Growth is great for business, but it also adds more logistical demands to your operation. Here’s how to ensure your shipping sense trends upward like your profits.
Here’s a point that’s hard to argue: If a company doesn’t ship smartly, they’ll never grow. Many other processes go into a business getting bigger of course, but if the shipping department and carriers aren’t bringing their A-game, then irate customers are a sure thing. We all know what that leads to.
Every stage of growth will affect your shipping profile in some way large or small, and there are benefits to understanding how those small shifts can become big issues over time. Here are some key factors to consider if you’ve successfully grown and want to keep on doing so.
Spoiler: they all boil down to carrier relationships!
Do you feel ready for free shipping?
Most businesses charge customers a shipping fee to begin with, but with growth comes greater revenue and the perfect opportunity to offer free postage. This is one of the biggest lures for new buyers. Just ask Amazon’s customers, 88 percent of whom stated that free shipping was their reason for shopping with the company.
How does this tie into your shipping profile? When you offer free shipping, it does mean you will lose some money because you’re no longer passing the shipping fees onto your customers. Therefore, you need to be sure your business is receiving the lowest rates possible from your carrier. Savings on that front take the sting out of free shipping because paying less for carrier services keeps more money in your shipping department’s pocket.
Conducting a thorough audit of your current shipping expenses is an excellent way to gauge where any savings may be hiding. 71lbs’ team of shipping advocates have plenty of experience in auditing carrier arrangements across 65 categories and questioning arrangements that could be accounting for 30% of your company’s shipping spend.
That’s a lot of potential savings which could be directed toward further growth. Having 71lbs on your side also means paying nothing in sign up fees or monthly charges, and that’s one saving we can guarantee.
Growth means becoming more data-driven
Larger operations mean even more profile metrics to measure and factor into your decisions. Growing businesses must ask themselves two questions: How well do they know the data they generate, and how easily accessible and actionable is it? The more familiar a shipping department is with their figures, the more accurately they can isolate problems, satisfy customers and hold carriers responsible for poor performance.
Plenty of concise and clear shipping data can also be invaluable when it comes to contract negotiations — the more you know, the less chance a carrier has of convincing your business that they know best. Business growth is a good time to invest in technology or automation to gather your data. Better yet, team up with a shipping ally who already has it in place.
By using 71lbs Premium Analytics, you can put your entire shipping operation under the microscope. Our intuitive interface is customizable and will transform the way you view your shipping profile, simplifying the metrics into an easy-to-understand format that will help you make better data-driven decisions.
Your business personality must change with your shipping profile
Growing your business means relying more than ever on carrier performance, and if you’ve been lenient with them until now, it’s time to put that in the past. We’re not recommending jeopardizing a healthy carrier relationship with an unreasonable attitude, but we are recommending that you get tougher than you’ve ever been.
How tough? We mean getting back 100 percent of your shipping costs if the carrier is even 60 seconds late, every time it happens. Confident growth requires building new partnerships with allies willing to fight your corner.
Our committed team knows how to keep a carrier accountable whenever a package is lost or damaged as well as preparing you to cover the loss with shipping insurance. We can also offer shipping discounts with big savings if you’re spending over $35,000 a year in freight.
Regardless of your business size, 71lbs can find a way to optimize your shipping spend. Connect with us at the link below to see your savings grow.
At 71lbs, we focus on two things: a) helping customers save money on shipping, and b) helping customers understand their shipping costs. We provide refunds and savings on shipping insurance, freight and imports, among other benefits. Our automated dashboard displays easy-to-understand shipping costs and insights so you can make better business decisions. Drop by the contact page to get in touch!
