The transition from a physical store to an eCommerce business is on a rise. The internet user base in India is estimated to be around 627 million, which is more than 50% of the population as per data of 2019. Apart, from this, the country also has a geographical area of 3,214 km from north to south and 2,933 km from east to west. Considering these numbers, it is difficult for any eCommerce business to tap every nook and corner of the country to deliver its products. Hence it is necessary for any eCommerce businesses to thoroughly understand and implement the right and effective eCommerce shipping solutions in India.
eCommerce Shipping in India
As per data, India’s eCommerce market is sure to acquire $84 billion in 2021 from the $24 billion in 2017. The largest eCommerce company in India is Amazon. Following it, are other companies such as Flipkart, Snapdeal and the count goes on. In this year itself, the rise in the number of online shoppers has led to the opening of 10 new Amazon warehouses across the country. In total, the count has reached 60 warehouses across 15 states in the country. On the other hand, the competitive shipping strategies have given rise to hyperlocal services like 90 minutes delivery by Flipkart.
In regards to the small and niche players of the eCommerce industry, the numbers have seen a drastic growth. Around 1,06,086 websites have been registered as online stores. Of which around 25% account for those in the niche business sector with either one, two, or multiple products for selling.
Considerations for eCommerce Shipping
As a first-time business owner or an existing one, shipping in India may be a challenging one. Once a customer purchases a product for an eCommerce website, your order purchase task ends there. However, the orders fulfillment process has just begun.
As an Indian eCommerce business owner, there are many shipping challenges faced on a daily basis. Not only because of the availability of the number of courier service companies, but also, because of its wide demographic and geographic expansion.
Here are some shipping considerations before you choose the right shipping partner for your business:
Low – Cost or Free Shipping
Free shipping drive customer’s attention. However, that also means it is an added revenue on your shoulders. The balance between customer satisfaction through low or free shipping costs with increasing profit margins should be kept intact. Here are some strategies for an eCommerce to consider:
- Look out for the strategies used by your competition.
- Stay a step ahead of them
- Try and test different methods and techniques. This will ensure that your customers don’t abandon their cart due to high shipment cost
- Consider low-cost items as a medium to offer free shipping. At the same time ask customers to pay for express delivery or same-day delivery items
Keep an Eye on Your Orders
While you ship your product via a third-party service, ensure you keep a track from the pick up to the delivery at the customer’s doorstep. This is to ensure that there are no delayed deliveries and at the same time, customers too are well-informed and updated about their order.
Calculate and Estimate Right
Economical and convenient shipping is the best method to attract traffic. Before, you price the customers consider the following factors:
- Size of the product
- Weight of the product
- The distance between the pick-up point and the delivery location
Once the three factors are calculated, compare between different courier partners, to thus estimate the right amount. Over and above which you can set a shipping strategy for your customers.
Market Through Your Packaging
Quick and secure delivery gains trust among your customers. It plays a major role in a customers ’ shopping experience and paves the way for resales. Shabby and neglected packaging leads to loss of customers. Here are some ways to package right:
- Colorful packaging leads to prospect attention
- Package to avoid damage from external factors
- Ensure that detailed and correct information is conveyed through the labels and packaging. This
includes the directions for use, ingredients, instructions for storage, reuse, etc. - Easy to handle by anyone and everyone, especially while in transit
- Is secure in the eyes of law and order
Choosing The Right Shipping Strategies
Once the above considerations are met, you can step ahead to choose an eCommerce shipping strategy best suited for your eCommerce business.
Free Shipping
Free shipping by the word itself means no incurred shipping costs. This also means that as an eCommerce business, you will bear the brunt of the package/packages shipped to the customer’s doorstep. This strategy has soared high into the eCommerce business after major giants like Amazon have implied the strategy over and above a minimum quantity.
Benefits of using Free Shipping:
- Easy customer interaction
- Customer receive what they expect
- Positive for conversion rates
This approach can be chosen only if an eCommerce business is making sales worth to cover the shipping costs and earn a profit.
Flat Rate Shipping
Flat rate shipping is nothing but setting a onetime shipping cost on the packages irrespective of the order value. In most times, the flat-rate for the product is calculated by the eCommerce business itself unless there is an interference of a third-party logistic agency.
Table Rate Shipping
The Table rate shipping is a tabular form of representation to break down complex rules of shipping costs in a more defined manner. Here, multiple rates are subjected to columns based on the shipping destination, rates per zone, and based on the product weight, number of items, shipping class, and price.
Real-Time Rates From A Shipping Carrier
Live rates by a carrier simply mean getting the shipping costs of a package once you have entered the correct size, weight, location of the product. You can then choose and compare the various shipping carriers available. This approach allows an eCommerce business to ensure that you are allowing the customers to choose the cheapest shipping rates through comparison of the carrier costs.
A Blend of the Above Approaches
Each of the above shipping options may have its own pros and cons. For an effective eCommerce solution in India, as an online eCommerce business, you need to find a way to stay ahead of the competition. And what better way than to mix and match the above three approaches based on your target audience, the shipping destination, and the nature of your product.
While you maintain a balance a decent balance on the shipping costs incurred, you are also able to define customer’s wants and demands at the best affordable price. You are exposed to a wide range of promotional opportunities, thus attracting online business owners.
Effective eCommerce Shipping Solutions
Once you have chosen the correct shipping strategy, it’s now time to implement is the most effective way possible. Evaluate the strategy on a timely basis. Iterate the strategies where you think there is scope for improvement. Study the customer’s expectations and compare them to the current situation, to thus implement the correct strategy at the right time.
Challenges while shipping is a part and parcel of any eCommerce business. However, with the right shipping partner, you are sure to overcome these challenges. All in all, there are many shipping solutions available for India as well as international business, few of which are:
FedEx
FedEx is known to be one of the leading names in the eCommerce shipping industry. From domestic and local to international delivery, they have set a pace in the competitive front. Their cost-effective solutions and diverse locations service centers ensure a smooth reach globally.
With a wide variety of industry solutions that help meet the shipping needs, FedEx offers multiple services such as logistics for an eCommerce supply chain, healthcare, and aerospace. Additionally, the FedEx solution finder allows a business owner to find answers to a shipping need, thus making it an effective shipping solution.
UPS
United Parcel Service (UPS) is best known for small and medium eCommerce businesses. They expand far and wide about the number of shipping zones they cover.
UPS offers services designed differently, based on the frequency of shipment. Whether once a year or every day, a convenient shipping solution is at your service.
DHL
DHL is known to be a pioneer in the shipping industry. The global shipping carrier is located in 220 countries and is best known for its cross border or international shipping. Whether auto-mobile or retail, DHL caters to more than 9 industry sectors.
From express delivery to freight shipping, the shipping solution caters to any kind of eCommerce business needs.
Shipping Easy
Like UPS, Shipping easy too is known to be a shipping solution to small and medium-sized eCommerce business owners. With more than 15 channel integrations and multi-carrier shipping features, the shipping service has its reach far and wide.
Dash101: An Effective eCommerce Shipping Solution in India
Dash101 is an effective eCommerce solution in India for all your shipping needs – turning shipping logistics into smart logistics!
The need for shipping is apparent to most business owners. However, the exact way to go about meeting their peculiar needs creates unforeseen hurdles. Dash101 is a tech-enabled logistics aggregator that aims at understanding these unique shipping requirements. Hence, offering solutions based on your specified needs. When tackling the problem of shipping, the following aspects must be kept in mind:
Cost-Effective Shipping
New or old, small-scale or large, online or offline, businesses require smart logistics to gain credibility. However, hiring a logistics team is a luxury, and keeping track of all orders, big or small, is a complexity. Most importantly, managing shipping logistics is a back-breaking expense that smaller firms cannot afford, and the large ones must avoid. Irrespective of the nature of the business, cutting costs whilst
maintaining quality is business 101. And so, Dash101 has got you covered.
Businesses that wish to maintain reasonable market prices are often faced with unreasonable constraints. When determining the price-point of your product, the manufacturing cost must be kept in mind. However, for most businesses, the added burden of exorbitant shipping costs influences a hike in price. This can dent your unique brand image and may lead to reduced demand. By slashing costs up to Rs. 23/500gms per shipping – Dash101 allows you to offer reasonable pricing whilst stabilizing profits.
A Partnership that Matters!
For all businesses, big or small, establishing strong industry partnerships is incredibly important. Integrations with major carts or marketplaces also increase brand recollection.
Carrier Integration
At Dash101, we understand the value of solid partnerships, trust, and credibility. And to ensure the credibility of your brand, credible ties play an important role. When you partner with us, you partner with India’s topmost, best-in-class logistics partners like – XpressBees, Delhivery, Ecom Express, FedEx, Shadowfax, Bluedart Dart Plus, Ekart, DTDC.
Channel Integration
Further integration with popular platforms like Shopify, Amazon, Woocommerce, and the like is yet another Dash101 USP(Unique Selling Proposition). With the most dependable and credible partners, we place your shipping needs in the best hands possible.
User-Friendly and Smart
Moreover, through exhaustive analytical assessment and shipper recommendations, we can provide you with an all-round business performance view. Subsequently, recommending the best practices and the best
partnerships that suit your eCommerce shipping requirements. User-friendly, real-time, and smart!
Today, having an online presence is crucial for any business. However, what is equally crucial is the ability to navigate through online services that aid your business model. Managing logistics is a tedious task. If done manually, it requires dedicated employees with efficient tracking, management, and data-entry skills.
Further, an expert in business analytics would be needed to prepare comprehensive reports that monitor growth. If this process were to be automated, it would come at an additional cost. Expensive software may be needed, which would also require manual monitoring and management. Moreover, some level of expertise is needed to pick the best smart logistics services. All of this is made simple through Dash101’s user-interactive app and website.
Seamless Technology Platform
Among other things, Dash101 is a seamless technology platform. Apart from being incredibly user-friendly, it is also a mobile-first platform. This ensures quick and easy access to all your eCommerce shipping needs. From selecting the marketplace or cart to providing notifications to your buyers, the app takes care of everything.
Real-Time Tracking
Additionally, our real-time tracking feature allows you to track the processing and delivery of all orders. The app even comes with a specialized order management tool for the same. The ability to track and manage orders with such ease streamlines the entire process.
Knowing the exact status of your shipments also helps track them for maximum customer satisfaction. As for business development, Dash101’s efficient tech solutions provide with a well-curated eCommerce shipping logistics reports.
Become a Pan-India Brand!
Becoming a pan-India brand and making a place in households across the country is a dream most young brands begin with. However, as a business progresses, this dream is replaced by the burden of exorbitant shipping costs. The mere unavailability of efficient shipping portals that will deliver across varied locations adds to the problem. More importantly, often, the manpower and complexity of handling pan-India logistics become an unrealistic goal for businesses.
Operating in over 26,000 pin codes across India with over 30,000 shipments per day, Dash101 understands that expansion is an essential element when it comes to developing a brand. Local businesses often miss out on expansion opportunities, owing to the unavailability of suitable and affordable shipping solutions. While most shipping services operate well within a city or within a specified geographic area, it is hard to expand territory without substantially increasing the shipping costs. This puts constraints on your ability to expand the deliverable area, despite there being a demand for your products.
With Dash101, you can now reach customers across India – this will not only help boost sales but also strengthen brand recognition. Additionally, we offer convenient bulk shipping facilities for fulfilling your big consignments at Dash101’s trademark cost-effective rates, making it an effective eCommerce solution in India.
Tackling RTO Reduction
Return to Origin or RTO is a simple concept of shipping but a major problem for businesses. When you receive a return order due to an error in the buyer’s address or inability to contact the buyer to manage to deliver, it leads to loss of resources.
RTO means two things –
(i) The customer did not receive the order. This affects customer loyalty and damages your brand image
(ii) It adds additional and unnecessary costs, essentially money, down the drain. You can reduce return orders significantly
The platform’s smart logistics technology and active Interactive Voice Response (IVR) calls to buyers enable timely deliveries!
COD for The Customers!
Cash on Delivery (COD) helps build trust while ordering products online. Pay for what you get when you get it – seems like a fair deal. However, many young, growing businesses are unable to offer their customers the same. This is because most eCommerce shipping services ask for payments beforehand. Consequently, you must pay the shipper in advance, and so the customer must pay you. Dash101, however, offers COD to all its partners. This will allow you to build better relationships with your customers and in the long-run, have a direct impact on customer loyalty.
“With the Dash101 platform, I have been able to reduce RTO percentage by 50%, and increased my profitability by 35% ever since I shifted to Dash101”
– Vhabya Jain, GetSetWear
At Dash101, you not only find an eCommerce shipping partner but also an effective eCommerce Shipping Solution in India.
