Setting up your ecommerce website often feels like nurturing a baby. You have sleepless nights over how the ecommerce website will turn out; you tweak every little image; you ensure the minutest details are perfect and you write the best product descriptions – everything in order for your consumer to have the best brand experience. Additionally, you want to ensure the same standards are followed when the package is delivered to your customer. 

Package delivery adds a cost element to your business and thus it needs to be carefully thought about. After calculating the size and weight of the product, the city of origin and destination city / country, one can come to fair idea about how much it would cost to ship a product (don’t forget about insurance and tracking if you deal with high end items).

But two big questions arise.

1. How are your packaging your product to deliver an experience?

Buying a product online robs a customer of the experience of buying it in the store and experiencing the brand, but that experience can be replicated with delivering an experience in a package. Years ago, shipping and delivering was a mere process to receive goods, but today brands are going one up to deliver that top-notch experience and not just a product.

Buying a product online robs a customer of the experience of buying it in the store and experiencing the brand, but that experience can be replicated with delivering an experience in a package. 

Look at Artchetype Studio, a GlobalLinker ecommerce website that sells stationery and planning tools on the onset but deliver an experience that delivers way more than that. The moment you open the box which contains their product hugged in self embossed paper and the sticker that secures it, you are welcomed into the world of inspired workspaces and the want to create and get organised.

2. Who bears the shipping costs?

There are two main schools of thought. Charging a flat rate or shipping it for free (at least that’s the perception). The former is a fairly good practice if you have a standard product and are alright with the idea that the costs will average out across your customers. Intra-city shipping costs is not the same as cross country shipping, but having a flat rate, gives the consumer a sense of not being penalized for being too far. However, offering free shipping is the golden rule to avoid cart abandonment. Well, we all know no lunch is free, so the idea of free shipping is only a perception and it can be worked out in 3 different ways:

• The price of the product has shipping built into it and thus the customer pays
• The profit margin of the product has shipping built into it and thus you pay
• The price of the product and the profit margin both have the shipping costs built-in, so you are sharing the shipping costs
  
  

When you choose to go with Vamaship, GlobalLinker’s logistics partner of choice, the process is very simple and automated from the order panel itself.

Whatever you decide with regards to packing and shipping, you need a trusted logistics supplier who can deliver your product, your experience to the consumer. You can always shop around, get rates of various companies, compare them, read reviews and sign a contract with your preferred supplier.

Alternatively, you may avail of shipping services through GlobalLinker’s logistic partner Vamaship, a logistic aggregator that is offering logistic services through reliable service providers such as FedEx, Delhivery, Ecom express etc.

Best rates so your products are ready to go!

When you choose to go with Vamaship, GlobalLinker’s logistics partner of choice, the process is very simple and automated from the order panel itself.

When you book a pick-up, a request is sent to the courier company and someone from their team will come to pick-up the products from the location of your choice (office, home, warehouse, etc). A pick-up request submitted before 10 AM will be picked the same day and anytime later will be picked the next working day. Simultaneously, generate the shipping label and manifest from the seller panel itself. Print the shipping label, stick it to your product packaging and keep two copies of the manifest, out of which one will be signed by the pickup courier boy. Simple! This is all pre-set up and pre-negotiated for your convenience.

All-inclusive courier charges for every 500 gm of package will be:

• Within city - INR 41
• Metro to metro - INR 58
  
  

For your competitiveness and your consumer’s convenience, they also offer COD services. Cash handling charges are 1.65% or INR 50 whichever is higher, these are in addition to the shipping charges.

Package delivery is an essential and challenging part of the ecommerce business. It is vital for the longevity and success of your business. Thus, understanding and getting all the variables right might take time and might require tweaking here and there. But when you keep at it, with the right partner, you work towards perfecting it.

And as always, you can either call us on +91-22-396-59064 or email us on info@linker.store and we are always there to help you succeed!

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