If you have your own business and are expanding using either bricks and mortar or an ecommerce site, mastering logistics and shipping can help you save time and money. Once you know a little about what your options are, spending time putting together a plan will help you to stay organized and start to get it ready for hired help to take on after you grow large enough to start hiring shipping people. Here are some tips on how to plan for shipping when you get started:
Look for Automated Shipping Quotes
When you partner with a shipper that provides automated shipping quotes to you and your customers, it makes it easy for them to receive their total price instantly. You can even provide instant quotes online, something that customers appreciate a great deal. If you are a retail outlet, it is almost mandatory to have automatic shipping quotes as part of your shopping cart package or you will likely have more clients leaving your website before they have purchased something.
Partner with Consolidators
If you cannot fill a full container trailer with some of your orders, look at consolidators that charge you for a portion of their truck trailer. The important thing with this type of service is to ensure they are solid at not damaging or losing your goods. There will be times when a truck does have an accident, and having a good lawyer can ensure you work through that type of situation. But if you want to minimize your losses, choosing a good set of consolidators will make a difference.
Offer Insurance
If you ship in container loads or larger, it is possible to offer your clients insurance through the freight forwarder or trucking company. When you do so, they can protect their goods and feel better about their order when it ships great distances. It can be hard to compare rates when you are sending goods overseas. Although there are shipping agents that will clarify this for you, it can often take time because they have to treat each time period as a new quote. If there is one thing that will make your life easier in this regard, it is challenging your agent to streamline this process for you.
Getting started as a company that ships its products is a process that carries a small learning curve with it. If you put together an effective shipping plan upfront, you can relax and focus on other parts of your business.