This year has had an unprecedented effect upon the way we do business.  The economic shutdown of 2020 was a rude awakening for the brick and mortar stores across the United States.   We were shown that unless you had a big box store that sold essential items that you were likely going to be closed down.  This happened in States that no one ever believed would do such a thing.  Rather it was legal or right is not the question.  The fact that it can happen has shown business people to always be flexible and be prepared to find a new way to do business and stay relevant.  Ecommerce was the answer for many companies and the difficulties that struck them the most was the cost of shipping. I want to go over a few things for the ecommerce world that may end up helping in the long run for these companies.

The first thing to know is that shipping is expensive.  It can be a 10% cost on average for products and that can eat into anyones margins taken into effect that it occurs on almost every sale. This is indeed a very big deal and many companies need to be prepared for the consequences.  This may mean you put that cost onto your customers.  But how do  you convey the cost for shipping supplies to your current customer base?  To be honest, honesty is the best policy.  Many professionals prefer to let the customer base know that prices are going to rise due to costs of business.  A good way to get your customer happy is to give them a discount before it happens.

So the week before you plan to increase prices by say 6-10% give your customer base a deal.  Let them see a 10% Discount and free shipping before things go up do to covid-19. Be honest and let them know they can take advantage of this deal now.  It is a way to win your base over and let them know what is happening and why.  They will usually respond positively in the long run by doing this.  Now once you get extra sales from the sale you can then spend that money to purchase shipping supplies to cover the future sale of products you are about to have.

Once you have the sale done and your customer base knows you are going to raise prices it is time to decide how to ship all of those items.  I really like packaging supplies stores that specialise in only that.  They usually have the best prices especially in large quantities and can give deals that other companies simply cannot.  10% off a already discounted item sold in bulk is a great way to join the e commerce ranks.  It is really important to go overboard in quality in shipping because it will cut down in other areas as well.

The lack of returns by having good materials is worth a little extra money. Remember bad reviews and returns eat away at margins like a leprosy.  That can be avoided by having good materials and getting the product safely and quickly to your customer. Remember you are shifting the cost on to them, so give them really good service for it! No go out and dominate your market!