Shipping rates is a critical piece of your eCommerce strategy, impacting your margins, your customer experience, and your ability to compete in a crowded market.
Recently, RSR Group announced it would begin using USPS for select drop-shipments to maintain its flat-rate shipping program despite rising costs from carriers. This move highlights the importance of periodically auditing your shipping settings to ensure your rate structures are keeping pace with industry changes and market conditions.
Why You Should Review Your Rates Now
In today’s turbulent economy, carrier rates are shifting faster than ever, and your shipping policies might be overdue for a refresh. Here’s why reviewing and updating your rates is critical:
- Protect your margins: Rising rates can erode profits if your shipping fees no longer align with your costs.
- Stay competitive: Shoppers will often compare shipping costs between stores before completing a purchase.
- Improve the customer experience: Clear, fair shipping rates and policies help set customer expectations, reducing cart abandonment and post-purchase frustration.
Steps to Audit Your Shipping Settings
Before making changes, it’s essential to know where your shipping settings live, what each option controls, and the scenarios they impact. Understanding your Gearfire eCommerce shipping settings helps ensure you’re making choices that best serve you and your customers. Visit our Gearfire Knowledge Base: Shipping Settings for a clear guide on accessing and managing your shipping settings.
Direct Fulfillment Shipping Rates
- Verify Distributor Flat Rates: Contact each Distributor enabled on your eCommerce platform and inquire about the current flat rate applied to your dropshipped orders. Make sure to ask for the rate for each additional item beyond the first.
- Compare Current Rate Settings: Review each current Base Shipping Fee value and Additional Item Fee value to ensure it is at or above the costs provided to you by the corresponding distributor(s).
Pro Tip >>> To ensure the rates charged at checkout align with real-world shipping costs from the specific source fulfilling the product purchased, define a Direct Fulfillment Shipping Rate for each ‘enabled’ distributor on your site (regardless of dropshipping capabilities or utilization).
Store Inventory Fulfillment Shipping Rates
- Implement Technology: Utilize the eCommerce shipping carrier integrations to offer real-time ‘Calculated’ rates using your business’s shipping carrier account credentials, ensuring the most dynamically accurate rates are being offered.
- Leverage Gearfire Shipping: Take advantage of affordable, pre-negotiated UPS rates through Gearfire Shipping, providing one of the most cost effective ship-from-store solutions for small to mid-sized independent retailers. More information HERE.
Pro Tip >>> ‘Calculated’ rates factor in the total weight of all items, making the Additional Item Fee unnecessary for recovering shipping costs.
Final Thoughts
Your shipping strategy is not a “set it and forget it” element of your eCommerce operations. By regularly auditing your shipping rates, you can keep your business profitable while delivering a great customer experience.
About Gearfire Team
Gearfire is your go-to source for informed perspectives in the firearms retail industry. Our team, experienced and dedicated to this unique field, provides valuable insights into integrated solutions, compliance, and operational efficiency. With a passion for firearms and a commitment to the community, we share our expertise to help businesses thrive. Explore our blogs for a deeper understanding of the industry, and trust Gearfire as your partner in navigating its challenges and opportunities.