Category

Shipping & Fulfillment

Our shipping and fulfillment coverage reflects the expectations of many consumers for free and fast delivery. We address topics that help ecommerce merchants meet those goals, including analyses of carriers, free shipping strategies, fulfillment efficiencies (including the use of third-party fulfillment companies), returns and refunds, multichannel integration, drop shipping issues, and much more.

Shipping & Fulfillment
Drop Shipping: How to Manage Inventory Visibility

January 20, 2015 • Jeremy Hanks

If you’re new to drop shipping, read my 4-part series on the basics, for ecommerce. Drop shipping requires three major data integrations between the retailer and the supplier: product catalog, inventory,
Shipping & Fulfillment
Drop Shipping: How to Manage Product Catalog Data

December 16, 2014 • Jeremy Hanks

This is my sixth article on ecommerce drop shipping. The first five installments addressed the basics. This month, I’ll leave the installment format behind and discuss deeper topics and trends. Drop ...
Shipping & Fulfillment
Ecommerce Drop Shipping vs. Marketplaces: Pros, Cons

November 25, 2014 • Jeremy Hanks

This is the fifth installment in my series on drop shipping and inventory supply models. In “Drop Shipping for Ecommerce, Part 1: Supply Chain History,” my first article, I addressed basic ...
Shipping & Fulfillment
Same-day Delivery by Ecommerce SMBs Viable?

October 27, 2014 • Armando Roggio

Same-day delivery has the potential to become a significant retail differentiator, potentially raising the ecommerce industry’s barrier for entry, making it harder for new, relatively small ecommerce businesses to start ...
Shipping & Fulfillment
Drop Shipping for Ecommerce, Part 4: Winning Strategies

October 20, 2014 • Jeremy Hanks

In “Drop Shipping for Ecommerce, Part 1: Supply Chain History,” my first article, I addressed the basic supply chain evolution inside of ecommerce. Then, in “Part 2: The Basics,” I ...
Shipping & Fulfillment > Merchant Voice
Beware parcel forwarding services?

October 15, 2014 • Richard Stubbings

There is an industry growing up within ecommerce that offers parcel-forwarding services. It is mainly in the U.S., but there are similar services in the U.K., where I live. The ...
Shipping & Fulfillment
Drop Shipping for Ecommerce, Part 3: Suppliers vs. Retailers

September 17, 2014 • Jeremy Hanks

In “Drop Shipping for Ecommerce, Part 1: Supply Chain History,” my first article, I addressed basic supply chain evolution inside of ecommerce. Last month, in “Part 2: The Basics,” I ...
Shipping & Fulfillment
Drop Shipping for Ecommerce, Part 2: The Basics

August 15, 2014 • Jeremy Hanks

My article last month, “Drop Shipping for Ecommerce, Part 1: Supply Chain History,” was the first in a series about drop shipping as an ecommerce supply management technique. What Is Drop ...
Shipping & Fulfillment
Drop Shipping for Ecommerce, Part 1: Supply Chain History

July 24, 2014 • Jeremy Hanks

To fully address the good and the bad of drop shipping as a supply management technique, I'm going to start with the history and current state of the retail supply chain.
Shipping & Fulfillment
4 Ways Same-day Delivery Will Transform Retailers

June 17, 2014 • Armando Roggio

Amazon and Google are expanding same-day delivery services in major cities. These offerings and similar same-day delivery services from other companies could transform retailers online and off, potentially broadening the ...
Shipping & Fulfillment
Pros and Cons of UPS SurePost, FedEx SmartPost

May 20, 2014 • Christopher Bosdal

If you are looking to save money on shipping, start with a call to your UPS or FedEx representative. Speak with her about UPS SurePost or FedEx SmartPost. These are ...
Shipping & Fulfillment
How to Choose an Ecommerce Shipping Provider

April 29, 2014 • Gagan Mehra

Many merchants struggle with the challenge of shipping goods in the fastest and cheapest manner. There are several variables that determine the best shipping provider for each order. These include ...
Shipping & Fulfillment
12 Apps and Resources for Shipping

March 3, 2014 • Sig Ueland

Product shipping is an essential task for most all ecommerce merchants. And efficient and reliable shipping is one of the best opportunities you have to make a positive impression on your ...
Shipping & Fulfillment
6 Order Fulfillment Extras your Customers Will Love

July 8, 2013 • Jerry Jao

Order fulfillment is a critical part of the ecommerce customer experience. As ecommerce operators, we need to ensure that our customers are taken care of even when the merchandise lands in their hands. Here are six examples of extra services to offer customers when you ship their orde...
Shipping & Fulfillment
How to Reduce Picking and Packing Errors

July 23, 2012 • James Hyde

The picking and packing of ecommerce orders can be repetitive, mistake-prone work. But a well-designed workflow, using complementary software, can help reduce mistakes, provided that it supports the employees doing the work — not frustrate or hinder them. This article will explain how...
Shipping & Fulfillment
Changes at the USPS

April 20, 2012 • PEC Staff

Editor's Note: We welcome John Haber as our newest contributor. A shipping and supply-chain authority, he is the founder and CEO of Spend Management Experts, a global shipping and supply-chain consulting firm. His first piece, below, addresses changes at the USPS and how those changes c...
Shipping & Fulfillment
The Future of Regulated Mail, and Ecommerce Shipping

April 11, 2012 • James Hyde

People don’t write letters these days. They send emails. In the U.K., this has produced big changes in the state-owned Royal Mail. These changes have huge consequences for online retailers there. In the U.S., the Postal Service is starting to follow suit. In this article, I'll explain ...
Shipping & Fulfillment
How to Monitor and Manage Your Wholesale Suppliers

March 8, 2012 • James Hyde

In the beginning, you might be content that your inventory suppliers have simply delivered your goods on time. But as you grow and take on more lines, more staff, or outsource to a fulfillment company, you’ll quickly find that the arrival of poorly marked goods can waste time. In this ...
Shipping & Fulfillment
How to Pack and Protect an Ecommerce Shipment

February 9, 2012 • James Hyde

There are three main aspects to packaging for ecommerce shipments. Protection. Helps prevent damage to the items during transit. Presentation. Gives perceived value to the customer. Cost. Often a limiting factor. In this article, I will address "protection" matters: How to...
Shipping & Fulfillment
How to Expand to the U.K. Market

January 25, 2012 • James Hyde

Editor's Note: We welcome James Hyde as our newest contributor. He's a U.K.-based shipping and fulfillment expert with Six Works, a fulfillment firm. Hyde's first article, below, explains money-saving strategies for U.S.-based merchants to sell to U.K. consumers. While the U.S. online ...
Shipping & Fulfillment
38 Fees and Surcharges from FedEx and UPS

December 16, 2011 • Sig Ueland

When comparing shipping rates from FedEx and UPS, don’t forget to include fees and surcharges. Each shipper has an extensive list of additional costs. So rather than just comparing ‘standard rates,’ determine your shipping needs and then calculate the fees. Here is a list of 2012 fees...
Shipping & Fulfillment
Comparing UPS, FedEx, and USPS: Which is Best Now?

November 8, 2011 • Armando Roggio

Shipping costs are an ongoing challenge for ecommerce merchants, who compete head-to-head over free shipping and seek to avoid shopping cart abandonment. Given this competitive environment, knowing which carrier is best can be a huge advantage. In March, L.L. Bean announced that it wou...
Shipping & Fulfillment
The New USPS.com: 5 Sections, Free Stuff

August 26, 2011 • Sig Ueland

The U.S. Postal Service has redesigned USPS.com to make it faster and easier to do business. The site is organized into five sections: Ship a Package, Send Mail, Manage Your Mail, Shop, and Business Solutions. Each section is organized by what you want to do and features a Quick Tools m...
Shipping & Fulfillment
Using the Return Policy to Convert Shoppers into Customers

May 19, 2011 • Pamela Hazelton

It’s common practice to focus on trends, design and shopability to (hopefully) increase and maintain sales. For the most part, these topics play a major role in a site’s sell-through rate. Let’s not, however, overlook the less obvious reasons shoppers may be abandoning your online store...
Shipping & Fulfillment
How To Price Shipping and Handling Fees

September 27, 2010 • John Lindberg

Setting your shipping and handling fees too high or too low can wreck your ecommerce business model. If you charge too much, your cart abandonment rate can skyrocket. If you charge too little, your profit margins can quickly disappear. For most online merchants, cost of goods sold a...
Shipping & Fulfillment
Is Five-Day USPS Delivery Coming?

February 12, 2009 • Armando Roggio

Many online retailers depend on the U.S. Postal Service (USPS) to reliably deliver merchandise to customers, since the service is often less expensive than UPS (United Parcel Service) and delivers six days a week, something that UPS charges a significant premium for. But the USPS lost ...
Shipping & Fulfillment
Shipping Charges: Compromises Required

March 28, 2007 • Pamela Hazelton

You would think online stores would have found it easier by now to calculate and charge accurate shipping fees, let alone set up uninterrupted checkout processes that flow smoothly. Yet I see more and more questions and requests for customizations and fixes than ever before. What makes...
Shipping & Fulfillment
Order Management Software Saves Time, Reduces Errors

January 1, 2006 • Michael A. Cox

“It was the best of times, it was the worst of times.” When Charles Dickens opened his classic A Tale of Two Cities with those words he was thinking only about the French Revolution. But his words strike equally apropos in the entrepreneurial revolution of the 21st century. It is the ...
Shipping & Fulfillment
The Shipping News: Plenty of Carriers for eCommerce Companies

December 1, 2005 • Michael A. Cox

Talk about your needle in a haystack. When you ship one package through the Fedex system it becomes one of more than six million that the company formerly known as Federal Express moves about the globe every day. If you shipped it on UPS it would be one of 14 million handled by the com...
Shipping & Fulfillment
International Shipments Worth the Effort

December 1, 2005 • Brian Getting

One of the greatest attractions of an online business is the vast number of customers that the Internet allows a retailer to reach. Web surfers from all over the world can navigate beyond the boundaries and borders that exist in the physical world to find the products and services that ...

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