As of today, DHL is the world’s leading logistics company, with close to 600,000 employees and a reach of over 200 countries. In 2023, DHL generated a revenue of € 81,8 billion, equivalent to $103.86 billion. 

DHL has four primary divisions, namely 

• DHL Express for fast and expedited shipments
• DHL Global Forwarding for cargo shipments worldwide
• DHL Supply Chain for a support system for both local and international business
• DHL Ecommerce for standard residential delivery

Apart from being the largest, DHL is also known as the pioneer of low-carbon logistics, who come with the most extensive solutions to reduce Greenhouse Gas (GHG) emissions. DHL has 36,000+

Electric delivery vehicles in its fleet and hopes to achieve net-zero emissions by 2050.

FedEx

UPS

While DHL, FedEx, and UPS work in the same niche, businesses that choose their services often come from varied domains that require these carriers to improvise with their catering. 

To see which of the three carriers works best for your business, it is important to know your goals first — fast shipping, cheaper options, international reach, range of services, access to technology, and efficient customer service. And that will be classification criteria to evaluate carrier performances and decide who works best for your business. 

Services offered by DHL, FedEx, and UPS

DHL operates a gamut of services to cater to the shipping needs of its customers – Some of its domestic non-freight service types are DHL SameDay Sprintline, DHL Express 9:00 Domestic, DHL Express 10:30 Domestic, DHL Express 12:00 Domestic, DHL Express 18:00 Domestic, and DHL Express Easy. Its international non-freight offerings include DHL Sameday Jetline, DHL Sameday Sprintline, DHL Express 9:00, DHL Express 10:30, DHL Express 12:00, DHL Express Worldwide, DHL Express Envelope, DHL Express Easy, and DHL Globalmail Business.

FedEx offers the following service types for non-freight shipments within the US – FedEx SameDay, FedEx SameDay City, FedEx First Overnight, FedEx Priority Overnight, FedEx Standard Overnight, FedEx 2Day A.M., FedEx 2Day, FedEx Express Saver, FedEx Ground, FedEx Home Delivery, and FedEx SmartPost. For non-freight international parcels – FedEx International Next Flight, FedEx International First, FedEx International Priority, FedEx International Economy, FedEx International MailService, FedEx International Priority DirectDistribution, FedEx International Economy DirectDistribution, and FedEx International Ground. FedEx has recently launched Network 2.0, an initiative combining Ground and Express networks to streamline operations and offer customers a simplified delivery experience. 

UPS offers non-freight shipping service types for both domestic and international shipments –  Within the US: UPS Express Critical – Domestic, UPS Ground, UPS Next Day Air Early, UPS Next Day Air, UPS Next Day Air Saver, UPS 2nd Day Air A.M., UPS 2nd Day Air, and UPS 3 Day Select. International – UPS Express Critical – International, UPS Worldwide Express Plus, UPS Worldwide Express Shipping, UPS Worldwide Saver, UPS Next Day Air, UPS Worldwide Expedited, UPS 2nd Day Air, and UPS Standard.

Distinctive features from DHL, FedEx, and UPS

DHL, FedEx, and UPS – each of them has its unique pros and cons: 

• FedEx is strong with overnight shipping, expedited 2-day, and 3-day deliveries, and offers advanced tracking and shipping solutions
• UPS is strong in the ground shipment game and offers comprehensive supply chain management services
• DHL has the broadest global presence among the three and is the most vocal about its environmental commitments

The post DHL Vs. FedEx Vs. UPS: Shipping Carriers Compared appeared first on Lateshipment.com.

FedEx Rate Increase Details for 2024

UPS Rate Increase Details for 2024

UPS has followed suit with FedEx almost similarly across the table, starting with dropping the GRI from 6.9% last year.  

• Similar to FedEx, UPS has kept the shorter Zones (2-4) lower than the 5.9% increase, while shipping options such as 2nd Day Air and 3 Day Select rates in Zones 5-8 have an increase rate of nearly 8%.
• On the other hand, when it comes to rate increases based on weight, lighter packages (falling below the 1-10 lbs mark) have a maximum increase of 6.65%
• For minimum charges, faster shipping options such as Next Day Air and Next Day Air Saver see the highest increase at 7.91% and 7.51% respectively.  

The following UPS surcharges have also been effective since December 26, 2023:

• UPS also introduced an increase in rates for specific Value-Added services and other charges like additional handling rates for both weight and dimension-based packages. For instance, in Zone 2 the Additional Weight Handling rate will go from $29.00 to $34.50, and the Dimensions (Length, Width, Length+Girth) will increase from $18.50 to $22.00 (a rise of 16% in each case).
• Additional Handling fees will also be imposed on international shipments weighing 55 pounds or more. UPS has also stated that when a commercial fee is submitted in connection with a shipment, a fee of up to $5.00 per shipment will be applied to the shipper if the commercial invoice is not provided in digital form using UPS Paperless Invoice services before the processing of the commercial invoice by UPS.

How E-commerce Businesses Can Prepare for the Rate Increase

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Some of the common shipping transactional notifications can be sent for events such as order shipped, in transit, out for delivery, delivered, etc. In case everything doesn’t go according to your plan and your customer’s order hits a roadblock, you can send out customized notifications for common events such as delivery exceptions, suspected delays, failed delivery attempts, etc. 

You can even up things further by embedding an order lookup widget on your shipping notifications and website to make tracking self-service.

Apart from the generic order summary and tracking information, you can also extend the capabilities of your tracking page by including:  

• Brand elements such as font, logo, color schemes, etc, which can help brand recognition and recall. 
• Options to contact support and initiate returns from your tracking pages to offer convenience and improve the brand experience.
• Sale announcements and personalized product recommendations to boost repeat purchases. 

and so much more… 

P.S. You can also enable your customers to track their ‘Order Delivery’ and ‘Return’ status by embedding a 24×7 order lookup widget on your website and chat tool. This helps you in making the brand experience smooth via self-service order tracking for your customers while considerably reducing the need for your support team’s help. 

The post How to Improve Brand Experience via Post-purchase Communication appeared first on Lateshipment.com.

Customers are no longer just interested in low prices, fast shipping, and free returns have constantly been the three must-haves for an online business to make the cut in today’s market. 

They want e-commerce brands to treat them with the proper experience that can lead them to shop again. 

However, most brands unwillingly make the mistake of not giving the same level of attention to their post-purchase as they do to their pre-purchase. This is because brands feel the customer journey ends with the ‘buy’ button. Which is not the case. 

This lack of attention and leaving out the post-purchase order delivery phase at the hands of the shipping carrier often leads to bad delivery experiences and ultimately a post-purchase CX gap that can cost you customers and money. 

In order to close this existing gap and create the opportunity to delight customers in the post-purchase phase, brands must start crafting stellar delivery experiences. Here comes Delivery Experience Management (DEM) that can help you do just that. 

To get better context, let’s start with what DEM stands for. 

Delivery Experience Management (DEM) is the process of being proactive in ensuring that your customers receive their orders on time and how they expect. It also involves taking action as required to correct delivery issues and constantly engaging customers in the post-purchase phase to validate brand promises.

Organizationally Delivery Experience Management (DEM) sits at the very intersection of onsite customer experience, post-purchase customer experience, and order fulfillment.  

DEM is all about offering each of your customers a memorable post-purchase experience that not merely satisfies but also delights and makes them advocates of your brand. 

But why does your e-commerce business in particular need DEM?

Real-time visibility is an aspect of DEM that allows you to stay on the pulse of each of your parcels in transit (from the moment they’re picked up by a shipping carrier up until it is delivered to its designated destination) and identify issues they face, thereby giving you ample time to set things right.

A lack of visibility into your delivery often comes with a horde of challenges, in the form of: 

• You, the business becoming aware of a delivery issue only when an angry customer calls in and 
•  Your customer support reps are forced to handle repeated WISMO (Where Is My Order?) inquiries as there is a lack of information to deal proactively with delivery issues.

However, DEM simply eliminates this case by affording a real-time view of all parcels in transit across different shipping carriers and also working predictively to flag delivery issues even before they arise. This arms businesses with all the actionable information required to thwart a possible negative delivery issue for the customer even before it arises, thus enabling customer loyalty over time.

Handing over the control of the package causes a broken customer experience in the order delivery phase and is also a lost opportunity to monetize tracking moments. 

Delivery Experience Management corrects this imbalance by helping e-commerce businesses provide on-brand order tracking experiences that can make more of a mark on their customers and, indeed, delight them.

In terms of branded customer engagement, DEM helps you: 

• Keep customers informed of delivery status through automated & personalized email and SMS notifications that are triggered and sent to customers when their parcels reach specific events during the shipping process.
• Provide customizable branded tracking pages that makes it possible for a customer to track their parcels within your website rather than being taken to the tracking page of a shipping carrier.

Leveraging order tracking moments can work as your e-commerce store’s next marketing advantage by ensuring brand recall and opening up upselling and cross-selling opportunities for your business. Also, adding relevant product information can help reduce unwanted returns.

There has always been a dearth of data when it comes to the error-prone stage of the logistics cycle, the post-purchase phase. This includes the gap in understanding customer satisfaction metrics as well. 

While you have CSAT and NPS to know how satisfied your customers are and how likely they are to recommend your brand to others, you still don’t have clarity on when exactly customers feel let down by your business. 

Worry not! DEM provides access to a wealth of unbiased data on the delivery performance of your shipping partner(s); data hitherto unavailable to e-commerce businesses like yours; data that shipping carriers have always been hesitant to share with businesses.

This unbiased view of customer sentiment about the quality of delivery experience you offer enables you to:

• Take delivery-related decisions that are bound to delight your customers
• Know how your shipping carriers’ performance impacts your customers and hold this data to account for their SLAs
• Shine a light on the quality of your post-purchase phase
• Helps protect your brand’s reputation from negative feedback.

The beauty of a good DEM solution lies in the fact that it allows you to simplify workflows and boost organizational productivity without disrupting your pre-existing solutions. 

For instance, a DEM platform like LateShipment.com gives you everything you need to create delightful delivery experiences for every shopper, every time. And the best part, it works with all the tools you work with. 

LateShipment.com’s DEM suite is designed to seamlessly integrate with most shipping carriers, eCommerce platforms, order management platforms, CRMs, and helpdesk tools.

Additionally, LateShipment.com also can integrate with custom-built tools and platforms. Our API makes it easy to enable such integrations. This allows you to tap into all the great benefits that can take your business to the next level.

The post E-commerce Delivery Experience Management (DEM) to Drive Customer Delight appeared first on Lateshipment.com.

4. Opt for in-store pickup

The post Porch Pirates: How to Handle Them and Prevent Package Theft appeared first on Lateshipment.com.

Effective communication with customers in handling their complaints

While customers are prone to get frustrated seeing that there has been a delay with their shipment before getting into transit, that shouldn’t prevent you from hiding this detail from them. This can cause more damage as customers always expect you to keep them informed about the status of their orders and estimated delivery times. 

Firstly, it’s incredibly important that you communicate with your customer. The last thing a customer would want to see is that there has been a delay in shipping, and there’s no communication from the shipper. Make the effort to get in touch with the customer and let them know of the status of the parcel. 

Secondly, Apologize if you should. Don’t fall to the misconception that this is the carrier’s fault. Your customers do not feel that way and are more inclined to hold you accountable. Therefore, take ownership and explain the whole situation.  

Take ownership of the situation

This is probably easier said than done, but make sure you own up and face the ire of the customer if it comes to that. There’s no way you can skirt the issue — understand the customer’s frustration

Aside from giving consistent updates such as order status information, and offering empathy along with alternative shipping options or solutions they prefer. 

This will actually show you in a good light and ensure that the expectations of your brand have been exceeded (thanks to your efforts to address their concerns efficiently and follow up to ensure satisfaction).

Proactive Measures to Minimize Delays

Here’s another killer tip for you. Sign up for a service that will help you track your shipments in real-time. This will allow you to identify potential delays early on and respond to issues preemptively. Regularly tracking your shipments also allows you to identify areas for improvement, such as insights into carrier performance. 

If shipping delays are a regular occurrence with your carrier, using multiple carriers for different delivery requirements may well be the way to go. Multiple carrier options while being armed with data can help you to make necessary adjustments such as better carrier choices to prevent recurrence. 

The post How to Deal With Shipping Delays appeared first on Lateshipment.com.

Shipping carriers work on the condition that they abide by their contract and one such condition is their commitment to on-time deliveries. If these deliveries are missing their mark, carriers will ensure a 100% refund under their ‘money-back’ guarantee policy’.

Money-back guarantees are refund policies within the carrier’s SLAs that promise a 100% refund on shipping charges for select service types if a parcel is delayed (sometimes even by 60 seconds) except in exceptional circumstances (natural disasters, weather delays, etc.).

Major carriers that provide money-back guarantees for late deliveries

Here’s the list of different terms and conditions on money-back guarantees from major shipping carriers that you can revisit to stay aware of while filing refund claims. 

• FedEx Service Guide – Money-back Guarantee
• UPS Service Guarantee
• DHL Money-back Guarantee
• Canada Post Late Package Claims
• Purolator Money-back Guaranteed services
• USPS Eligible Refunds
• Royal Mail’s Retail Compensation Policy for Delay
• UK Mail Claims and Compensation

Shipping carriers offer money-back guarantees to assure customers of the reliability and timeliness of their services. I.e., if the carrier fails to meet certain predefined service standards or delivery commitments, then you, the shipper, are entitled to hold them accountable for their service failures and thereby are eligible for a refund of the shipping cost. 

Benefits of claiming refunds under the money-back guarantee

Shipping carriers such as FedEx and UPS have money-back guarantees that offer refunds for late deliveries. However, they either don’t get automatically credited to your account nor are not easy to claim. Therefore, shipping invoice audits act as document evidence that can help you recover costs directly associated with late deliveries. There’s more to it. 

Firstly, making full use of the money-back guarantee and claiming refunds gives you the opportunity to save on your shipping costs.

Second, regular auditing of invoices and claiming refunds holds carriers accountable for their service level agreements (SLAs). This ensures better visibility into your carrier’s delivery performance and fosters a more transparent relationship between you and the carrier.

As a third, with insights into the form carrier performance metrics such as recurring delays with specific routes, services, etc., you can optimize your shipping and make informed decisions regarding logistics.  

Data from audited invoices can also be used as leverage in negotiating better terms (lower rates or improved service guarantees) for future contracts with shipping carriers, thereby enhancing overall logistics efficiency and cost-effectiveness.

However, enjoying these benefits and claiming refunds are not so straightforward, as these money-back guarantee policies often come with certain fine print caveats that make it complicated for you to claim refunds. 

Refund hurdles under the money-back guarantee policy

• There is a list of eligible services – Only certain services are applicable for money-back guarantees. It is important to check if your packages are sent through a service where the guarantee is valid.
• It can be excluded based on conditions –  Money-back guarantee is not applicable when delays are caused by natural disasters, weather conditions, incorrect addresses, customs delays, the unavailability of the recipient, or other events beyond the carriers’ control.
• There are modifications and suspensions – Carriers reserve the right to modify (increase the permissible duration) or suspend the money-back guarantee during high-volume periods like the holiday season. 
• The claim process is tiresome and time-consuming – Even if all conditions are in your favor, the claim can still be rejected owing to the reason that the carrier must be notified within a specific time frame after the delivery (typically 15 days). This can be a hassle, especially if you’re filing these claims manually. 

The post Shipping Carriers’ 100% Money-Back Guarantee Policies and Why Avoid Signing Refund Waivers appeared first on Lateshipment.com.

You can get an unbiased picture of whether you are investing in the right areas and if you are getting commensurate returns by tracking key metrics like Customer Acquisition Cost (CAC), Customer Retention Rate (CRR), and Customer Lifetime Value (CLV).

Ready to take your post-purchase delivery experience to the next level?

Download our guide, ‘Supercharge Customer Lifetime Value & Retention Through a Stellar Post-Purchase Delivery Experience’ – for insights on key metrics that matter, and how you can leverage them to ensure a positive and seamless delivery experience.

Customer Retention Rate (CRR): Are You Keeping Your Customers Happy?

Here’s how to improve customer satisfaction in the last mile and deal with shipping delays, while ensuring your customers enjoy a near-white-glove delivery experience: 

1. Create a loyalty program to encourage customers to buy more and often.
2. Under-promise and over-deliver on delivery dates.
3. Track your shipments in real-time using a parcel-tracking service.
4. Keep your customers informed of package location at all times about important parcel-tracking events, including delivery issues. 
5. Make use of a Delivery Experience Management (DEM) service to manage your customers’ post-purchase experience.
6. Ensure that your support reps are rightly equipped to handle customer queries and complaints regarding delivery delays across all channels, including social media. 
7. Make the eCommerce returns process free and as simple as possible. This will contribute to the overall comfort level of your customers.
8. Compensate customers for late deliveries by offering them coupons or discounts on future purchases.
9. Audit your shipments and claim refunds for delivery failures, including late deliveries (but remember, refunds don’t prevent customer churn).
10. For every delivery failure that happens, do a thorough analysis to understand the reasons and track your carrier’s performance.

The post The Real Cost of Late Deliveries & How to Deal with Them appeared first on Lateshipment.com.

At LateShipment.com, we are excited to announce that we will be a part of the  “E-Commerce Bootcamp” being organized by Freshworks on the 25th of September, 2020 and supported by industry behemoths such as Shopify, PayPal, SurveyMonkey, Unicommerce, and Parcel Hub.

DATE: SEPTEMBER 25 (FRIDAY)

SESSION 1: 11 AM–12 PM (PT) | 2 PM–3 PM (ET)

SESSION 2: 12 PM–1 PM (PT) | 3 PM–4 PM (ET)

E-Commerce Bootcamp is a series of Ask Me Anything (AMA) sessions that seek to encourage e-tailers to transform their existing business while also encouraging traditional brick-and-mortar retail stores to bolster their online presence, especially in the current uncertain economic climate.

Here’s Why You Should Be a Part

2020 has been a challenging year for the world of retail and e-commerce. The COVID-19 pandemic, in particular, has forced organizations to rethink the way they do business. 

A recent report by IBM states that the pandemic has accelerated the shift to digital shopping by roughly 5 years ; the same report also indicates that by 2020, department stores will decline by 60%, while e-commerce will grow by nearly 20%.This indicates that you need to bring your digital A-game to the fore in order to stand out in an already crowded online e-commerce environment.

Of particular importance is how you handle the moments after buyers hit the  “BUY” button on your website. Studies during the pandemic show that post-purchase customer experience has taken a big hit as a result of shipping carriers straining to meet increased parcel-delivery demand. This doesn’t bode well for businesses like yours, especially at a time when customers are more dependent than ever on online commerce.

If your business has been impacted by the pandemic, these interactive sessions will provide you the opportunity to have your pressing concerns and questions addressed by subject matter experts. You will also have access to rare insights to help you optimize and scale-up your workflows in light of the present circumstances.

Who Are These Sessions For?

These bootcamp sessions are tailored toward anyone working in an e-commerce environment or looking to transition their business online from brick-and-mortar (brick to click).

Retail Leaders Who Should Attend

• Management teams: CEOs / Founders
• Operations: COOs, Operations Managers
• Supply-chain leaders: Logistics Managers, Shipping Managers
• Marketers
• Customer Support & Customer Success Executives

What You Will Learn

The expert sessions of E-Commerce Bootcamp will provide a much-needed deep-dive for business leaders.

Session 1 | 11 AM–12 PM (PT) | 2 PM–3 PM (ET)

• The importance of having the right strategy in place before venturing into e-commerce
• Is Direct-to-consumer (D2C) the right selling strategy in the next normal
• Employing no-code tools to boost your online sales
• Competitive Pricing — Deal-maker or deal-breaker
• Criticality of logistics and inventory management for on-time delivery
• Social Commerce — Creating a level-playing field for small and family-owned businesses
• Are traditional marketing campaigns (OOH, TV spots, radio ads) still as relevant in today’s overtly digital marketing landscape

Session 2 | 12 PM–1 PM (PT) | 3 PM–4 PM (ET)

• The impact of evolving consumer behavior and social distancing norms on the holiday season spending
• Personalization in a contactless world
• Beating customer choice paralysis through conversational commerce
• Customer Loyalty Programs vs Customer Service — What’s the #1 Brand Differentiator
• Importance of on-time delivery and customer support in real-time
• The importance of customer feedback in meeting customer expectations
• How social listening helps you understand your customers’ needs and gather valuable feedback

REGISTER ME FOR E-COMMERCE BOOTCAMP

Featured Speakers

These sessions will feature subject matter experts from Outgrow, Chargebee, SurveyMonkey, and LateShipment.com.

There will be additional participation from industry behemoths such as Shopify, PayPal, Unicommerce, and Parcel Hub.  

Session 1 will feature:

• Saksham Sharda, Creative Director at Outgrow
• Vikram Bhaskaran, Senior Director of Marketing at Chargebee
• Miguel Adao, Head of Marketing for North America at Freshworks

Session 2 will feature:

• Sriram Sridhar, Founder & CEO at LateShipment.com
• Mike Greenberg, Lead Product Marketing Manager at SurveyMonkey

These sessions will provide you the perfect opportunity to have your pressing questions around e-commerce and e-tail answered by industry experts.

The sessions are scheduled for the 25th of September, 2020. Slots are limited, so register today to book your place!

DATE: SEPTEMBER 25 (FRIDAY)

SESSION 1: 11 AM–12 PM (PT) | 2 PM–3 PM (ET)

SESSION 2: 12 PM–1 PM (PT) | 3 PM–4 PM (ET)

The post Will You Be at Freshworks’ E-Commerce Bootcamp 2020? appeared first on Lateshipment.com.

6 Ways to Improve a Customer's Post-Purchase Delivery Experience

5. Maximize sales by monetizing tracking moments

The post 6 Ways to Improve a Customer’s Post-Purchase Delivery Experience appeared first on Lateshipment.com.

Integrating LateShipment.com with your customer relationship management (CRM) platform, order management system (OMS), or eCommerce platform allows you to take customer engagement in the post-purchase phase to an all-new level. After all, communicating relevant information at the right time to customers is critical to allaying their anxieties while they await their parcels.

A simple integration enables you to trigger automated email & SMS updates that are sent to customers from LateShipment.com on the completion of standard shipping events like “Shipped,” “In-Transit,” and  “Delivered.”

Additionally, this integration also allows you to reach out to specific customers whose parcels are facing relatively uncommon exceptions like weather-related delays and allay their anxieties with custom email messaging.

For instance, using LateShipment.com, you could send a customer who’s parcel is facing a weather delay a personalized message with a discount coupon attached for a subsequent purchase. This will allow you to make a positive impression on the customer and also ensure that they don’t switch over to a competitor because of circumstances outside your control.

Tap into all the great ways LateShipment.com lets you engage with customers in the last mile by integrating your CRM, order management, and eCommerce tools with it.

• Shopify
• 3dcart
• Magento
• Freshsales & more!

Staying in control of every customer’s last-mile delivery experience is critical for support reps to proactively step in and prevent customer angst when issues arise in the delivery process.

LateShipment.com’s predictive algorithm is capable of flagging delivery issues before the fact, affording your customer support reps sufficient time to rectify the situation before customer impact.

LateShipment.com integrates with your existing helpdesk tool and automatically generates and pushes support tickets to it for possible delivery issues flagged by our predictive algorithms. Any changes in the status of a ticket already generated are pushed as updates to it, so one support representative is able to follow through on the ticket from issue to resolution.

Integrating LateShipment.com with your helpdesk solution can benefit your support team in 3 tangible ways:

• There is contextual info for every delivery issue at hand

• The support rep is enabled to resolve delivery issues in the manner of choice

• The support rep is able to respond to issues faster

Your support reps will thank you for integrating with LateShipment.com and providing them a virtually effortless way to address customer concerns in the post-purchase phase. After all, delivery issues constitute a large volume of tickets that take away from the attention due to product-related concerns.

Give your support reps effortless control in the post-purchase phase by integrating LateShipment.com with your helpdesk tool of choice.

• Freshdesk
• HappyFox
• Zendesk
• Zohodesk
• Intercom & more!

Here’s another reason to integrate your CRM platform, eCommerce platform, and order management system with LateShipment.com: 

LateShipment.com’s Delivery Experience Management (DEM) platform automatically assigns a Delivery Satisfaction (DSAT) score to every one of your parcels. This is possible through our bleeding-edge predictive algorithms that have tracked over 100 million parcels.

The DSAT score allows you to gain a clear, unbiased understanding of probable customer sentiment around every delivery even without them reverting to you.

This score can be pushed to your integrated tool, making it possible to associate post-purchase delivery experience with individual customers. This places you in a strong position to make quick improvements in the best interest of your customers, enabling you to stand out from the competition.

Additionally, we also enable you to collect feedback scores from customers on a custom-branded tracking page that we provide you.

Give yourself visibility into customer sentiment in the last mile by integrating LateShipment.com with your CRM, order management, or eCommerce tool of choice.

• Shopify
• 3dcart
• Magento
• Freshsales
• Shippo
• Stamps.com
• Shipstation
• Shipping Easy & more!

The post LateShipment.com: Integrations for a Better Last Mile appeared first on Lateshipment.com.

Shipping is the most important factor in any online shopper’s decision criteria. Providing quick deliveries at the location and time of choice with a variety of payment options is a must in the modern world of online retail. Flexibility and convenience are key.

When not enough delivery options are provided, a shopper may decide to shift over to a competitor who provides them.

While providing flexible delivery options is non-negotiable in ensuring online shoppers checkout of your store rather than a competitor’s, the quality of the post-purchase experience you offer determines whether your customers will stay with you. In this article, we will look at why last-mile customer satisfaction is crucial and explore the best way to measure it.

Online Shoppers are a Vocal Lot

They do not hesitate to write poor reviews on the social media channels of a business or on review sites if faced with parcel delays or losses. These reviews have the insidious effect of dissuading potential customers from shopping at an online retail store.

Over 90% of customers read reviews before making an online purchase. 

If you are learning about the delivery issues your customers are facing after the fact, then it is already too late to resolve these situations. The damage is already done, and retention will take a hit.

Thankfully, there are definite measures you can take in the last mile to ensure customer satisfaction, but before that, let’s gain an understanding of why customer satisfaction takes a hit in the post-purchase phase.

Why Customer Satisfaction Takes a Hit in the Post-Purchase Phase

1.Loss of Last-Mile Control to a Third-Party Shipping Partner

Most businesses outsource the delivery process to a shipping carrier like FedEx, UPS, or DHL. This creates a situation where control over customer experience is ceded to a third party.

To a shipping carrier, a parcel from your business is but one among the millions that are transported daily. There is no incentive for them to provide YOUR customer a better delivery experience than other customers. So, even if you’ve worked hard to provide the customer a memorable shopping experience until checkout, there’s still the risk that the delivery experience may be underwhelming.

2.​​Shipping-Carrier Deliveries are Often Error-Prone

Though shipping carriers tout a near-perfect on-time delivery record, the truth is not as rosy. 6–8% of shipments routinely end up being delivered late. Some parcels even end up being lost in transit.

The delivery phase is error-prone as it depends on variables like the weather, manpower at sorting facilities, etc. Add to this the fact that shipping carriers are challenged by the rapid increase in the volume of online orders. This creates a situation where customers are set up for failure from the get-go.

3.Lack of Visibility into Shipping Carrier Operations

Shipping carriers are notoriously opaque with information on service failures at their end.

It is common practice for carriers not to update their parcel tracking pages with details on exceptions because doing so is not in their own best interest.

Consequently, customers are often in the dark about the real status of their parcels. Anxiety about parcel whereabouts and frustration over the delivery experience leading to an increased volume of WISMO (Where Is My Order) calls results.

With all the challenges the last mile poses, it is still possible to reap rewards from this part of the customer journey if the customer satisfaction deficit is addressed using an independent third-party tool that allows you to manage delivery experiences.

Why There is a Need for a Third-Party Solution to Amplify Last-Mile Customer Satisfaction ​

1.Measure the Quality of the Delivery Experience You Offer Customers

It is incumbent upon you to use metrics to monitor the performance of various business processes across your retail value chain. After all data is crucial to measure your effectiveness (or otherwise) in providing customers a great post-purchase experience.

A third-party Delivery Experience Management (DEM) solution can help identify where you need to up your game in the post-purchase phase. For example, whether you need to increase your level of engagement through sending automated updates is a call you can take using the data gleaned from a third-party DEM solution.

2.Identify Which Carriers & Service Types are Failing You

Since shipping carriers seldom provide sufficient insight into why a parcel was delayed, using an independent third-party tool can provide that information. A delivery experience management solution can provide you unbiased insights into which service types & shipping carriers you use are failing you and your customers. The beauty of the solution lies in the fact you can gain a bird’s-eye-view across carriers or get granular to the level of a single package. 

3.Identify Time & Weather Windows When Issues Arise

One notable benefit of a third-party Delivery Experience Management solution is its ability to help discern last-mile trends. For instance, using such a solution, you can identify specific time and weather windows when issues repeatedly arise and work on being prepared to handle them when the need arises.

4.Increase Customer Retention & Lifetime Value

Using a delivery experience management solution can help you retain customers and boost customer lifetime value (CLV). This is crucial, especially because it costs at least 5–7 times more to acquire a new customer than to retain an existing one. A quality DEM suite can help you make a positive impression on a customer and show them you have their back at a time when they may be anxious.

it costs at least 5–7 times more to acquire a new customer than to retain an existing one.

5.Reduce the Volume of WISMO Calls

A quality DEM solution can help reduce the volume of WISMO (Where Is My Order) calls your Support team has to field. It ensures your customers receive regular email & SMS updates and never have to be in the dark about parcel whereabouts. It frees up your Support team to focus on resolving product-specific issues.

While it is a no-brainer that customer satisfaction is a must-have for a retail business like yours to keep customers returning as repeat buyers, it makes sense, at this point, to take a critical look at two metrics commonly used to measure customer satisfaction: CSAT and NPS.

The Limitations of Measuring Customer Satisfaction Only Through CSAT & NPS

Since we inhabit an experience economy where customer experience is a competitive differentiator, measuring how well the expectations of shoppers are met is critical. Listening closely to the vital signals that come from customers, even after a product has been delivered is how this is done.

You’re probably already collecting customer satisfaction data through CSAT scores and NPS surveys.

While these methods provide an idea of how satisfied your customers are and how likely they are to recommend your brand to others, they have 2 major limitations:

1.CSAT & NPS Do Not Measure Customer Signals in the Post-Checkout Stage

CSAT and NPS are designed to measure customer sentiment in the pre-purchase and post-delivery stages. However they do not measure customer satisfaction in the post-purchase stage. This leaves a gap in the understanding of customer sentiment as both metrics ignore a critical, error-prone stage of the logistics cycle.

2.CSAT & NPS Do Not Provide Insights on When Issues Arise or When Exactly Customers Feel Let Down

While CSAT & NPS give an idea of customer sentiment, they don’t provide clarity on when exactly customers feel let down by your business. They don’t pinpoint specific instances when issues arise. This creates a situation wherein your business could be in the dark about which issues to address and when despite making use of CSAT and NPS.

The shortfalls of the CSAT and NPS systems make it incumbent upon businesses like yours to have a system in place to measure the quality of deliveries.

DSAT Score: A Brand New Metric to Measure Delivery Experience Quality 

We at LateShipment.com have pioneered a new system that can help you gain a clear view of what your customers feel about the quality of delivery experience you offer.

We are pleased to introduce the DSAT scoring system.

The DSAT scoring system is designed to give an unbiased view of customer sentiment about the quality of delivery experience you offer.

At its heart, this is a surprisingly simple system that allows your customers to rate their delivery experiences on a scale of 1–5.

It’s filled with benefits aplenty for your retail business. It lets you:

1.Provide Customers an Opportunity to Give Feedback on Delivery Quality

The DSAT system lets you listen to customer voices and gain an unbiased idea of what they think of their order delivery experience. It places you in a position to take last-mile decisions that are bound to delight your customers.

2.Hold Your Shipping Carrier Accountable for Service Failures

Despite their claims to the contrary, shipping carriers like FedEx and UPS generally have a delay rate of 6–8%. The DSAT system allows you to know how their real performance impacts your customers. After all, with data in hand, it becomes easier to hold them to account on their SLAs.

3.Measure Post-Purchase Customer Experience on Par with Pre-Checkout Customer Experience

While most businesses place a great deal of emphasis on the onsite experience they offer their customers, the post-purchase phase is inevitably neglected. While CSAT and NPS provide an idea of customer sentiment in the pre-checkout stage, DSAT can help shine a light on the quality of your post-purchase phase.

4.Protect Your Brand's Reputation in the Last Mile

Despite the fact that the last mile is generally outsourced to shipping carriers, most shoppers still tend to pin the blame for delivery delays on retail businesses like yours. The DSAT system helps protect your brand’s reputation from negative feedback and isolates problems outside your organization from those within. It lets you identify aggrieved customers and do right by them.

5.Identity Which Areas of Your Logistics Operation Need Attention

The feedback mechanism that the DSAT system provides allows you to unambiguously identify which areas of your logistics operation need attention in order to allay customer concerns.

How You Can Get Started Amplifying Costumer Satisfaction in the Last Mile

Improving customer satisfaction in the last mile is an important challenge to solve as it translates to increased retention and profits.

Here are some ways your retail business can boost customer satisfaction in the last mile:

1.Get Actionable Post-Purchase Insights Using a Third-Party Solution That Provides Visibility into Shipping Carrier Delivery Performance 

A quality Delivery Experience Management (DEM) solution can help your business measure the actual performance of your shipping carrier and hold them accountable. It can provide real-time visibility into their operations from the standpoint of delays and service types. If you use multiple shipping carriers for fulfillment, such a solution can help compare them and identify where your service level agreements (SLAs) are not being delivered upon.

2.Be Proactive in Identifying Delivery-Related Customer Issues and Take Appropriate Action to Mitigate Customer Pain

If you’re learning about delivery delays from customers, it’s already too late to remedy the situation. You need to be proactive in identifying possible delays and address them before customer impact. While this may seem a challenge for businesses that ship at scale, an automated algorithm with predictive capabilities can help your customer-facing teams do just that.

3.Meaningfully Engage With Customers Across the Delivery Lifecycle of an Order

One of the most effective ways to increase customer satisfaction in the post-purchase phase is to engage with them consistently as they await their parcels. Sending automated status updates and providing an easy, on-brand tracking experience are ways to do this.

4.Get Feedback From Customers About Deliveries and Take Action as Needed

A business that listens to customer voices and makes changes as required is one that reaps the rewards of increased retention and lifetime value. Make sure to provide customers an avenue by which to provide feedback on the quality of deliveries, and have a rating system in place. LateShipment.com’s pioneering DSAT scoring system allows you to do just that.

LateShipment.com's Delivery Experience Management (DEM) Platform: A Win for Your Last Mile

In spite of the sky-high costs, tedious process, and accumulated complications, last-mile delivery will always remain the decisive leg of the supply-chain process.

At LateShipment.com, our focus has remained steadfastly on the last mile, typically the part of the logistics chain that is the most opaque.

LateShipment.com is the world’s only logistics cloud tool that helps businesses of every size reduce shipping costs by up to 20% and provide memorable delivery experiences to customers at scale.

The best part is, it takes less than 2 minutes to see LateShipment.com in action.

COVID-19 Note: To help tide over the current crisis, we are giving all businesses full and free access to our Delivery Experience Management Platform till June 30, 2020.

The value we add to businesses is most evident when experienced first-hand.

It’s that simple!

The post Improve Customer Satisfaction With Data-Driven Last-Mile Insights appeared first on Lateshipment.com.

Use Cases for a Delivery Experience Management (DEM) Platform

As an online merchant, how many times have you struggled to handle relatively uncommon situations like weather-related exceptions because you were unable to inform specific customers in time that their parcels would be delayed?  

At LateShipment.com, we are committed to helping you retain customers through the toughest of circumstances. This is why we provide you with the ability to send custom messages to specific customers whose parcels are experiencing uncommon delays like unexpected weather exceptions.

When your customer’s in-transit order is likely to go haywire, you can preemptively inform them of the issue and offer them a solution like re-shipping the order via an expedited shipping option, a discount, or a refund on their next purchase.

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The shift from physical to web-based shopping is afoot.

Millennials’ Online Shopping Preferences

The Key to Reaching Millennials

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A cohesive shopping experience, both online and offline, is what the modern consumer demands. An omnichannel customer experience (CX) works by seamlessly connecting every one of your customer touchpoints over multiple channels with the aim of optimizing your brand’s customer journey.

Customer interactions and engagements today are typically a blend of traditional and digital customer touchpoints to ensure brand success. For example, regardless of whether a customer shops from a desktop or mobile device or a retail store, they are bound to have a seamless brand experience.

Customer interactions and engagements today are typically a blend of traditional and digital customer touchpoints.

Businesses that provide an omnichannel customer experience tend to retain their customers better, with the ease of use contributing to recurrent purchasing.

Why You Must Provide an Omnichannel Customer Experience

Technology is now integrated into every area of our lives. The line that separates online and offline interactions with customers has started to blur. The average customer today wants to interact with businesses on the go without having to switch platforms or applications. This is why it is incumbent upon brands to build an omnichannel customer experience.

[bctt tweet=”The average customer today wants to interact with businesses on the go without having to switch platforms or applications. This is why it is incumbent upon brands to build an omnichannel customer experience.” username=”LateShipment”]

The Key to a Worthwhile Omnichannel Customer Experience

Your brand’s success hinges on creating multiple customer touchpoints that provide a singular, unified customer experience.

Your brand must align its goals, messaging, and design across different channels and devices to provide a truly omnichannel CX. For this to happen, you need to first understand the various channels and devices your customers use apart from their needs and preferences. You must apply this knowledge about your customers to create an engaging omnichannel CX for higher ROI.

[bctt tweet=”Your brand must align its goals, messaging, and design across different channels and devices to provide a truly omnichannel CX.” username=”LateShipment”]

How to Provide Top-Class Omnichannel Customer Experience

1. Don’t Lose Sight of the Traditional

Going digital doesn’t imply ignoring your brick and mortar business. Take the effort to ensure your customers receive the same information about your business across all platforms. Make sure not to leave your physical store behind while you run offers, deals, discounts, and more!

Going digital doesn’t imply ignoring your brick and mortar business.

2. Make the Customer Experience Immersive & Interactive

According to a Forrester report, around 30% of marketers repurpose ad budgets toward data, technology, or innovation with a view to fulfilling customers’ needs by creating an immersive customer experience.

It is is incumbent upon brands to ensure that their customer journey is immersive and interactive. Identify all the touchpoints of interaction in your customers’ experience cycle and make sure you connect with them at every point. Doing so will help you identify customer pain points and quickly address them while they are still manageable.

3. Focus on Apps

Data from Forrester Research suggests that on average consumers from Britain and the United States use around 24 apps per month. Of all these apps, they spend more than 80% of their time on not more than five apps. Consequently, it is important to ensure that your brand is with the consumer all the time as an interactive and engaging mobile app.

[bctt tweet=”It is important to ensure that your brand is with your customers all the time as an interactive and engaging mobile app.” username=”LateShipment”]

The research study also suggests that customers spend most of their time on social media and messaging apps rather than on games or business apps. This indicates that brands need to build an innovative app marketing strategy where they engage customers through frequently-used third-party apps while simultaneously not abandoning their own native apps. Brands can also run innovative campaigns and promotions to bring customers on to their apps.

4. Have a Responsive Website

Gone are the days when internet usage was restricted to desktop computers and laptops. You are probably surrounded by many electronic devices and gadgets even as you read this article! This means that every device can serve a purpose or be substituted by another. 

Is your website optimized enough to cater to all audiences who come to your website using different devices? Based on Forrester data, Over 90% of mobile users haven’t bought anything through their phones in the past three months. More than half of these cite unfamiliarity with the mobile version of sites as the main deterrent.

5. Create Cross-Selling Opportunities 

It is easier to sell to existing customers than to  convince new ones to buy. So, always have cross-selling options in place. According to market research by Gartner, “of 503 buyers of B2B technology and services, a significant number of respondents viewed these activities (cross-selling pitches) as extremely significant in terms of expanding the relationship (and propensity to buy).” The reasons for this could be varied, including factors like knowledge of the brand, trusting the organization and product/service quality, perception of value for money, better access to customer support, being existing customers, etc. 

Make sure you package your offerings with an understanding of your customers’ needs and use cross-selling to engage your customer better while expanding the scope of your business.

6. Be Where Your Customers Are

Do not shut yourself from customer feedback. Listen to your customers and gather all the qualitative data that their inputs give you on multiple platforms.

In other words, be wherever your customers are, and have an active brand presence on all platforms. This won’t just make customer interactions easier, it will also help you ensure that your customers do not have to take any extra steps (opening a new app, website, or social media platform), to connect with you. Businesses sending tickets and notifications to customers on Whatsapp is a great example of being where customers are.

7. Let Data do the Talking

When Econsultancy surveyed over 600 digital marketing and e-commerce professionals for a research study, a staggering 85% of them admitted to facing difficulty in extracting full value from data sources. Additionally, two-thirds of survey respondents admitted to feeling overwhelmed by the volume of incoming information. While you may have been working hard to reach out to your customers and been gathering vast amounts of data, the real challenge is to sort through them and use them for your benefit. 

We are in an information age. It is now possible to use inputs from incoming data points for customer behavior prediction and proactive branding and marketing. Handling data analytics the right way can give your business a major boost in your omnichannel strategy.

8. Have a Uniform Call-to-Action

Uniformity is the key to building a top-class omnichannel customer experience. So make sure your brand speaks the same language across platforms, channels, and collaterals. By uniformity of messaging, we do not mean using the same words or tone everywhere but rather that the overall brand messaging needs to be packaged to convey the same meaning everywhere while effectively targeting each platform’s audience.

How Omnichannel CX Impacts Organizational Functions

Marketing, Sales, and Customer Support are the three major business processes that have a major impact on and are impacted by omnichannel CX. Each of these processes plays a critical role in the customer journey right from creating brand awareness to customer acquisition and retention. These processes work in tandem toward developing and delivering a seamless and cohesive customer experience.

Research and Planning has a huge role to play in applying advanced CX strategies and models. For instance, the Product and Customer Success departments can also be a part of your brand’s CX strategy in order to ensure a successful omnichannel experience. The right combination of business processes can be streamlined to create an integrated CX and achieve business goals.

Conclusion

Businesses are constantly striving to obtain a global customer base. Consequently,  relevance, reach, and retention must be the key principles to serve, support, and delight your customers worldwide. Omnichannel CX is your go-to business strategy to boost ROI and brand loyalty. While one is all about the numbers, the other is dependent on your customers’ connection with your brand on an emotional level.

[bctt tweet=”Omnichannel CX is your go-to business strategy to boost ROI and brand loyalty.” username=”LateShipment”]

CX leaders target increased growth and greater profits through omnichannel marketing. They understand that true omnichannel customer experience is an eclectic mix of customer-centric business innovations and strategies that provide better results for various stakeholders: employees, customers, and shareholders.

True omnichannel CX is an eclectic mix of customer-centric business innovations and strategies that provide better results for various stakeholders.

An increasing number of global brands are adopting omnichannel CX best practices to ensure customer success. Disney is a case in point. It’s mobile-responsive website, the My Disney Experience tool, and the Magic Band Program all provide an integrated customer experience. This omnichannel approach has allowed customers to enjoy a seamless experience of Disneyland across multiple channels online and in the park.

Ultimately, The thing to remember is that when you begin building your brand experience with a focus on omnichannel customer experience at its essence, you can ensure business growth that is both future-proof and holistic.

The post Omnichannel Customer Experience for Retail (2020) appeared first on Lateshipment.com.

As a small business, running an e-commerce website can be hectic. Managing the inventory, packaging, and delivery of products can be overwhelming. Return of products can also add to the chaos. Customers only gravitate to online stores that have easy return procedures. 66% of customers check the return policy before making a purchase, making it essential for retailers to think through the return policies before starting an online business. This approach is applicable for both stand-alone e-commerce websites and brands that sell on marketplaces like Amazon.

Handling returns is often easier said than done because it involves a variety of challenges.

Handling returns is often easier said than done.

Some Challenges That Come with Returns

• Interrupted warehouse efficiency: Unexpected return of goods can complicate warehouse operations and inventory management. Per-process handling costs can escalate, and this combined with resale challenges can become a major pain point.
• Extreme return policies: Some businesses have strict return policies to combat the increasing number of returns. However, customers only respond to and become loyal to brands that have flexible return policies.
  

  Customers only respond to and become loyal to brands that have flexible return policies.

• Handling product damage: Once products are brought back to the warehouse, they have to be conditioned for resale. Most business owners ask customers what was wrong with the product but “It was damaged” is not an answer to work with. Figuring out the problem with a damaged product can consume a lot of time and money.
• Loss of liquidation: Sometimes you might want to liquidate an entire set of products if there is continuous return from that category, e.g. the previous season’s clothes, old electronics, etc. This might lead to selling them at prices far below than the retail price.

While there are a myriad challenges associated with reverse logistics, thankfully there are a variety of ways by which these can be overcome.

Facing the Challenges Associated with Handling Returns

• Use technology to your advantage: Returns come with a lot of supply chain confusion and losses. One way to reduce these is by streamlining back office operations and integrating them with the overall reporting system. This will help you identify the exact threshold to cross for a customer to become problematic. Addressing problems according to individual customer profile can help you reduce costs. For instance, beauty and cosmetics giant Sephora used this technique to identify clients who returned their products several times, mostly after trying them out. They imposed a rule that their products couldn’t be returned more than twice in any given situation. This is a well-balanced return policy that is fair to the brand and the customers.
• Use the data on hand: Collect all the important data associated with the returning of goods. The number of returns for a particular product type, the type of damage,and the number of returns due to improper packaging are significant actionable data. Having this data on hand will help you improve your packaging and delivery efficiency and also aid decisions pertaining to restocking products. You can use tools like Optoro to carry out the data analysis process.
• Pre-print return labels: Protect your business from fraudulent returns. Attach pre-printed return labels that include invoice number, quantity, and SKUs. When products are returned with these return labels, your team will know the returns are authentic. They will then be able to proceed with the replacement process.  
• 
• Offer a reasonable return time limit: The time within which customers can return products is critical. Usually, small businesses have a 60-day return policy, but depending on the products you sell, set a reasonable return time-limit that does not affect your business or is too less of a time window for customers. If you are selling perishable goods or products that have a short shelf life, you can fix a 30-day or 15-day return policy.
• Create a balanced return policy: Creating a balanced return policy that does not affect your business is essential. But make sure this policy is flexible when it comes to retaining loyal customers. As a small business, you can bend backward to maintain your loyal customers. You can also ease out the return process by adding a small gift like a discount voucher as a “sorry” for a damaged product or even have a follow-up call to ask about the replaced products. If you rack up overhead expenses due to these measures, you can always take loans for your retail business.

Conclusion

Many hidden costs, like the costs on free shipping, are involved in the return process. Always keep a watch on your profit margins and avoid taking returns for products that are sold at steep discounts. Make sure your retail prices cover operating costs.

Though there are several ways to handle returns, steps should be taken to reduce returns in the first place. Optimize product descriptions and images to set realistic expectations among customers. Also, offer impeccable customer service as customers might sometimes want to try getting products fixed first instead of returning. Give them that chance.

______________________________________________________

This is a guest post by  Joseph Brady, Vice President of Digital Marketing at Reliant Funding.

The post Ecommerce Returns: Challenges & Solutions appeared first on Lateshipment.com.

Shipping wine is, to put it mildly, a complicated process. 

Firstly, shipping wine requires a license for the manufacture and shipping of wine. Secondly, there are numerous state laws to be complied with: laws of both the state of origin and the destination state. Thirdly, a specific wine shipping contract with a shipping carrier like UPS or FedEx is required. By the way, the United States Postal Service does not ship wine!

The United States Postal Service does not ship wine!

If you are Canadian, know that the laws around shipping wine are complex and still evolving within the country, but this hasn’t prevented retailers like this one surmounting the challenges and thriving.

Why does shipping wine have to be so complicated, you ask? Well, the answer to that lies in one word: prohibition. The result of the prohibition era in the country (from 1920 to 1933) was that individual states were given the power to legislate on whether and how they would allow the manufacture and shipping of wine to take place.

State-Wise Laws on Shipping Wine

Utah, Arkansas, Mississippi, and Alabama prohibit the direct shipment of wine from wineries to customers. In Kentucky, residents may have wine delivered to them from wineries that produce less than 50,000 gallons of wine annually, but neither UPS nor FedEx deliver to the state.

Ohio and Louisiana limit the number of cases of wine that may be shipped to state residents annually.

Delaware prohibits direct shipping of wine to state residents. Residents may, however, bring or ship wine home from out-of-state wineries, although shipping wine by common carriers like UPS and FedEx is banned. The same is true for Rhode Island.

States like California and Colorado don’t restrict direct shipping from wineries.

As is evident, there are a wide gamut of laws concerning wine shipping in the various states.

If you intend to ship wine, what you need are awareness and a plan.

Getting Started with Shipping Wine

Obtain a License to Ship Wine

As mentioned earlier, shipping wine requires a license. There are licenses issued by the various states for this purpose. The fees involved in obtaining a license vary widely from state-to-state.

For example, the fee for direct shipping of wine in California is $10, but in New Mexico, it varies between $150 and $1150. As a first step, make sure to research the licensing requirements and costs for the states you intend to ship to.

Comply with Applicable State Laws

Comply with the laws of the state you are shipping to for a painless shipping process. For example, in Arkansas, only one case per month may be shipped to a person. In Indiana, the limit is a much more liberal 5000 cases per year per winery.

Direct shipping of wine to Utah is a third degree felony, so the major carriers don’t ship to that state.

Negotiate a Wine Shipping Contract with Your Carrier

FedEx and UPS require that anyone who wishes to ship wine must first enter into a specific contract with them.

For FedEx, this contract is called the FedEx Alcohol Shipping Agreement. As for UPS, shippers who wish to ship wine must enter into either the UPS Agreement for Approved Wine Shippers or the UPS Wine Industry Fulfillment House Agreement For Approved Wine Shippers.

Make sure you do your research and weigh your options before entering into any agreement with a shipping carrier. This will ensure you get the best possible shipping terms and rates. Do not, under any circumstance, waive off your right to refunds.

Package Right

The quality of packaging is critical when you ship wine. The last thing you want is your expensive bottles breaking in transit.

Use a corrugated box with polystyrene inserts. Let the box be a little larger than the size of your bottles. Pack the bottles as far from the walls as possible to avoid movement or breakage during handling. Use pressure-sensitive packing tape generously to seal up the closure flaps and prevent bottles from falling out the bottom when in transit. The number of bottles in a case of wine is usually 12. Each bottle holds 750 ml.

Wine consignments must be identified as such in the label. Further, there may be additional labeling required by the origin or destination state.

Track Your Consignments

Wine is a time-sensitive product and delays can alter quality. Make sure you track your shipments when they are in transit. Consider using an automated service that can predict delays to make the process easier.

Keep the Customer Informed of Shipment Status

Keeping your customers up-to-speed with the status of their shipments is a healthy practice regardless of the product being shipped. It helps build trust and prevents confusion in the event of any shipping carrier exception occurring. A positive shipping experience for the customer helps you retain them.

Send out periodic SMS and e-mail alerts while a customer’s parcel of wine is in transit. This channel of communication could also come in handy to gently advertise your other wine varieties.

Make Sure an Adult is Present to Take Delivery

The law mandates that only an adult 21 or older with valid ID can take delivery of a consignment of wine. A large number of wine parcels go undelivered because of an adult not being present to take delivery. This is all the more reason to ensure proper communication channels are present between you and your customer during shipping.

A large number of wine parcels go undelivered because of an adult not being present to take delivery.

Audit Your Shipping Invoices

Shipping carriers like UPS and FedEx are more prone to delays and other errors than one might expect. It is therefore a healthy practice to audit your shipping invoices and claim refunds for service failures where applicable. As with parcel tracking, using an automated service for this purpose can go a long way toward simplifying the process.

Auditing your shipping invoices and claiming refunds becomes all the more important as a wine shipper. Wine is an expensive commodity that takes intensive effort to prepare. Any delays or damage during shipping can make a significant dent in the profitability of your business. Auditing invoices and applying for refunds ensures not only that you receive refunds to offset damage during transit but also impels your carrier to provide you better service moving forward.

Conclusion

Shipping wine is far from a straightforward process. Compliance to various state and federal regulations is required at every step of the process. And there are significant fines to be paid for non-compliance. To ship wine is to step into a minefield, and yet, there are numerous businesses that thrive in the sector: businesses not just in the United States but also in Canada with its similarly complicated wine laws.

At the end of the day, what it takes to make it in the wine shipping business is an awareness of state and federal laws and the requirements of shipping carriers as also a desire to delight your customers. Now go enjoy a glass of the best from Sonoma or Napa as you watch the sun set behind the misty, vineyard-covered hills!

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