An online store’s logistics are an essential part of the customer experience, even if a third party delivers the goods. When your online store has a wide variety of delivery methods and clear pricing, they guide your customer towards a purchase.
Unclear pricing and inappropriate delivery methods often cause customers to abandon their shopping baskets and go elsewhere to shop.
When customers orders something, you should give them clear information about the status of their orders so they know when to expect delivery. When the goods reach your customers, they have their first tangible impression of your company. That means packaging and starting to use the product also affect their impression of your store.
What things should a new online retailer bear in mind when deciding on delivery methods?
Deciding on your online store’s delivery methods
When deciding on your online store’s delivery methods, there are two essential questions:
- What am I delivering? Are the products fragile, bulky or heavy, for example?
- Where am I delivering?
If you plan on investing in sales to a certain country, you should learn about the delivery methods that the locals prefer, and do your best to offer them to your customers. So, you might need to learn about the services of big international logistics companies, such as FedEx, GLS or DHL.
You can easily integrate major delivery methods into the Shopify online store. For example, you can easily print out package labels via your online store’s admin settings using the Woolman Nordic Shipping App. Nordic Shipping App is suitable for merchants operating from Finland and Sweden.
Pricing online store delivery
Pricing is a critical part of the logistics experience. By a long shot, the most common reason for abandoning purchases at checkout is unexpected additional charges. Often, this is because of delivery charges that only appear at the checkout stage.
Here are three common pricing models:
- Free delivery. It’s been proven that free delivery increases online stores’ conversion rate, but they are of course not free for the retailer. You have to make up for the delivery costs in some other way, for example by raising product prices.
You can also offer free delivery for orders above a certain value, for example, € 100. This can also be a way of trying to raise the average spend. If, for example, your customers currently spend € 85 on average and you start offering free delivery on orders of over € 100, you can get your customers to buy a little more on average than before.
- One price for all deliveries. If you are going to charge the same fee for all deliveries, you should first establish how much each delivery is going to cost you and set your pricing accordingly.
- Fixed delivery charge by weight. You can also set fixed prices for weight categories, for example:
- <1 kg €4.90
- 1–5 kg €7.90
- 5–10 kg €9.90
- 10–20 kg €14.90
Whatever pricing model you choose, give clear information about it in your store. Even a small additional charge can make your customers turn on their heels and abandon their shopping baskets close to the checkout stage.
With smart pricing, you can increase the average value of your orders and your store’s conversion rate.
Product packaging
When your customer gets his or her package, he or she also gets the first, concrete contact with your company. What kind of first impression do you want to give to your customers when the package arrives and they open it?
Package your products in a way that suits the style of your brand. At this stage, you can also give your customers a nice surprise, such as a small gift or something similar. A hand-written message, sticker or other small gift gives customers the feeling that they have got something a little extra for the same price. With a little luck, this will get your customers talking about their positive experiences to others.
Informing your customers about delivery methods
Make sure that your store clearly tells customers about the available delivery methods and their prices before they reach the checkout. It means they won’t be surprised by the postage and packaging charges. If the delivery method for a product is clearly different from the others, you can add details about this to the product page, for example.
With the Nordic Shipping App your customers will automatically get a tracking ID for the chosen logistics company.
Checklist: Remember these when choosing delivery methods
- Choose delivery methods your customers are familiar with. When delivering abroad, you may have to get to learn about the target country’s delivery methods.
- Tell your customers about delivery charges clearly and before the checkout.
- You can always change your pricing and delivery strategy if you need to. If and when you start to get more orders, you will almost certainly have to think again about your logistical solutions.
Antti Salmi, project director, Woolman