I might like to sell I find out the competitor didn't get it from Aliexpress. This happens more often that not with the biggest Shopify stores. What other dropshipper might they be using?

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Mike says at 08:20 et

It does not have to be only Aliexpress. Check the local dropshipping supplier video, you can also find local suppliers!