A shipping company or service is so vital to a company that making the wrong choice can lead to a massive loss of customers and, therefore, profits. Because of this, it is absolutely essential to make the right choice; here are a few factors to consider when choosing a shipping company.
Budget & Costs
Firstly, you need to understand all of the costs involved in using a particular company. While this may seem obvious, if you are new to the business and this is your first time choosing a shipping company, there may be a few things you overlook.
Do they use trucks or vans? Do they ship overseas? Do they use shipping containers or shipping boxes? All of these factors will change how much you will have to pay for their services and will therefore change how much your customer will need to pay for shipping, too.
Discounts
While not necessarily something that is advertised, you should inquire about discounts. Depending on the company, there is a good chance that they will give you very good rates if your company ships regularly or ships large amounts of stock.
Companies that use aircraft and container ships, in particular, don’t want to fly or travel with empty space, as that will eat into their profits. Instead, they may offer a discount if you choose to fill said aircraft or shipping.
Shipping Costs
Speaking of your customer, it is vital that you think that far ahead when you are choosing your shipping company. It is all well and good to find a company that can ship anywhere in record time, but if it’s going to cost your customer $400 to get their $20 product, there will be problems.
You will need to find a balance between the cost to you, shipping options and speed, and the cost to your customer.
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Scalability
Even if you are a small business, consistent success will lead to more sales, more customers, and, therefore, more shipping. This is especially true if you are a local business that expands into shipping internationally, as now, the entire world is your customer base.
You will need to find a shipping company that can grow with you or, at the very least, already have the infrastructure in place to handle the increase in orders. A shipping company that only has ten employees and a couple of vans will struggle to ship your product across the globe.
Shipping Speed & Locations
“International shipping” is not a catch-all term for a company being able to ship anywhere. While it is true in some instances, there can be limitations. Africa is a good example of this, as a company with multiple trucks can ship internationally, as they just need to stay on the road, but they won’t be able to ship anywhere over water.
Shipping speed is also another factor that needs to be considered. It is often not enough to just ship internationally, especially if it takes several weeks or even months. For businesses dealing with residential logistics, partnering with experienced Pennsylvania Furniture Shippers can help ensure large-item deliveries are handled safely and efficiently, preserving customer satisfaction at every mile.
Shipping Options
As alluded to already, a shipping company that can offer multiple shipping solutions tends to be a winner. Massive, worldwide shipping companies, such as DHL for example, have vans, trucks, aircraft, and everything in between.
All these options can be combined to give the most efficient and effective shipping solutions and can also drastically cut down on costs.
Dedicated Support System
No matter what services you use in business, whether it be for shipping or payroll, having a dedicated support team available is a must. This support team will be your go-to contact for everything related to your shipping.
Whether you have a query or a shipment goes missing or is late, you need a support service that runs like a well-oiled machine that can get you answers or solutions as fast as possible.
Integration
Considering all your shipping information and data will be online, you want to ensure you can integrate the company’s system into your system. This is especially true if you are an e-commerce store that uses a platform like Shopify or Woocommerce.
Integration is one of the best ways to streamline your shipping and keep all of the necessary data, for both you and your customer, in one place.
Hybrid Options
Depending on your needs and budget, you may need to choose a hybrid shipping option. This means shipping with more than one company; for example, there may be a very affordable local courier that you can use to keep costs down, which means you can spend the money saved on an international courier.
You may also be in a situation where you don’t ship overseas regularly but still need the option available. You don’t want to pay a high fee for an international shipping company when you will only use the international option once or twice or month.
Picking a shipping company can take time, and you will need to have patience, but it will always be better to wait for the best option instead of taking one that fulfills your needs immediately. Never underestimate the power the perfect shipping company will have on your profits and customer satisfaction.
At the end of the day, it is the customers who have to pay for the shipping fees unless you offer them free shipping. Hence, the lower the shipping cost you have to handle, the more competitive price you can offer your customers, which helps you gain an edge over your competitors in the long term, especially if you’re merchandising price-sensitive products.
If you are considering paying a monthly subscription for Shopify, then one of the crucial aspects you should take into consideration is how to ship your products to customers with Shopify?
In this article, we’ll give you a complete guide to Shopify Shipping – What is it? How much does it cost? Shopify Shipping’s Main features and Best Practices for Shopify Shipping.
Scroll down for more!
What is Shopify Shipping?
Shopify Shipping isa built-in shipping toolset Shopify offers you when you pay a monthly subscription to run your online store with it.
So what does this shipping toolset include?
To name some, Shopify Shipping helps merchants to calculate real-time shipping rates; purchase & print shipping labels in their Shopify admin dashboard, and shipment tracking.
Shopify Shipping is a built-in shipping suite you get when choosing a Shopify plan
Before we dive deeper into all the bits and pieces of Shopify Shipping, we have one good news and one bad news to inform you.
Woohoo, Shopify Shipping is FREE on ALL pricing plans!
Hold on, but how about the bad news though? Well,… unfortunately up to the present, Shopify Shipping is only available for orders shipped from the US and Canada.
How does Shopify Shipping work?
Shopify partners with major carriers such as USPS, UPS, DHL Express, Canada Post, etc. to offer Shopify users discounted rates on various shipping services. These discounts often vary from around 20% to 50%. However, they can sometimes go all the way up to 88%.
When you gain access to these shipping rates, you can list real-time shipping rates for your customers at the checkout stage. This helps reduce unexpected delays or hidden shipping costs, thereby reducing your cart abandonment rate significantly.
This is an example of listing real-time shipping rates for your customers
Besides leveraging Shopify Shipping to list real-time shipping rates, Shopify Shipping also comes up with several features that can help smoothen your order fulfillment process.
Particularly, you can process orders and print shipping labels in bulk within your Shopify store. Other international shipping tools can also be utilized in case you want to create & print your branded forms and let customers access tracking info during the shipping process.
In a nutshell, it’s a blessing if you reside in a country where Shopify Shipping is available because it offers bunches of robust shipping functionalities at zero cost.
How much does Shopify Shipping cost?
As mentioned, Shopify Shipping is a free built-in feature you have along with your Shopify store, meaning you can be worry-free about any extra fees.
And that makes Shopify Shipping a sweet deal compared to other shipping apps, which usually cost you up to $100/month depending on the total of orders you ship monthly or the level of customer support you receive.
All Shopify users can benefit from the reduced shipping rates when choosing USPS, UPS, DHL Express, and Canada Post as your carriers. However, the higher you go in the pricing ladder, the more generous this discount can be.
Since this rate varies from carrier to carrier, here are all the shipping rates that are now being offered by the 4 major carriers- USPS, UPS, DHL Express, and Canada Post.
NOTE:If USPS or DHL Express is your final choice, jump straight to theShopify Shipping calculator so that you can see for yourself the most accurate shipping costs you have to pay.
Choose your Shopify Plan (Basic Shopify / Shopify / Advanced Shopify) > Fill in shipping destinations > Specify your package size & weight > hit ‘Calculate’
Shopify Shipping calculator will offer you discounts from the cheapest to the most expensive as shown below:
The calculator will show you multiple shipping options by DHL Express & USPS for you to choose from
United States Postal Service (USPS)
The United States Postal Service (USPS) is one of the best shipping carriers you might love to count on if you want to ship lightweight, less-urgent products from the United States.
This shipping carrier has up to 6 shipping options for merchants to ship their products domestically within the US sovereignty and 3 international shipping choices for those who need to ship their products to the global marketplace.
In particular, here are all the USPS shipping options you may love to take a closer look at:
Domestic Shipping Services from USPS
Priority Mail: 1-3 business days
Priority Mail Express: 1-2 business days
First-Class Package Service: 2-3 business days
First-Class Mail: 2-3 business days
Parcel Select Ground: 2-8 business days
Media Mail: 2-10 business days
International Shipping Services from USPS
First-Class Package International Service: Delivery timeline varies
Priority Mail International: 6-10 days
Priority Mail Express International: 3-5 business days
Although we want to give you detailed shipping costs and fees for you to prepare yourself, this is not possible since your shipping costs will depend on other key factors such as packaging weights, sizes, departure and destination points, insurance included.
Hence, here is an example of how much you’d save with USPS when shipping a package less than 30 oz.
Walk-in rate
Shopify Shipping rate
Savings
Priority Mail New York to Chicago
$10.90
$7
28%
Priority Mail Express New York to Chicago
$42.75
$36
15%
First-Class Package International Service New York to London
$24.5
$22.8
6%
United Parcel Service (UPS)
If your products are time-sensitive, you may love to opt for UPS– a carrier that is well-known for fast shipments and guaranteed delivery. United Parcel Service offers powerful order-tracking functions and guaranteed delivery on super fast shipments such as Next Day Air.
This carrier offers a wide variety of shipping options. But only a few of them are available with Shopify Shipping. The lucky thing is that these shipping options include both domestic and international services which allow you to save up to 70% on shipping rates.
Let’s take a look at the UPS shipping options you’ll have with Shopify Shipping
Domestic Shipping Services from UPS
UPS Next Day Air: Next business day
UPS Next Day Air Saver: Next business day (afternoon)
UPS 2nd Day Air: 2 business days
UPS 3 Day Select: 3 business days
UPS Ground: 1-5 business days
International Shipping Services from UPS
UPS Worldwide Express: 1-3 business days (morning)
UPS Worldwide Saver: 1-3 business days (end of the day)
UPS Worldwide Expedited: 2-5 business days
UPS Standard to Canada: Day-definite by the date scheduled
Similar to USPS, shipping fees vary depending on the package’s weight, dimensions, etc. So here’s an example of how you’d save when you ship through UPS with Shopify Shipping:
Walk-in rate
Shopify Shipping rate
Savings
UPS Ground New York to Chicago
$17.26
$8.08
53%
UPS Next Day Air New York to Chicago
$84.89
$35.27
58%
UPS Standard to Canada New York to Toronto
$30
$16.53
44%
UPS Worldwide Expedited New York to London
$121.28
$36.06
70%
DHL Express
If you sell globally, DHL Express should be a top-of-mind choice to ship time-sensitive orders to customers in more than 220 countries and territories. Thanks to the customs forms and guaranteed international delivery, DHL Express does make sense for your international shipments.
A perk when you choose to ship via DHL with Shopify Shipping is generous discounts up to 74% on shipping labels.
Unfortunately, DHL only offers one international shipping option for Shopify Shipping users:
International Shipping Services from DHL Express
DHL Express Worldwide: 2-3 business days (regardless of destinations)
As mentioned above, each package should have different shipping fees due to the differences in package size, dimensions, and final destination, here is just an example of how much you would save with DHL Express as an eligible Shopify Shipping user.
The rates below will be applied with a sample 1 lb shipment on the Shopify plan (the discount will be a bit more generous for Advanced Shopify and lower on the Basic Shopify).
Walk-in rate
Shopify Shipping rate
Savings
DHL Express Worldwide New York City to Toronto
$93.55
$26.7
71%
DHL Express Worldwide New York City to London
$121.7
$37.72
69%
DHL Express Worldwide New York City to Sydney
$131.3
$42.15
67%
Canada Post
Similar to USPS in the United States, the Canada Post is Canada’s national carrier service. If you reside in Canada and want to leverage Shopify Shipping, Canada Post is your one and only choice. This is a great option for sellers shipping domestically within Canada or internationally to the US.
You can save up to 53% when using Shopify Shipping to purchase shipping labels from Canada Post. Plus, just like UPS, Canada Post also comes with robust tracking features so that your customers can keep track of their orders. However, it should be noted that Canada Post only supports shipping labels with boxes and soft packages, meaning you cannot use Canada Post for envelope-type packages.
Canada Post offers a number of different services with Shopify Shipping. They have domestic services and international services as presented below:
Domestic Canada Post Services
Expedited Parcel: 1-7 business days
Xpresspost: 1-2 business days
Priority: Next business day
International Canada Post Services: USA
Small Packet USA – Air: 5-8 business days; for small, lightweight packages under 1 kg
Tracked Packet -USA: 4-7 business days; for small, lightweight packages under 1 kg
Expedited Parcel – USA: 4-7 business days; for heavier packages under 30 kg
Xpresspost – USA: 2-3 business days
International Canada Post Services: The Rest of the World
Small Packet International: Surface (1-3 months) or Air (6-10 business days); for small, lightweight packages under 2 kg
International Parcel: Surface (1-3 months) or Air (12+ business days); for large, heavy items
Tracked Packet–International: 6-10 business days; for small, lightweight packages under 2 kg. Available to 31 countries
Xpresspost–International: 4-7 business days
Just like the 3 carriers above, shipping costs with Canada Post differ from package weight to dimension, origin, and destination. But maybe you’d love to look at the walk-in rate and reduced rates when using Shopify Shipping with Canada Post.
The rates below indicate the shipping fees of a 1-kilogram package from Toronto to Calgary, Canada:
Walk-in rate
Shopify Shipping rate
Savings
Expedited Parcel Toronto to Calgary
$17.54
$15.44
12%
Xpresspost Toronto to Calgary
$24.65
$22.51
8.7%
Tracked Packet USA Toronto to New York City
$21.91
$19.93
9%
Tracked Packet International Toronto to London
$65.65
$49.79
24%
Shopify Shipping’s Main Features
The ultimate guide to Shopify Shipping –
Apparently, Shopify Shipping provides sellers with almost everything they need to ship and fulfill orders. Although there’s still room for improvement in some current features, Shopify Shipping basically meets the demands of most merchants.
Here is a summary of the features you’ll have with it:
Integrations With Major Carriers – Canada Post, DHL, USPS, UPS, Sendle, and Hermes.
Label generation – You can purchase & print up to 20 labels at a time. You can use a regular desktop printer or a supported label printer to print these labels.
Shipping Insurance – Shipping insurance through Shipsurance is only available to merchants shipping from the US. You can protect your shipped orders by buying up to $5000 of insurance coverage. You can add shipping insurance and file a claim within your Shopify admin dashboard.
Shipping option management – You can choose to set free or flat shipping rates or calculate rates based on weight and dimensions.
Tracking capabilities – Provide customers with real-time updates and tracking information.
How to set up Shopify Shipping?
Using Shopify Shipping can be a great way to streamline the shipping process for your eCommerce store. It’s simple to set up – all you need to do is follow these steps to implement it on your eCommerce store:
Step 1: Add addresses
Your business address is set as your default shipping location. If you want to ship from a different address, then edit it in the “Locations” section of your Shopify account settings.
Settings > Locations > Click Add location or edit the default one. Note that you can add up to 8 shipping locations
Step 2: Choose your shipping carriers
Depending on where you’re residing, you can add carriers from USPS, UPS, DHL, or Canada Post. Choose which of the available options you’d prefer then tick the checkbox to make those services available on your checkout page.
Step 3: Confirm your product weights and dimensions
Remember to specify the weight for all your products. This is to make sure that the real-time shipping rates are accurate for all customers’ orders.
Make sure your product weights are accurately specified
Step 4: Choose your packaging
Within the Shopify Shipping settings, you’ll also be able to select your preferred type of packaging. You can usually choose from envelopes, boxes, soft packs, and carrier-specific packaging depending on your budget and products.
Shopify will use the package’s dimensions & weight you input here to calculate real-time shipping rates
Step 5: Set up your printer and labels
Of course you have to pay for your shipping labels when using Shopify Shipping. But depending on your Shopify plan, you may access generous discounts from Shopify’s partner carriers.
You can print your labels using a standard printer or a specialized label printer, depending on your preference and whichever you have access to.
Apart from your desktop printer, Shopify Shipping also works with the label printers below:
Dymo LabelWriter 4XL
Rollo label printer
Brother QL-1110NWB label printer
Step 6: Determine your shipping zones
And last but certainly not least, don’t forget to set up your shipping zones.
Some Shopify sellers only ship to certain territories and you can also edit which shipping options are available for each of your shipping zones. For instance, you can offer free shipping for domestic orders that meet your pre-defined minimum order value.
Once you’ve set everything up then you’re ready to begin fulfilling customer orders!
Wrapping up!
Briefly, that’s exactly everything you need to know about Shopify Shipping. Unfortunately, as of writing this article, Shopify Shipping and the awesome features that come with it are still geographically refined to some territories only.
If you need the best Shopify marketing expert just click here.
Shopify Shipping is a built-in shipping suite you get when choosing a Shopify plan
The calculator will show you multiple shipping options by DHL Express & USPS for you to choose from
