Dermalogica’s logistics director discusses how to think about a 3PL transition
“Any business has its risks. But getting your products into customers’ hands faster has never made less money.”
It’s c... View MoreDermalogica’s logistics director discusses how to think about a 3PL transition
“Any business has its risks. But getting your products into customers’ hands faster has never made less money.”
It’s clear, in 2023, that rising costs and supply-chain issues are part of a new reality. Shipping has not avoided the fallout, and the uncertainties of the last few years have had an outsized effect on carriers. Inflation, rate increases, fuel surcharges, delays, and other bumps have changed what we fundamentally understand about shipping.
Because shipping is the backbone of ecommerce, every retail executive must look at shipping and fulfillment to determine whether the established solution is still the right one.
Third-party logistics solutions can mitigate these issues. But a business leader examining the costs and unknowns around a third-party logistics (3PL) solution may be hesitant to take the leap.
A 3PL may not be the right solution—or at least not the right solution today. But to best make the decision, leaders need to understand the pros and cons, do the math, and have a little faith.
So, when is it worthwhile? Dermalogica director of US logistics Jason Brown shares insights in a conversation with FenixCommerce.
Arriving at the 3PL crossroads
Third-party logistics covers outsourcing any procurement or distribution services to an external vendor. For ecommerce, this covers inventory, warehousing, shipping, and other functions related to fulfillment. By outsourcing these activities, an ecommerce company can gain efficiencies, broaden their geographic reach, and reduce certain types of overhead in exchange for some up-front transition processes and vendor fees.
These are factors to consider before making a switch.
Factor 1: Customers’ delivery expectations
Customers’ intolerance of longer shipping times (5+ days) is growing. (In 2023, according to Forbes, 22% of customers drop out of an online shopping session because shipping is too slow.) Popularized by Amazon, short delivery windows—even within a few hours—mean that customers sometimes find it faster to arrange delivery than shop in person. These speeds are enabled by the multilocation structure of a 3PL.
Source: Forbes
Brown says, “If you think you need to get faster shipping in order to get closer to your customer, that might be one reason to consider multiple locations.” Using a 3PL’s multilocation network, geography becomes an asset, not an obstacle, to fulfillment.
Factor 2: Multilocation math
However, retail executives may be wary of taking on the costs of multiple locations: staff, property, and maintenance expenses, to say the least. Additionally, the more complex your distribution-center structure becomes, “the better you have to be about balancing your inventory, forecasting what you’re going to ship, so you have the right stuff in the right place at the right time,” Brown says.
Here’s where 3PL efficiency can help: brands benefit from an existing multilocation structure and expertise while only paying a fraction of the vendor’s overhead. Service-level agreements (SLAs) with the 3PL will govern how to best leverage this efficiency. A key part of any 3PL SLA is forecasting—providing the vendor with solid estimates (typically ±20%) on expected sales volumes (promotions, product launches, etc.) to manage staffing costs.
Factor 3: Inventory management
Integration costs can create hesitation in initiating a 3PL relationship, but thoughtful integration is critical to a successful ongoing solution—if for no other reason than the outsized benefit it has on inventory management. Accurate inventory numbers are one part of delivering as promised. And for ecommerce brands tied to the same warehouse as larger wholesale, corporate, or distribution entities, the risk of inventory being repurposed without their knowledge is real. (Brown refers to this as the “robbing Peter to pay Paul” scenario.)
So, inventory needs to be tightly synced, integrated, and reported—a challenge without strong operating systems. The tools to manage inventory (warehouse and order management systems; forecasting) can be costly to implement independently but come within reach with a 3PL relationship.
Source: Forbes
As Brown notes, “A 3PL will have a solid WMS that (must be) tightly synced to your ERP.” Additionally, an effective OMS is necessary, but it can be expensive for a growing company. Many 3PLs have their own custom-built solutions they can license to clients—reducing the cost of implementing a high-quality tool. Also available on the market are inexpensive, AI-based order-routing optimization tools that operate as an OMS and integrate easily with 3PLs.
Having access to reliable data—SKU levels, past sales history, fulfillment performance—not only saves time remediating but can be used for forecasting. Access to an integrated, reliable, and robust WMS, OMS, or both, which a 3PL can provide, makes a difference.
Factor 4: Carrier performance monitoring
At the end of the day, the promise of delivery to a customer falls on the brand, whether using a 3PL or staying in-house. A missed delivery promise not only costs time in resolution but can lose the relationship. So, in addition to inventory management, brands must monitor carrier performance.
Brown says, “It’s up to you to then manage the relationship after (the order is shipped). You need to know the order shipped, it shipped complete, and where it shipped from and have confidence it will arrive in good condition, so you can go back to your customer and make the delivery promise.”
If your inventory synchronization ensures that the right item ships from the right 3PL location, carrier performance monitoring makes sure the item is delivered to the customer on time. And 3PLs can assist with both insights.
Factor 5: Building the business case
Stakeholders may be concerned by possible lower margins, but the increased reliability and potential volume of 3PL fulfillment can lead to greater revenue.
Engaging with a 3PL is “rarely cheaper” than doing it yourself, Brown notes, “but the capability is better. They may be willing to work six, seven days a week, two shifts, 24 hours a day. From there, it becomes a math equation. Our margins may compress, but our revenue will grow by X factor.”
So, is it the right time to engage a 3PL? Like many business decisions, it depends on the math and a little imagination. “‘We know this is risky,’” Brown imagines the conversation. “Any business has its risks. But getting your products into customers’ hands faster has never made less money. There’s a lot of blue sky, and you have to have a little bit of faith.”
FenixCommerce is a leading provider of customer delivery experience management, helping retailers deliver better, every step of the way. Founded in San Jose in 2017, FenixCommerce is trusted by the fastest-growing ecommerce brands and retailers including Men’s Wearhouse, Dermalogica, Jos A. Bank, Grunt Style, Lord & Taylor, and Cannondale.
For more information, visit fenixcommerce.com
Ecommerce conversion rate optimization (CRO) is the process of improving your website's performance and making it more appealing to potential customers. The goal is to increase your profits by making ... View MoreEcommerce conversion rate optimization (CRO) is the process of improving your website's performance and making it more appealing to potential customers. The goal is to increase your profits by making sure as many people who visit your site will buy something from it. This doesn't mean that eCommerce businesses have to spend money on advertising or marketing—instead, they can optimize their sites for conversions with free resources and simple tweaks that don't require any technical skills. Here are some strategies for getting started with eCommerce CRO:
What is eCommerce conversion rate optimization?
In short, eCommerce conversion rate optimization is the process of optimizing the user experience of your online store to increase sales.
It’s important to optimize it because if you don’t, you won’t make as much money as you could be making! It also depends on how much traffic your store gets and how many people convert to it. If more people are converting than not converting, then it means that your website is working well and doing its job by selling products!
How do you find your conversion rate?
To get your conversion rate, you need to divide the number of sales by the number of visitors. From there, it's easy to figure out how many people are actually converting to your site.
Intro to eCommerce conversion rate strategies
Ecommerce conversion rate optimization is the process of getting as many people as possible to buy your products, without wasting any time or money. The eCommerce world is one of the most competitive in today's marketplace, so it’s important for you to do everything you can to improve your conversion rates.
This doesn't mean that eCommerce businesses have to spend money on advertising or marketing—instead, they can optimize their sites for conversions with free resources and simple tweaks that don't require any technical skills. Here are some strategies for getting started with eCommerce CRO:
Display estimated delivery dates
By displaying estimated delivery dates on your product pages, you can help customers make better-informed purchase decisions. Customers who know when they’ll receive their purchases are more likely to complete the purchase than those who have to wait until the last minute. This is especially true for retailers that ship products across international borders—showing estimated delivery dates can help customers avoid lengthy wait times and unpredictable shipping times.
Furthermore, showing estimated delivery dates helps you avoid customer complaints and increases overall customer satisfaction. If you display an inaccurate or misleading date for a specific product, this could lead some of your customers to believe that:
You don’t care about them (and thus don’t respect their time)
They can no longer trust anything else about your brand or business
Getting reliable estimated delivery dates can be near impossible without the power of big data warehouses. With FenixCommerce, you can easily embed these delivery dates into your eCommerce checkout flows to immediately increase customer conversion rates.
Offer a guest checkout option
A guest checkout option, or a “checkout as guest” button, is also a great way to increase your conversion rate. Why? Because it gives customers who are uncomfortable giving personal information another option and can be used for customers who have purchased from you in the past.
Improve your site speed
There are a few different ways to test your site speed. Google Analytics has a built-in tool that will let you know how long it takes for your page to load, but there are also third-party tools like Pingdom and GTmetrix which provide more detailed information about what is slowing down your site. A good rule of thumb is that if you want an A+ in conversion rate optimization, your website needs to load in under two seconds on average across all devices and networks.
Optimize your checkout process
The checkout process is one of the most important aspects of eCommerce conversion rate optimization. If customers can't find what they want or are confused about how to checkout, they'll leave your site and go somewhere else. To ensure that this doesn't happen, you need to make sure your checkout process is easy for customers to understand and complete.
Here are some tips for optimizing your checkout process:
Use a single-page checkout if possible. This will reduce the number of steps in the checkout process, making it easier for customers to complete their purchases without getting lost along the way.
Make sure each step in your payment gateway is PCI compliant so that there aren't any security vulnerabilities that allow hackers access to sensitive financial data like credit card numbers and expiration dates (which could lead them straight back over here). Some companies have even gone so far as to hire third-party auditors who specialize in these types of issues. However, if those options aren't available, then another option would be using something called "two-factor authentication," which means logging into an account requires both something only known by yourself (like entering a password) but also something unique only applicable at this moment (like having access too specific information such as unique code displayed on screen). This ensures that even if someone manages somehow get one part down perfectly enough so it looks legitimate enough when entered correctly inputted correctly then still won't work because two things must match up properly before successfully logging onto an account.
Set up product recommendations
Product recommendations are a great way to re-engage customers, increase sales and make sure you don’t lose customers who have abandoned their shopping cart.
According to research, product recommendations can increase conversion rates by up to 20%. The reason for that is simple: people tend to buy what they know and like. If you can show them products they are interested in, chances are high that they will buy them! FenixCommerce has a built-in tool that provides unique order-tracking landing pages, per customer, that recommend related products.
It is crucial that you take the time to implement them correctly though because otherwise, they might just ruin your conversion rate instead of improving it.
There are many ways to improve the customer's experience on your eCommerce site.
There are many ways to improve the customer's experience on your eCommerce site.
Use product recommendations to increase sales.
Use a guest checkout option to increase sales.
Set up a conversion rate optimization strategy, or use one of the many tools out there that make it easier for you to do so (for example, Google Analytics).
Use an estimated delivery date or price at checkout (or both) as another way of increasing sales from a slow-moving product page on an eCommerce website by encouraging shoppers who may have forgotten about their purchase to come back and complete it before they forget again!
Optimize with FenixCommerce
If you’re looking to improve your eCommerce conversion rate, it's important that you start with a thorough analysis of your current website. While there are many different strategies for optimizing an eCommerce site, these tips will get you on the right track for increased revenue and brand loyalty.
This can all sound a bit overwhelming but, with the help of tools such as conversion optimization platforms like FenixCommerce, it’s all done for you. If you’re interested in learning how Fenix can optimize your eCommerce conversion rates, don’t hesitate to contact our team.
Let’s face it! Your website product page design is arguably one of the biggest factors on which customers will hinge their decision-making. The evidence is there to prove it. Its entire layout and con... View MoreLet’s face it! Your website product page design is arguably one of the biggest factors on which customers will hinge their decision-making. The evidence is there to prove it. Its entire layout and content are what will either compel visitors to add the product to their cart or lead them to exit your online store and head over to your competitor’s site. Your visitors want no-B.S product pages that provide them with all the necessary information that they need to know about any product before buying it. You, therefore, owe it to your customers to design, create, and deliver eCommerce product pages that increase the stickiness factor.
But why all this fuss about the website product page? What do customers really expect to see on your product detail page? And how can you design high-converting product pages that will delight your customers and print you more money in sales? We’ve got all the answers covered in this guide.
What is a Website Product Page?
A product page or product detail page (PDP) is a page on your eCommerce website which contains descriptions and information about a product. It is where you provide information like specs, pricing, benefits, photos, and social proof that can give customers an idea of what to expect from the product before buying.
Here is what an Amazon PDP looks like:
Source: Amazon
On the PDP, there will also be other elements like a buy button, folds, videos, shipping information, tax policy, etc. eCommerce product pages are a crucial part of your online store. Since visitors have no way to feel or experience your products in person, your product pages have one job: To use their design and content to compel visitors to make purchases. That is why you must get them done right.
12 Practical Steps to Design High-Converting Product Pages
In this section, we have put together a series of practical tips and ideas that you can use to design the perfect eCommerce product page and boost your chances of getting more customers to click that buy button. Here they are:
Optimize your product page to increase the loading speed
Write a compelling title and product description
Use high-quality photos and videos of the product
Write unique category descriptions
Optimize the size selector for better UX
Make page-to-page navigation easier
Use numbers to entice customers
Create a sense of scarcity/urgency
Provide social proof with customer reviews and trust badges
Make the CTA button noticeable
Include accurate estimated delivery dates (EDDs) on the website product page
Leverage cross-selling and upselling
Create and display clear shipping and return policies
1. Optimize your eCommerce product page to increase the loading speed
When it comes to online shopping, patience is not a virtue because customers desire instant gratification. They want everything to happen fast, from browsing to checkout to shipping. Customers hate pages that load slowly, with nearly 70% admitting that page speed can determine whether or not they will buy from a retailer online. Your conversion rate also drops by 4.42% for every additional second it takes your page to load.
Make sure your product pages load instantly. Maintain a simple design and optimize all product photos. Then optimize the design flow such that the most important pieces of info load first before other parts of the page.
2. Write compelling titles and product descriptions
You want your visitors to find information quickly, so the product title should be big, bold, and easy to find. Keep the title simple but informative; You do not have to complicate things. Use any of the simple formulas below to craft your product titles:
✅ Brand + Pattern + Product Type, Amount
✅ Brand name + Model number + Size/Color + General name
✅ Brand + Model Number + Product Type + Color/Size
✅ Brand + Line + Size+ Product Type
Here is an example from Walmart.
Source: Walmart
In addition to compelling titles, you do not have to write lengthy product descriptions as well. Instead, your description should be unique and highlight the features, focus on benefits, and provide other relevant info about the product. Keeping the description original helps to avoid duplicating content (especially if you are selling too many similar items) which can affect your SEO performance or get you penalized by Google. Good copywriting skills are needed here because your description should be written in a voice that resonates with your target customers and compels them to buy more items from you.
Your description should address customer concerns and highlight important information that users will find helpful. For example, if you are writing about a laptop, you can address concerns about fan noise and device overheating. Of course, you want to do all of these with SEO in mind by naturally integrating relevant keywords into the copy.
In-depth Guide: How to write irresistible product descriptions
3. Use high-quality photos and videos of the product
Images play a vital role during the pre-purchase phase. Since online shoppers cannot see, feel, or experience the product in person, they want to have a clear idea of what to expect should they purchase the item eventually. Research by eMarketer shows that customers between 18 and 54 years expect to see at least 5 photos on the website product page on average.
Your eCommerce product page design should provide a gallery of high-quality images that represent the product well and show off its best attributes. A good way to enhance the shopping experience is to capture a 360° view of the product to allow customers to see the item from all sides. That is something every customer would love! Make sure the image functionality allows customers to zoom in and out so they can have an up-close view of the item. Remember your pages need to load quickly, so don’t forget to compress your product images.
Source: Kohls
Consider adding product videos to elevate the online shopping experience because videos give customers the feeling of in-person demos. 55% of shoppers say they rely on videos to reach buying decisions and 73% of customers are more likely to buy after watching an explainer video. Using videos in your product web page design will also give you an edge in search results and drive more traffic to your online store.
Source: Amazon
4. Write unique category descriptions
Do you have separate pages for different product categories? If yes, you should know that category page descriptions can also help to drive sales and push traffic to your online store. Category text adds vibrancy to your store and gives you an excellent opportunity to explain certain concepts related to that category using specific keywords. Utilize the ideas for product page optimization in step #2 above to create your category pages. Make sure to write unique, in-depth, SEO category page descriptions because it helps to create a feeling of authority and trustworthiness and also gives you an edge in Google SERPs.
5. Optimize the size selector for better UX
Among the foremost things, users will be looking out for when trying to find something that best fits their needs is the size. Keep in mind that size is measured differently in various parts of the world, so shoppers will most likely have diverging backgrounds. To improve the experience, provide a size selector along with a guide that allows them to view product sizes in inches and centimeters. You also want to position the size selector just below the item and its description.
Source: Walmart
6. Make page-to-page navigation easier
Ever heard the term "Breadcrumb Navigation?" Breadcrumbs are navigational aids that enable visitors to maintain track of where they are on your website. It is more like a website feature that builds a trail for the visitor while exploring different parts of your website. You can learn how to add breadcrumb navigation to your site so customers can understand page hierarchy and trace their steps back to earlier pages, or jump to areas of interest with ease.
Source: Walmart
7. Use numbers to entice customers
Customers are always looking for opportunities to gain something. They want to have the feeling that doing business with you will be to their advantage. What's in it for them? The price comparison feature is a secret sauce to add to your website product page because it can compel customers to buy more from your store. That is what eCommerce mammoths like Amazon are using to induce shoppers to add more items to their carts. Here's how to use the price comparison feature to create high-converting product pages:
If you offer lower prices than your competitors for the same product, show customers how much your competitors are offering directly on the product page so they can see you as the most cost-effective choice
When offering discounts, show customers how much they will save if they order the product. You can show the difference in the form of percentages or use the actual price versus discounted price format.
Source: Amazon
8. Create a sense of scarcity/urgency
Using tactics to create a feeling of scarcity or fear of missing out is another feature to consider including in your eCommerce product page design. You do not want them to chew over the price until they find a reason not to buy anymore. Shoppers usually convert faster when products are selling out fast. Displaying words like: "only 2 items in stock" or "last 3 hours of free shipping" can create the urgency or scarcity you need to get them to convert.
Source: Amazon
9. Provide social proof using customer reviews and trust badges
Even if you have the best products and excellent customer service, people want to know what others are saying about you or the products you offer. Nearly 70% of online shoppers usually check for product reviews before buying. So your eCommerce product pages should have a highly visible section that allows customers to submit reviews. Use social media and emails to encourage customers to give feedback or rate the product based on their personal experience. Additionally, you can increase the quality of customer reviews on your website product page by allowing customers to post photos or videos of how they are using the products. Reviews from customers boost visitors’ trust in your brand and help to increase website conversions, and you can even go one step further to cement their trust by attaching trust badges or safety icons to customer reviews.
Source: Nordstrom
10. Make the CTA button noticeable
When designing high-converting product pages, one of the most crucial elements is the call to action. Depending on the kind of online store you’re running, the eCommerce CTA button can appear in different forms which could be a ‘buy now’ button, ‘add to cart button, or whatever you consider the best fitting. In all, it is most important to make the CTA prominent, recognizable, and compelling. Check out some product page optimization tips when designing the CTA button:
Use words that resonate with your target audience and are native to them. You can see how Amazon does this across its websites. The CTA for UK customers is different from what you’ll see on its US site.
Source: Amazon US
Source: Amazon UK
Use the right color that can trigger buyer emotions and induce them to take action.
Whatever your choice of color, make sure it contrasts perfectly with your product page’s color scheme. The idea is to make the CTA button capable of grabbing the customer’s attention. That is why it has to stand out.
11. Include accurate estimated delivery dates (EDDs) on the website product page
Estimated Delivery Dates (EDDs) displayed on eCommerce product pages show customers the estimated date by which their order will arrive based on their location and other related factors. Many online stores only display vague delivery timelines on the checkout page, typically 3-5 days, which is quite an outdated practice that leads many customers to abandon their carts. 92% of customers online say that knowing their order will arrive by the promised delivery date is an influential factor in their buying decisions. EDDs displayed on the product page give the customer a precise date by which their order will arrive based on their location, thereby building their trust in your brand and inducing them to get through checkout.
With a shipping platform like Fenixcommerce, you can easily enable and display optimized delivery dates for every item with top-level accuracy on your eCommerce product pages and even your checkout page.
12. Leverage cross-selling and upselling
This is another important feature to add if you are looking to create high-converting product pages. Visitors who hop on your website product page have an intent; they are seriously trying to decide whether to buy your product or not. Use that intent to your advantage with smart upselling and cross-selling. Here’s what you can do:
Use a “you may also like…” section to suggest similar items or brands to shoppers and allow them to compare products
Add a “related products” section which suggests other items that complement the products they are interested in and possibly get them to add more items to their cart
Source: HP
13. Create and display clear shipping and returns policy
An excellent shipping and returns policy is crucial to customer satisfaction and supports your customer retention efforts. When it comes to things like shipping charges, tax, or additional costs, do not wait for customers to get to the checkout page before they find out. Such unexpected costs are the reason why about 48% of customers abandon their carts. As part of eCommerce product page best practices, don’t keep shoppers in the dark about additional charges and conditions of return. Instead, be upfront and state it clearly on the product page so they don’t get confused or frustrated when they get to the checkout page.
Source: Amazon
FenixCommerce helps retailers deliver a superior end-to-end customer experience
From online shopping to fulfillment, customer expectations are changing and eCommerce businesses must match those expectations. At FenixCommerce, we know that succeeding as a retailer goes beyond website product page optimization alone. So we show retailers how to plan and deliver a superior pre-purchase customer experience in eCommerce, and also provide the platform to help them create that experience in their online stores. Our platform has helped both startups and major retail brands (the largest ships over a million orders every year from 800+ fulfillment locations) realize up to a 40% increase in conversions, 51% incremental shipping revenue, and a 38% reduction in cart abandonment. If you need help setting up your online store with EDDs to deliver a better pre-purchase customer experience, contact us ASAP!
Amazon Prime Day is the biggest shopping holiday of the year in the United States. Over 30% of Americans are expected to shop on Prime Day this year with an estimated $12+ billion in sales during this... View MoreAmazon Prime Day is the biggest shopping holiday of the year in the United States. Over 30% of Americans are expected to shop on Prime Day this year with an estimated $12+ billion in sales during this 48-hour period alone. With such a high potential for sales, it's no wonder that eCommerce brands are seeking ways to capitalize on this opportunity by using Amazon Prime Day as a way to drive purchases and increase brand awareness among shoppers. Here are five tips eCommerce brands can use to leverage Amazon Prime Day and drive more purchases from their audiences:
Know the Deals
Brands often use the same deals multiple years in a row. You can learn from their approach by researching what has historically worked or hasn’t worked for them and then apply it to your own business. Rather than coming up with all of the data points from scratch, you can leverage public competitor data to your advantage by knowing which products are most likely to sell well at certain prices, when they should be sold, etc.
You can also look at what other people are selling and use that to inform your own decision-making. If you notice that a competitor is selling something in a certain price range, consider doing the same thing—or even beat them if you can! It’s up to you if you want to follow the crowd or blaze your own trail but understanding the competitive environment will make sure there are no surprises.
Limited Time Offers
Scarcity marketing is a strategy where sellers limit the supply of their products, whether it be through limited inventory or a specific time frame, to motivate urgency to purchase. Amazon Prime Day is inherently a scarcity marketing tactic because it’s only available on Amazon Prime Day(s). In order to compete with Prime Day buyers, it’s important to create competitive discounting to draw some of those customers away from Amazon’s discounted deals.
If you can create time-based artificial scarcity around a product on Prime Day (e.g., the discount is only available for 2 days), then do it! It will drive sales and make customers feel like they need to act fast or else lose out on the opportunity altogether. You can also use this technique during regular eCommerce days by setting up notifications that tell people when certain products will be gone forever (or until a certain date).
Competitive Shipping Times and Visibility
Amazon ships about 1.6 million packages a day, carving out its spot as the standard in regard to the eCommerce buyer’s journey. It’s important to not only have competitive shipping times but also to provide transparency on when customers can expect their deliveries to help meet those customer expectations. In fact, FenixCommerce found that online sellers that implement their AI-powered platform to generate anticipated arrival dates based on real data collected by Amazon shipping partners like UPS/FedEx/USPS have increased conversions by up to 40%.
If you want loyal customers who will keep coming back for more business year after year, satisfying their expectations is key. One study found that almost 70% of consumers “are much less or less likely to shop with a retailer in the future if an item they purchased is not delivered within two days of the date promised.” It’s essential to invest in delivery management software like FenixCommerce to provide timely, cost-effective, and transparent deliveries to build brand loyalty and drive consistent purchases.
Cost-Effective Shipping
Shipping costs are one of the biggest reasons that consumers abandon their carts. While it can be exceptionally difficult to determine the exact cost of shipping from point A to point B, take advantage of digital platforms, like FenixCommerce, that have built massive proprietary databases of relevant shipping data to make it easier on eCommerce sellers! Not only can their platform understand how much to expect in shipping costs but it can optimize your distribution channels to bring those costs down.
Remember, buyers will be comparing all brand/product experiences to that of Amazon’s. If sellers outside of the Amazon ecosystem are exorbitantly more expensive to buy from due to shipping costs, they’ll default to the already intriguing Prime Day deals.
Consistent Customer Acquisition Messaging
People are primed (for lack of a better word) to buy on Amazon Prime Day. Similar to Hotelling’s Law in Game Theory, buyers are already looking for great deals and are prepared to spend money. This means you need to make sure that you’re leaning on all marketing channels you’ve found success with in the past- this includes anything from organic to SEM to social media marketing and email campaigns.
The most important aspect of messaging is consistency. While it may be tempting to change up the way you promote your Amazon Prime Day deals, A/B testing messaging in such a short time frame will be all but statistically significant (unless you’re pumping money in).
If a buyer sees your 20% limited-time discount on Meta (or whatever you call Facebook nowadays) and then sees that you’re offering a 20% discount until the end of the year in your email newsletter, the buyer is not only left confused about which is true but also will feel like there is a better deal they don’t know about. This type of confusion can lead to buyers to decision fatigue and, in turn, stagnation. To inspire purchases during this time period, simply promote your sale through all channels at once!
Conclusion
By implementing these tips, eCommerce sellers will be able to leverage the next Prime Day to get products in front of more customers and drive more purchases. It's easy to fall into the frenzy but, if you can keep your eyes on the big picture, there are plenty of ways to make sure your promotions don't fall through the cracks!
If you’re interested in learning more about how FenixCommerce can increase Prime Day shopper traffic conversions by 40% and shipping profits by more than 50%, please reach out! Our industry experts are happy to consult any growing brands with a free consultation to understand your individual needs so that you can maximize profits.
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Providing your customers with an experience they won’t forget in a hurry is the secret sauce that converts them into loyal repeat buyers. But creating that superior experience requires you to first ge... View MoreProviding your customers with an experience they won’t forget in a hurry is the secret sauce that converts them into loyal repeat buyers. But creating that superior experience requires you to first get it right with shipping and delivery.
Your ability to deliver in a way that matches customer expectations at all times is affected by two things:
How do you decide on shipping options and delivery timelines?
How much do you charge customers to keep your delivery promises? Charge them too low and your profit margins will take a hit. But charge very high shipping rates and they’ll abandon their carts, thereby hurting your conversion rate.
At the very core, shipping costs are affected by different factors, including:
Weight and dimension of the package. Different carriers will charge you shipping fees based on the dimensional or actual weight of a package.
Destination. The location where the package gets shipped will influence the shipping charge.
Insurance. Many retailers opt for shipping insurance for premium products which will definitely drive up the shipping charge.
Delivery timeline. This is usually influenced by customer choice. Some customers might be willing to receive their order by standard shipping while others might want expedited delivery.
Accessorial and Delivery Surcharges: Several carriers like UPS and FedEx charge delivery surcharges that can often be up to 20% of the total shipping fee for the package.
Putting all these micro factors, as well as other macro factors into consideration, will help you come up with the right shipping strategy.
Once you’ve figured it out, you have to find the best carrier that can deliver customer orders faster and at the cheapest cost possible. That’s where Carrier Rate Shopping comes in.
Implementing Carrier Rate Shopping
Implementing Carrier Rate Shopping
Basically, shopping rates to find the most optimal shipping service will require you to have accounts with two different carriers at the very least. But it makes sense to have more carrier accounts because that’s how you can get many price points and a broader range of shipping options.
Various carriers offer different kinds of services and levels, which you’ll have to consider based on the shipping option your customer has chosen when making their purchase. So finding a service level that matches your customer’s delivery expectations (without hurting your margins) means you have to log into your different carrier accounts and key in the specifics of the package.
In reality, that’s simply too much work to be done because you can’t keep manually rate shopping daily for individual orders that could number in the hundreds or thousands when aggregated.
Since manual rate shopping doesn’t cut it, the only way to keep up with these repetitive logistical processes that must take place at the backend to come up with the fastest and cheapest shipping service for any order is by automating the rate shopping process.
Gladly, automated carrier rate shopping is possible with the help of intelligent software.
How True Shipping Rate Shopping Should Work
Ideally, truly automated rate shopping involves using software or AI to compare shipping rates, service levels, and special offers across different carriers, and then intelligently select and display only the best and cheapest delivery options on your checkout page.
Using automated shipping rate shopping helps you achieve two things:
A simplified checkout page that eliminates all the expensive and irrelevant shipping options. So you no longer have a checkout page filled with too many unnecessary delivery options which could get your buyers overwhelmed.
Clear and accurate delivery timelines for every shipping option, ensuring you keep your delivery promises every time and build customer trust.
To do this effectively, the software or platform must access your data such as inventory levels, warehouse locations, order operations rules, product parameters, and carrier contacts.
Using all the information obtained from your upstream data, combined with artificial intelligence, the software can intelligently compare live rates and services across different carriers. It then selects and displays to the customer the cheapest shipping services that will get their order to their location by specific dates.
Automated carrier rate shopping is the smart choice for fast-growing retailers and DTC brands because it totally eliminates the need to manually program different carriers and compare their rates to come up with the best choice. Besides being a difficult thing to do consistently for voluminous orders, you risk picking shipping options that are either underpriced or too expensive.
Shipping rate shopping software allows you to display, very early in the customer journey, the lowest shipping charges and the best carriers that can deliver an order faster. That way, you save your retail staff from being burnt out by manually searching for the best rates.
Psychologically, it’s also beneficial to your customers because you save them from the overwhelming experience of skimming through too many shipping options in order to select the one they feel is best. Deep down, all your customers want to know is when their order will arrive and how much they have to pay. A rate shopping solution allows you to narrow down their choices at checkout.
The Rate Shopping Issues of Today’s Retailers
Many different carrier rate shopping solutions are available to retailers. But while these software solutions can help to automate certain aspects of the rate shopping process, the key question is –
Does your software solution really do true rate shopping as it claims?
As mentioned earlier, the perfect rate shopping solution should be able to utilize key data to search for the best rates and shipping options and then display them live on your checkout.
If your solution isn’t displaying optimized shipping costs and accurate delivery dates at checkout, then you’re only just doing partial rate shopping, which could still be hurting your business in ways you cannot see.
Here’s how most carrier rate shopping solutions today work:
Doing carrier rate shopping at the time of label printing
Doing carrier rate shopping at the time of label printing
Most retailers using automated rate shopping do it only when it’s time to print the label in order to select the cheapest carrier service available. While that could help reduce shipping costs, they end up shipping with a service that doesn’t fit into the customer’s expectations, leading to late deliveries.
By sacrificing the customer delivery experience just to ship cheaper, you create a horrible experience and end up losing customers in the long term. An Oracle Retail study shows that 13% of customers will not return to buy again after a late delivery.
Another disadvantage of label printing rate shopping is that the process still has a manual side to it, since the solutions are not intelligent enough to integrate with all your upstream data like inventory levels, fulfillment locations, etc. That invariably defeats the reason for introducing automation in the first place.
Doing partial rate shopping at the checkout
Doing partial rate shopping at the checkout
Some rate shopping solutions manage to show delivery timelines and shipping costs at checkout. But the tech employed to do that can be time-wasting. How?
First, the solution has to be integrated with different carrier APIs. Next, it has to keep calling the APIs in real-time to request shipping services and rates. Then, using all the information collected, the software decides which delivery options are more efficient before displaying them.
While that could work, calling APIs across different carriers and service levels for every order can be time-wasting and still hurt the experience for customers.
Superior Carrier Rate Shopping – A New Emergence
Superior Carrier Rate Shopping – A New Emergence
It’s clear that the majority of retailers are either not doing carrier rate shopping, or only doing it at the time of label printing. And even when they manage to do it at checkout, the experience isn’t really seamless.
While the different ways to shop for carrier rates aren’t entirely bad, you want to make sure to keep improving your fulfillment processes in a way that elevates the customer experience. You can do it with rate shopping too.
There is a new emergence of brands that are now using a superior shipping solution that does true carrier rate shopping. The execution might seem hard, but these merchants know the value it brings in terms of unlocking strategic value from their shipping operations while compounding their long-term business growth.
FenixCommerce provides retailers with a superior carrier rate shopping platform which saves both time and money for you and your customer, thereby elevating the experience and giving you a material advantage.
Read our guide which explains how carrier rate shopping with FenixCommerce is superior and why we’ve become the shipping solution of choice for fast-growing retailers and DTC brands.
Book a Free Demo
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Author: Akhilesh Srivastava
Founder and CEO of FenixCommerce
Akhilesh is a Technology enthusiast who's passionate about creating a superior consumer shopping experience with technology innovations. He has deep expertise in envisioning and launching new products for eCommerce, Supply Chain Fulfillment and Logistics. To date, he has helped several large Fortune 500 companies including eBay, Walmart, Gap, Nordstrom, Nike, Polo Ralph Lauren, adidas, Petco, Staples and Microsoft among others.
eCommerce businesses today have put in much effort to map out what they think is their best approach to order management and fulfillment.
But with consumers now expecting cheaper, faster, and more t... View MoreeCommerce businesses today have put in much effort to map out what they think is their best approach to order management and fulfillment.
But with consumers now expecting cheaper, faster, and more timely deliveries, most retailers are still not sure about how best to evolve and match those expectations. This raises key questions:
How do you streamline operations at the backend to ensure that you’re always offering an array of delivery options that match customer expectations without hurting your revenue?
And how do you display these multiple delivery options at checkout in a way that won’t overwhelm and confuse shoppers?
To eliminate this air of uncertainty hovering around shipping and delivery, many retailers are now turning to a new solution that is fast becoming a new trend – Automated Carrier Rate Shopping
In this article, we’ll talk about Carrier rate shopping and how far the industry has come with the technology.
Carrier Rate Shopping in Retail
Carrier rate shopping is the use of software to compare multiple carriers and their shipping rates in real time so you can pick the fastest and lowest-cost shipping options for an order. It’s all automated, so you can stop providing an endless list of delivery options at checkout based on guesswork.
Although retailers today might be using automated systems and software to do rate shopping, it wasn’t always the practice. In the past, eCommerce businesses relied on manual processes to shop rates.
To better illustrate why automated rate shopping is a must-do for eCommerce brands today, let’s talk a bit about the outdated method of traditional rate shopping.
Traditional Carrier Rate Shopping and Its Downsides
In the past, retailers had to manually decide the shipping rates and carriers after the sale was made. To do so effectively, it was up to a warehouse employee to find the best carrier service that could get a customer’s order shipped.
That was a painstaking process involving a multitude of disconnected systems and platforms. Here’s how it usually played out:
A customer places an order on the website and it registers in the order management system.
A customer places an order on the website and it registers in the order management system.
A designated retail operator then has to log into different carrier websites like UPS, USPS, DHL, and FedEx.
A designated retail operator then has to log into different carrier websites like UPS, USPS, DHL, and FedEx.
Once logged in, the operator has to manually obtain quotes, compare different services, look at rates, and then finally book the shipment with whichever carrier they think is best for that order.
Once logged in, the operator has to manually obtain quotes, compare different services, look at rates, and then finally book the shipment with whichever carrier they think is best for that order.
Can you tell how gruesome it was to keep switching from window to window while trying to find the best shipping rate and service between multiple carriers?
And that’s just for a single customer order. Now Imagine that the operator has to repeat the same rate of shopping steps for 10, 15, or even 300 different orders. Not only did those tasks waste a lot of time, but they were also obsolete and could no longer keep up with the demands of modern retail and consumer expectations. The possible avenues for errors were just too many with traditional rate shopping.
And when you also consider the absence of a system to handle tracking numbers received from carriers, you'll admit it was even harder to keep tabs on every package until they arrived at their destination.
Put simply, an over-reliance on manual processes to determine the most optimal service to get a package shipped is unreliable and will affect your bottom line negatively.
With a rapidly evolving eCommerce landscape, it’s downright inefficient if you have to manually follow up with different carriers and monitor their services in real-time to come up with the best shipping methods and least costs for every order.
To break away from manual rate shopping, retailers need a single platform that can return rates for every kind of shipping option across different carriers in real-time.
That’s where automated carrier rate shopping comes in.
Automated Carrier Rate Shopping and Why It's the Game-Changer
A few years ago, it used to be just a few delivery options like Standard, 2-day, next-day delivery, etc.
But moving on from the era of traditional rate shopping, there are more shipping options from different carriers available to customers now than before the pandemic; We've got carriers offering actual rates, flat rates, same-day, overnight, expedited shipping, etc.
This new development is what makes carrier rate shopping at the checkout a must for visionary retailers. By using rate shopping software, eCommerce businesses can guarantee efficient, cost-effective order fulfillment without having to rely on the manual decisions of warehouse employees.
Rate shopping software automatically finds and displays the best service and carrier that will get any order delivered faster and at the cheapest cost possible. That way, you can provide more accurate shipping prices and offer your shoppers a wider range of shipping methods to choose from at checkout.
Carrier rate shopping today allows you to compare different carriers and their shipping rates in real time. So you can rate-shop across all major shippers while taking into account your configured business rules and real-time order data.
The result?
You'll get a decluttered checkout page that displays only the best and most cost-effective shipping options for your shoppers to see. Using rate shopping software is a smart move for retailers since it is automated, saves time, and optimizes costs when deciding the best delivery option for any order.
Carrier rate shopping software also benefits customers by eliminating any options considered expensive and unnecessary. By doing so, it reduces how much time they spend in choosing from what would otherwise have been a long list of shipping options at checkout, thereby creating a better shopping experience for them.
Conclusion
If you own an online store, you don’t want to keep making manual decisions about the shipping rate and carrier for an order. That’s an arduous task that could see you keep making either of the following mistakes:
Select expensive shipping options which will lead to lost customers (since 63% of shoppers say shipping costs led them to exit a retailer’s website).
Select very low rates which will hurt your revenue.
With no manual effort required, you can use intelligent carrier rate shopping software to display the most cost-effective rates, along with the best shipping method from a convenient carrier.
By integrating with the right live rate shopping software, you can create a smooth conversion-driven checkout experience and delight shoppers with the cheapest, fastest, and most convenient delivery options that they want.
If you’d like to take full advantage of rate shopping, increase shipping revenue, and simplify your checkout, we have a Free Demo waiting for you.
In our next blog, we will investigate the current state of carrier rate shopping software today and how to maximize it at the checkout to help your business grow.
Book a Free Demo
Author: Akhilesh Srivastava
Founder and CEO of FenixCommerce
Akhilesh is a Technology enthusiast who's passionate about creating a superior consumer shopping experience with technology innovations. He has deep expertise in envisioning and launching new products for eCommerce, Supply Chain Fulfillment and Logistics. To date, he has helped several large Fortune 500 companies including eBay, Walmart, Gap, Nordstrom, Nike, Polo Ralph Lauren, adidas, Petco, Staples and Microsoft among others.
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