4 Business Shipping Tips to Help You Maximize Profits
In 2020, the revenue on shipped parcels exceeded $171 billion in the US.
That’s great news for the shipping industry, but what does it really do for your small business? If you find yourself losing money on your shipments, then you’ve got to do something before you start sinking.
In this post, we’re going to give you 4 business shipping tips to help you maximize profits. Companies that make shipping a daily part of operations need to get creative, so keep reading, and you’ll be able to lower shipping costs and save yourself loads of money.
1. Learn Where Costs Come From
To lower your shipping costs, you need to know where the costs are coming from. Every carrier uses speed, service, weight, size, destination, and volume of shipments to calculate its cost. If you can balance your needs with cutting costs, you’ll end up saving money on shipping.
Faster shipping costs more, as do extra services like tracking and signature delivery. The heavier your package is and the farther it travels will also increase shipping costs. That said, if you send a lot of shipments with a particular carrier, you may be eligible for a discount.
In understanding how the costs work, you can take the proper measures to lower the cost of each shipment.
2. Use the Best Packaging
One of the things that cost small businesses a lot of money is parcels that are damaged in transit and sent back. Assume that every package is liable to be damaged after it leaves your location. If you can optimize your packaging to protect every parcel, then it won’t matter how parcels are treated.
For instance, the clear plastic tubes from petropackaging.com are highly durable and reusable, making them incredibly cost-effective. Even if you’re using cardboard boxes, you can reinforce them with kraft paper or bubble wrap to keep your products safe.
3. Get to Know Carriers
Get to know the main carriers that you’ll be dealing with. You may only use one or you could end up using all of them.
USPS is great for smaller businesses that want to fulfill their orders in-house. With their Click’n’Ship program, you can order postage and print shipping labels online. They also offer tracking on all priority mailers.
UPS and FedEx both offer numerous resources for small businesses and discounts for high-volume users. Get to know other couriers, like DHL, Sendle, and EasyPost, which are less popular but offer their own perks for small businesses.
4. Offer Free Shipping for Big Sales
Every customer is going to want free shipping, but that’s never going to be cost-effective for the business owners. Instead, offer free shipping over a certain dollar amount sold and you’ll be able to offset bigger shipping costs.
According to the National Retail Federation, 65% of people look up free shipping thresholds before adding items to their carts. Putting this in place could end up increasing your revenue.
Thinking Hard About Business Shipping
Now that you have a better idea about small business shipping and how to lower your business shipping costs, you can start to analyze where you’ve gone wrong. High business shipping prices can feel like the cost of doing business, but if you put a lot of thought into it, it doesn’t have to be. Use these tips and lower your shipping costs today.
If you found this helpful, come back for more on business and finance.
