Shipping strategies for dropshipping businesses

In this video you’ll learn

What ePacket shipping is
How ePacket shipping can lower your shipping costs
How to manage customer expectations by communicating the wait time: specify wait times on product pages, include shipping times in a welcome email, make slow, but inexpensive shipping a benefit included in ads

Hi, I'm Samantha. I'm a small business owner and I work here at Shopify. In this video, you'll discover how to choose the best shipping methods for dropshipping. From U.P.S. to ePacket, there are dozens of shippers to choose from with different shipping times and costs. Each product you sell is going to have different shipping options for you to choose from. You don't have to present every shipping option to your customer. While the manufacturer might give you 10 options to choose from, you'll likely want to simplify the options and give your customer just a few choices.

On average, you'll find that most products have ePacket, China Post registered mail and AliExpress standard shipping. These three suppliers tend to have the lowest shipping costs. They may take a few weeks longer to get to your customer, but it helps keep your business costs low when you're dropshipping. The problem with using one of the faster shipping suppliers is that it often increases your costs. For example, you might find a hairdryer that costs 13 dollars.

The cost of a premium delivery service might cost 46 dollars. That makes it pretty difficult to compete on price when your competitor's product is much more affordable. While offering quick shipping seems like a big benefit, it does come at a cost, and that cost might prevent you from running a profitable business. Many dropshippers turn to ePacket shipping for their online stores to solve this problem. ePacket offers one of the most affordable shipping options within a reasonable time frame.

ePacket shipping speeds will vary per country. For example, one product might be shipped to the United States in seven days while that same product ships to Italy in 30 days. On both the AliExpress and Oberlo product page under "Shipping," double check to see the speeds per country to help you offer better service to your customers. While you always want to serve as many potential customers as possible, a poor shipping experience will hurt your business in the long term.

If shipping doesn't reach certain countries in a reasonable amount of time, you may want to consider excluding that country from your business's audience. On average, products arrive when they are expected to, but sometimes products arrive much earlier. It depends on the product. Since estimated shipping times are accurate, it's best to communicate this directly with your customers. They'll be more willing to wait if you clearly communicate the wait time instead of hiding it from them.

You can communicate this in three different ways. First, you can include shipping times on your product page. Your product page might include the line, "This hairdryer takes seven to 14 days to arrive to the US, and up to 30 days internationally." Make sure that the time frame you provide is accurate for each of the products on your product pages. The second way you can share this is on your first email the customer receives after they place an order on your website.

The thank you email is the most opened email from customers so this is the perfect opportunity to share shipping times with them. The third way to disclose shipping times is on ads. Some popular e-commerce brands disclose their shipping time frames in ads and use it as a selling point. They'll share that their shipping speeds are slow so that they can offer customers the best prices. It's transparent and it helps set realistic expectations right from the get go.

Ultimately, when it comes to shipping, you'll want to pick a supplier with a low rate and a reasonable delivery time. You don't need to offer two-day shipping to make customers happy. As long as you're honest about shipping times, you can build trust with your customer.