For growing retailers, rising shipping volume brings both excitement and anxiety. As shipping volumes rise, so do logistics complexities—and costs. It’s a lot to handle, but part of keeping operations moving efficiently will undoubtably be an analysis of costs across shipping partners.
Selecting the right shipping strategy is about more than just rates, however. Businesses must weigh the total value of pricing plus speed, reliability, scalability and customer experience—all of which can have a significant impact on profitability and customer satisfaction.
See important steps to help evaluate shipping providers to uncover smarter, more efficient ways to ship.
Two Steps to Approach Higher Volume Shipping
Growing volume means higher spend, but weighing the benefits can ensure you’re getting the most out of every dollar. Inefficiencies can wreak havoc on performance and your bottom line. Strategic planning to scale up operations demands a two-prong approach.
Step One: Evaluate Costs
Start with a clear understanding of your current shipping volume and the rates you are paying with your shipping partners. This includes analyzing not only base rates, but also any hidden costs that have come up, often unexpectedly. Fuel surcharges, address correction fees, accessorial charges and more can quickly add up to a significant expense.
Discounts can help balance out these costs, and you don’t have to be a huge operation to get them. While discounts have typically been high-volume based, carriers are offering more and more discount opportunities to medium-size shippers. This is especially true for businesses that can prove growing volume and expected peaks.
Shop around and negotiate based on your growing volume to get the best rate, but don’t forget to look beyond the price tag as well.
Step Two: Evaluate Benefits
While a cheaper rate may be enticing, you need a partner, or partners, that makes deliveries, returns, tracking and billing as seamless and efficient as possible. For today’s businesses of all sizes, shipping efficiency is more valuable than ever.
Shipping and returns have the potential to heavily influence customer satisfaction and loyalty. You’ll want to analyze the efficiency of the delivery and returns process and have a plan to manage demand. Plus, collaborate with expert partners on the scalability and flexibility of your logistics model. How does any shift in the volume of goods you’re shipping impact customers and your operation? Is technology, infrastructure and quality control up to par?
There may be benefits to leveraging the strengths of multiple carriers to handle various needs. When negotiating with shipping providers, know that dependability and performance matter just as much as rates.
Key Takeaway
To calibrate the costs and benefits for large volume shipping, businesses should approach decision making with both quantitative and qualitative analysis. Be sure to not only pay the best price, but to get the most for your money.
Never shipped with USPS? Now is a critical time to have a trusted carrier to help handle growing logistics needs. The new USPS Merchant Rate Card offers special advantages for medium- to large-sized shippers through USPS Connect® E‑Commerce and USPS Ground Advantage® service, including significant discounts and unmatched reach.
Innovate and optimize—clear priorities for any growing business. Assessing a shipping strategy with the same in mind can help achieve the utmost efficiency, top performance and continued success.
