Rachel Hobble
Better understanding the problem areas for most retailers helps you understand how they affect you and ways to solve them.
Making Shipping Affordable
In Shippo’s annual State of Shipping survey, 75 percent of online retailers consider the cost of shipping to be their biggest operational challenge. The good news is that there are ways to keep shipping costs affordable. First, look for ways to minimize the box size. Consider padded envelopes and poly mailers. Oftentimes, these packaging types are more cost effective, because they take up less space in the delivery truck.
Another key indicator of shipping rates is the distance the packages travel. Longer distances between origin and destination addresses usually mean more expensive eCommerce shipping costs. Take a look at where your packages are going and optimize your origin address around the most-popular destinations. If you have a majority of packages getting shipped to California, consider renting warehouse space in the state and leveraging a mix of regional and national carriers to deliver your packages locally.
“There are many other unique USPS service levels that will help keep some money in your pocket. For example, if you’re shipping to a local address, consider a regional carrier or a USPS Regional Rate Box. If you have a small, heavy product, see if it fits in a USPS Flat Rate Box. It’s a great option since the weight won’t impact the cost of the product, letting you avoid the hefty price tag that comes with hefty products. For educational material, like books or instructive DVDs, ship via USPS Media Mail. It’s very strict about the contents you can send, but if your packages qualify, you’ll save significantly,” Said Laura Behrens Wu, CEO and co-founder of shipping software company Shippo.
Replatforming
Site issues and customer experience concerns can drive the decision to replatform. If your current eCommerce platform is not serving your needs, a replatform is likely the right answer. Of course, this process can be extremely daunting for retailers, and leave many deciding to fight their own technology, rather than starting again on a new software. At Virid, we have done countless cost-benefit analyses for our clients, building out roadmaps to determine the best course of action to grow their business. Ultimately, the cost of staying on outdated or under-performing technology is exponentially higher than the cost of a replatform. Finding the right eCommerce partner that has the technical savvy and the consultative abilities to help you execute a replatform is crucial to your success. If you have questions regarding a possible replatform, schedule a free site consultation with the experts at Team Virid.
Raising Brand Awareness without Breaking the Bank
“One issue a lot of our customers are trying to overcome is how to increase brand awareness. The retail space is a crowded one, and it can be difficult for SMB retailers to stand out. At Springbot, we provide solutions that can help level the playing field for eCommerce merchants who are looking for site traffic. Our integration with AdRoll allows for easy retargeting capabilities to help bring shoppers back to an online store, and also rope in new visitors. For retailers that find their digital marketing avenues limited, we have Web Prospecting Campaigns that help develop new customer-segments to target and boost traffic to those merchants’ sites,” Said Ben Smith, Senior Content Manager at Springbot.
For more information on our partners and available integrations, contact our Partner Manager at isilva@virid.com.
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