The adventure of the types of shipments in an ecommerce | Minimalism Brand

This post arises from several conversations with small ecommerce, from doubts that you ask us at events, training or workshops, and especially from a conversation with those responsible for Bnext about how they could send their cards.

We believe that it can be useful if you are setting up your tent or intend to do so. You can also send this post to that friend who wants to set up an ecommerce ;)

One of the main doubts that all ecommerce has is shipping.

You have the product, you know what price you are going to put on it, you have set up the website or the business but...

How do I ship my products? Do I charge my clients? What shipping times do I work with? Do I assume the cost? Do I change the cost depending on the address? And a long etcetera.

In this post we will explain how we have gone through all kinds of shipments and which we believe is the most appropriate for the company and for the client.

At the beginning of the project, October 2017 , we sent the orders without certification. Only by regular mail . Yes, as if it were a letter.

The cost is low compared to any shipment. It depends on the weight of your product but it can go from 0.80 cents to 1.8 euros . They are approximate data.

As in everything, if there is a big difference between a certified shipment and a non-certified one, it is for something.

What are the problems:

1- You do not have any information about the shipment at any time . You only know that you have sent it and that the post office will deliver it in 7-10 days. But you can't trace it in any way.

2- Correos can lose it or someone can keep it. If this happens you are lost. The post office itself tells you something like: "Of course... if you don't certify we can't give you information and you can't claim the order". Sounds weird, but it is.

The losses of this type of shipments are around 10-15% and if we combine it with times like Black Friday or Christmas, ordinary orders are the last ones that the post office takes out, so you can forget about the 7-10 days and leave until 21 or 25. This happened to us...you can read it here

As you can imagine, it is not the best way to send your order. The customer is uninformed, you do not know where the order is, the brand image will be damaged by the criticism but... maybe the numbers will come out and you are willing to lose what is inside your order 10% of the time . The choice is yours.

Our second step and coinciding with the change to shopify we decided to take advantage of the power of this tool, the order tracking process is great and, also, taking advantage of the integration with our logistics center we decided to certify all orders. With the main objective of keeping the client informed at all times through their private area, thus eliminating claims, harmful comments and attentions on orders . The best attention is the one you don't have to give, yes, when you give it, it should be in an exemplary way.

The cost of this type of shipment is from €3 to €5.5, depending a lot on the volume and weight of your product.

Among the certified orders we could find two types of shipment:

- Ordinary with Correos . It takes about 72 hours approx. but if the area is somewhat "remote" it may take 96. We have decided to assume this amount in the price of the order, with €0 being the cost for the customer . The customer appreciates it and the user experience is very good since the price of the order is not increased during the purchase process. It is part of our company policy and image.

- Urgent with Express mail : in which the customer receives the order in 24-32 hours where we charge €2.5 to the customer and assume the remaining cost of shipping. We do it for company policy and for customer satisfaction . In this type of urgent orders we can have a problem. If the order is placed on Friday afternoon, many customers expect it to arrive on Saturday and it is not possible since the logistics center remains closed until Monday, this must be made very clear in the FAQS .

With certified orders there are also errors, problems and complaints. But we have managed to lower these claims to 1%.

On a few occasions we have used glovo for VERY urgent orders and where the client was willing to bear the costs of it. Maybe one day we will deliver all the orders using electric bikes or motorcycles, give us time ;)

The issue of international orders we cannot talk about yet since we are just starting. Quick but starting. In the future we will talk about the situations that we find in each country. Taxes, customs, delivery times, costs.

In our experience, the shipping policy of any company must be in tune with its values. We are based on transparency , closeness and customer satisfaction , in addition to having a great product, but it does not mean that you should do the same with your business. Every business and every ecommerce is a world. As we said before, they are numbers, make your own and if you have any doubts, tell us ;)

You can write to us at hola@minimalism.es and we will reply to you shortly.