It can be challenging and expensive to find ways to grow and scale your business. After all, it takes a lot of maintenance just to keep everything running smoothly. Luckily, there are a few ways to expand your selling potential, house more items, and fulfill more orders without breaking ground on a new warehouse. With a few workflow improvements and new processes, you can grow your business and save money.
Reaching International Customers
Finding new customers doesn’t always require radical new marketing initiatives or buying a bigger booth at a trade show. One option is to add a few resources into growing your business internationally. We found that 65% of merchants did not expand internationally in 2022, and they don’t plan to in 2023 either. However, there is a lot of growth potential in entering new markets. Even if you follow other merchants’ lead and ship internationally into familiar markets like Canada or Europe.
As Taylor Smith of Zonos puts it, “When expanding internationally, it is critical to maintain high-quality customer service and avoid costly delays. Retailers must take care not to overlook compliance and regulatory requirements and be sure to provide accurate classification and detailed descriptions for products delivered cross-border. Accurate product data ensures happy customers and avoids compliance concerns.”
Take the Guesswork Out of International Shipping
International shipping is more affordable than you may think, it’s also easier. You don’t have to be an expert in international law to sell items to customers overseas. All you need is a shipping partner that simplifies international delivery. GlobalPost does just that. With their US-based fulfillment centers and global network last-mile delivery partners, you can ship internationally. When you print a GlobalPost label you’ll see that it’s shipping to a US address. When it arrives at that fulfillment center, they’ll create the necessary customs documentation, print out the international label, and send it to your final customer.
“Successful merchants in the U.S. understand that revenue growth can be as easy as allowing access to customers outside the U.S. Statista found that the average order value of an international sale was $147. That’s 17% higher compared to an average domestic sale.”
Felix also recommended following these simple five steps when expanding your business internationally.
- Start with Canada. Canadians love goods from the U.S., and they are our largest trading partner. Proximity is such that delivery times can rival that of an East Coast to West Coast delivery in the U.S.
- Start with DDU. DDU, or Duties delivered unpaid means the customer pays for duties and taxes. Starting with DDU simplifies the checkout process and takes some of duty and tax calculations off the merchant.
- Use a reputable shipping application provider. Using a provider like ShipStation will ensure you are providing all the required fields for international shipping.
- Properly describe your goods. Simply saying ‘shirt’ is not enough. Instead, be more descriptive like ‘100% cotton t-shirt. This will make it easier to pass customs with fewer issues
- Do a little research. Take a peek at what others are offering for the same product in other markets. International customers tend to pay more.”
How Warehousing and 3PLs Save Money
When it comes to the size of businesses we surveyed, 57% of the merchants have their operations based in a single warehouse. Furthermore, a majority of businesses surveyed are the sole occupants of their warehouse space.
According to ShipStation data, for merchants with a single warehouse, the addition of a second warehouse can decrease their average shipment distance by over 70%. Of course, keeping track of one warehouse is a lot of work. So if you’re not ready to break ground on new warehouses, options like 3PLs and dropshippers can provide you with sales growth with less overhead expenses.
Sales Engineer Bill Peden of SKuVault explains, “Margins are dwindling, which means inventory visibility and data-driven decision-making are more important than ever.” He continues to explain that, “having multiple warehouses can be great for larger businesses because they can save on shipping, but most sellers aren’t equipped to manage multiple warehouses. Instead, many businesses use third-party fulfillment options (like FBA, WFS, and 3PLs) or leverage manufacturers and suppliers themselves as fulfillment options. Businesses want to be in touch with their end customers, and using suppliers as a fulfillment option enables a smaller footprint and greater efficiencies.”
“Scaling merchants get smarter about shipping from multiple warehouses. This shrinks the distance between warehouse addresses and the end consumer, saving time and money. It enables merchants to deliver goods in 2-3 days with ground shipping. This empowers them to incorporate fast and free shipping without losing money on every order.”
How to Grow Your Shipping Strategy
ShipStation put this guide together to help merchants scale operations, save money, and reach new customers. That’s what we’ve always done and will continue to do. While this guide provides you with information about consumer behavior and competitor workflows, it would be empty if we didn’t also provide you with solutions. We can help you save up to 89% on label fees, streamline and automate shipping, and help integrate new partners and solutions into your shipping workflow that fills in all the gaps.
Use Fast, Affordable Shipping Options
Shipping software without a network of affordable carriers is like a sports car with no engine. Thankfully, ShipStation partners with the world’s most trusted carriers. These partnerships provide you with a simple way to buy labels and manage multiple shipping accounts with a single source known as ShipStation Carrier Services.
ShipStation Carrier Services lets you access savings of up to:
- 89% off USPS® retail prices*
- 82% off UPS international service*
- 77% off UPS® Ground*
- 73% for UPS 2nd Day Air® service*
- 72% for UPS Next Day Air® service*
- 78% off GlobalPost Economy*
- 81% off DHL Express Worldwide*
*Rates are limited to shipping from the continental U.S. only. These rates and discounts exclude shipment origins from Hawaii, Puerto Rico, and Alaska. Rates and any applicable discounts are subject to change at any time without notice and are estimates based on comparisons to publicly available retail rates.
Shipping Confirmation That Keeps Customers in the Loop
Shipping confirmation emails have some of the highest open rates of any type of email. In fact, we found that 42% of consumers want tracking updates daily, regardless of whether or not the shipping status has changed. Right behind that at 37% are those that want to get updates at major milestones in the delivery process (shipped, delivered, etc.). ShipStation offers both shipping and delivery confirmation emails that provide all the item, delivery, and branding information you expect. Best of all, instead of linking to a carrier’s tracking page, ShipStation’s branded tracking page updates with every tracking event and provides item information that carrier tracking pages don’t have access to.
“Tracking pages are checked an average of 5 times between purchase & receiving an item so everyone should have a branded tracking page by the year!”
Automate Your Shipping
As this guide has made clear, shipping involves much more than sticking a label on a box. There are a lot of steps in the fulfillment process that require your attention. Many of these processes can be time-consuming and repetitive. Luckily, tools like ShipStation help you work smarter, not harder. Almost all manual tasks can be automated in ShipStation. Many ShipStation users have everything automated to the point that all they have to do is highlight the orders they want to ship and click “Create Label.”
Leave a Lasting Impression
You don’t have to be a Fortune 500 company to provide an exceptional customer experience. In fact, a lot of consumers enjoy shopping with smaller brands. As ecommerce continues to evolve and expand, being an SMB that provides a memorable customer experience can make you stand out. Thanks to social media, branding, and good customer service, an ecommerce business can be as advanced as a tech giant and as familiar to someone as a brick-and-mortar store they shop at all the time.
Offering free shipping and returns helps you win customers in today’s competitive marketplace. It gets them through the door and engaged with your brand. By providing these incentives, merchants can not only attract new customers but also retain existing ones—improving customer loyalty and increasing revenue.
Providing a great delivery experience reinforces your commitment to customers. After all, merchants and consumers aren’t at odds with each other. Nobody wants to pay more than they should! That’s why ShipStation remains committed to helping you offer discounts and a wide array of delivery options while also giving you the tools you need to get orders out more quickly. By fine-tuning your fulfillment strategy, you can set yourself apart from your competitors and establish yourself as a leader and a partner in your customers’ online shopping experience.