Product, check. Filler, check. More filler, check. Box after box. Filler and more filler. Cost after cost. E-commerce has created a world where many customers know exactly what they’re looking for and purchase that product only. Then maybe a few hours or days later, they come back to the site and purchase another product—requiring another 📦. When purchases are done this way, rather than in a brick and mortar store, the shipping costs for retailers can grow exponentially, potentially eating up profits.
Fortunately, there are some ways around this for smart e-commerce shippers.
STEP 1: Know your dimensional weight basics
The first step to decreasing shipping costs is learning how shipping is calculated—by dimensional weight. With this information you can reduce spending in that area, and the more you save, the more likely you are to see increased profits.
It’s to your advantage to fill as much of a package as possible with product. What shippers buy from carriers is space, and it’s to the shippers’ advantage to purchase as little space as they can, and to fill that space densely.
This is because when packages don’t meet the minimum shipping weight, they are still billed at the minimum weight cost.
STEP 2: Reduce packaging
There are a few ways to reduce packaging. One way is to invest in on-demand packaging. In this situation, equipment installed in your facility makes a box for each order instead of using premade boxes. Another way to reduce packaging is to have a packaging analysis done by a third party to determine the ideal method for shipping your products.
However, dimensioning systems, like the Cubiscan 25, which was built to maximize storage space and enhance cartonization methods, are likely the most cost-effective way to reduce packaging. Systems like this are designed for a variety of product shapes and sizes and can very quickly optimize processes for reducing packaging.
Cubiscans also come with valuable features such as a smallest box mode, and an apparel mode, which encourage less oversized packaging.
STEP 3: Encourage threshold free shipping
Threshold free shipping limits free shipping to a certain order value and greater. For example, a purchase of $20 may not be eligible for free shipping. However, if the customer purchased additional items to bring the total value to $45, that transaction would be eligible for free shipping.
When you limit free shipping to a certain order value and greater, customers are inclined to order more product, thus filling a shipping box more densely.
STEP 4: Build ideal loads
By using the Cubiscan 1200-AKL, shippers can build a load so as to eliminate voids, overhang, and underhang—all of which increase costs to shippers.
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Product, check. More product, check. Purchase after purchase. Savings after savings. Profit and more profit. This is the e-commerce world you’ll know upon implementing these tricks of the trade. The steps of knowing dimensional weight basics, reducing packaging, encouraging threshold free shipping, and building ideal loads are simpler than you think, and we can make it even easier.
