Now, more than ever, it is easier to sell products online, especially with great platforms like Shopify. Plus, with Shopify accounting for $319 billion of global economic activity, there is no wonder why Shopify is among the most trusted eCommerce platforms in the world. Moreover, if you want to take things a little bit further, there are even apps that will give shoppers the Shopify pickup option, so it is more convenient for them.
In this detailed guide, you will get to learn everything you need to know about shipping within the Shopify platform, including information on how to set up shipping on Shopify, Shopify shipping best practices, and a whole lot more. Let us get to it.
Shopify Shipping Elaborated
First and foremost, what is Shopify shipping? Bringing your customers’ orders to them is essential for managing your eCommerce business. There are several things involved – from selecting the product packaging to planning the strategy for shipping.
Underpinning those strategic options, nonetheless, is the fulfillment method that takes your order from point A to B. Selecting a delivery method, shipping services, and carrier are all important aspects of the logistics process. At the end of the day, it will be all about balancing what your consumers and customers want and what you can provide realistically, both from a budget and an operational standpoint.
Shopify Shipping is known to work directly with various carriers, each offering multiple mail cases to streamline the process as possible. You can get and deliver your customers’ orders to them both affordable and quickly, whatever this means for your business.
With Shopify Shipping, it is easier and quicker to fulfill orders, thus, resolving several of the usual shipping problems. You can purchase shipping labels in Shopify directly, print many labels at a time, and quickly get orders out the door.
Additionally, Shopify Shipping works in the United States with UPS, USPS, and DHL, Canada with Canada Post, and Australia with Sendle. It also offers various mail classes with every carrier.
Through Shopify Shipping, merchants and sellers can get access to features such as shipping insurance, overnight delivery, package pick-ups, international shipping, tracking information, and so much more, depending on your carrier, location, and mail class.
It also works with carriers directly in order to negotiate competitive rates for every shipping service, which are then automatically included on each plan at no additional cost to you. Brilliant, right? Now, here is how you can set up shipping on Shopify.
How You Can Set Up Shipping On Shopify
Utilizing Shopify Shipping is a great way to streamline the shipping process for your eCommerce shop. Plus, it is incredibly easy to set up. All you have to do is follow the steps below to implement them in your store.
Step 1: Go To Your Shopify Dashboard
Everything you need to gain access to the features of Shopify Shipping is within the dashboard of Shopify.
Step 2: Add Addresses
Make certain your business address is precise. Or, if you opt to ship from a different address, then add this address to the “Locations” portion of your account settings on Shopify.
Step 3: Choose Your Carrier
Make the decision which of the Shopify Shipping partner carriers you wish to use, whether this is USPS, Canada Post, UPS, or DHL Express. Then, click the checkbox to ensure such options are available for your customers at their checkout. Take note that you can use more than one.
Step 4: Confirm Your Product Dimensions And Weights
In the “Products” section of your Shopify dashboard, you need to make sure the dimensions and weights of all your products are accurate. This also ensures that real-time shipping rates are precise for your individual products.
Step 5: Select Your Shipping Speed
Determine the processing speed by which your products will get to your customers. In part, this will be based on your chosen carrier and its features, but it will also depend on your decisions for your business. The various options include standard, next-day, and nominated delivery.
Aside from these, you must also decide whether you want to offer a delivery option for free for certain orders, for example, those that cost more than a specific amount, or for those customers willing to wait longer to receive their orders.
Step 6: Choose Your Packaging
Within the setting features of Shopify Shipping, you can select your preferred kind of packaging. You can usually choose from boxes, envelopes, soft packs, and carrier-specific packaging based on your budget and goods.
Step 7: Set Up Your Labels And Printer
With Shopify Shipping, you will need to pay for your shipping labels. However, here is the good news. Depending on your monthly subscription package, you have access to the biggest label discounts from the partner carriers of Shopify.
You can print your labels with a standard or a specialized label printer, based on your preference and whichever you access.
Step 8: Determine Your Shipping Zones
The final step is determining your shipping zones. Shopify sellers only ship to particular countries and states, and just like them, you can customize which shipping options will be available for which areas. You may choose to offer only next-day delivery to areas nearby your warehouse, for instance.
Once you set these things up, you are more than ready to fulfill customer orders.
5 Best Practices For Shopify Shipping
As for those shoppers who decide to purchase something from your website, shipping is one of the ways to provide them with a superb customer experience. Here are five best practices you can incorporate into your Shopify Shipping to satisfy your customers’ immediate needs.
1. Display Shipping Rates Clearly
Know that many customers abandon their carts due to unexpected fees, such as shipping costs. To avoid surprising these customers at their checkout, show shipping costs in multiple areas of your site. These can be at the top of the homepage, on each product page, and more.
2. Provide Return Shipping Labels
When customers need to return a product since it is either damaged or not what they expect it to be, the last thing they want is to pay for additional shipping only to send the product back to the seller.
Shopify Shipping lets you create return labels. Once these labels are created in your dashboard, you can send customers emails so they can print the label and return the products without the extra cost. You can even use your shipping rates discounted to decrease the cost of what you pay for the return label. That simple.
3. Purchase Insurance Coverage For High-Value Shipments
With the use of DHL Express, USPS, UPS, and Canada Post, you can purchase insurance for products shipped. Coverage rates vary according to couriers, but they generally can protect you when packages are undelivered, stolen, lost, or delivered late. With USPS, for instance, insurance coverage goes up to a maximum of $200. Not only this, but you can also submit a claim directly via Shopify. If you ship products with various courier services, you will not have to submit claims on each of the websites of the couriers. The individual websites store your claims for future reference, though.
4. Take Advantage Of The Package Pickup Service
You know eCommerce mainly occurs online, but a lot more work is taking place offline. Depending on how frequently you ship products, you should consider using the pickup option by Shopify Shipping. With this, you can determine the preferred day, location, and time for package pickup. It saves you a lot of time it would take to make repetitive trips to the post office just to drop off your packages.
5. Use A Fulfillment Center
While growing and increasing your inventory, consider having a fulfillment center to store and ship your products. Each time a new order comes in, this fulfillment center processes and sends it to you, standardizing the processes so consumers get their orders on time. Shopify Shipping also helps you with this.
Moving Further With Shopify Shipping
Shipping is no easy task, even if you are selling online. But there are apps on Shopify that will help you make the process a whole lot easier, breaking the usual belief. The Local Pickup & Delivery Date app by Mageworx allows customers to set a date and time for local delivery and pickup. With this, you can increase your revenue with your online store in no time.
Plus, with Shopify Shipping, you can take away the usually complicated and tedious process in the business, streamlining things so you can focus on the more impactful tasks. With this, you can confidently deliver the products and scale your business to new levels.
