How to Turn Shipping Into a Competitive Advantage

Every day we hear about the new solutions and tools Amazon.com is developing to create a better customer experience (CX). With its innovative shipping systems, like Fulfillment by Amazon Onsite and Amazon Prime, the company has made fast, inexpensive shipping the key to attracting new customers and staying ahead of fast-growing customer demand. While many retailers already know this trick to garner customer satisfaction, others are still wondering how they can offer similar shipping experiences without negatively impacting their bottom line.

The good news is not only is this possible, it’s easier than you think. By simply reframing your thinking and looking beyond the box, you can offer unique services, just like Amazon, that will grow your business and increase customer satisfaction. Here’s the best part: many of these services can be found within today’s multicarrier shipping software. By utilizing all that your shipping software has to offer, you too can increase sales and win new customers.

Here are a few simple ways you can leverage your shipping software to deliver orders faster and more cost effectively:

• If you’re a high-volume retailer and need to get customer orders out the door quickly, use zone skipping. Zone skipping is a logistics technique where shippers hold customer orders destined for a particular region until the quantity reaches a full truckload. These orders are then shipped in bulk to that region, saving on shipping costs.
• If your carriers can’t keep up with your shipping volume, add last-mile carriers to your network. Not only will this improve your delivery speed, it will provide more shipping options to your customers. A win-win for all.
• If you’re like most e-commerce retailers, your biggest volumes are during expensive peak shipping seasons. Advanced Date Shopping is an innovative feature that allows you to take advantage of seasonal carrier offers and conditions, including expanded delivery days. With Advanced Date Shopping, you can move more product out the door faster while reducing shipping costs and providing your customers with on-time delivery, even during the busiest times of the year.
• If you need to manage temperature-sensitive products, upgrade your carrier services to enable weather restrictions routing. This convenient feature allows you to access weather forecast data so you can guarantee customers receive their order when they expect.
• If you’re worried about carrier reliability, incorporate carrier volume balancing into your shipping software. With this flexible system, you can turn off a carrier service if it's too flooded to guarantee deliveries to certain locations. This will ensure both on-time delivery and customer satisfaction.

While not all retailers can create their own global delivery services, you can put your shipping software to work to create the perfect customer experience. By following the tips above, you’ll be able to satisfy your customers with guaranteed on-time delivery and multiple shipping options, while reducing shipping costs and driving revenue.

Matt Mullen is senior vice president and managing director at ProShip, Inc., a shipping software and supply chain solutions provider.