All online store owners strive to provide the best shipping experience to their customers without hesitation. The process of shipping products is one of the most important processes affecting customer satisfaction and loyalty, as well as one of the essential steps to complete the product purchase cycle from receiving the order to delivering it to the customer.

The world of e-commerce today is in a fierce competition determined by prices and speed. The prospective competitor is the one who understands the importance of reducing shipping costs and increasing its efficiency at the same time. In the following steps, we present to you the most important methods of shipping products and the best strategies to implement them.

Why is product shipping an important priority?
The strategy and cost of shipping the products influence the decisions of the customers in a proportion that cannot be overlooked. According to the latest statistics, about 72% of consumers are interested in having free shipping, and 36% of them see free shipping as the most important part when reaching the payment process.

While about 38% of consumers said they did not intend to buy again from a merchant with whom they had a bad shipping experience. 60% of them go to another competitor that offers better shipping rates or faster speed. While 40% of consumers cancel their orders completely when they encounter excessive additional costs on the price of the product.

Shipping types according to the delivery method
The types of product shipping fall into different strategies depending on whether or not there are third parties providing delivery, including:

1. Direct Shipping Products
Direct shipping is based on shipping products to customers depending on the assets that the online store has to fulfill the shipping steps. It requires warehouses for storing and packaging products, delivery cars, and working people to carry out these operations. In addition to the importance of covering wide geographical ranges, large companies often rely on this method due to the availability of capital.

The previous steps fall within the so-called supply chain management. That is, managing all the processes that start from the customer's request for the product until it is delivered to him. The goal of supply management is to enhance efficiency and reduce costs as much as possible. Also, the store is not required to have all the assets that the delivery process needs, but whenever they are available, this increases the aspects of supply management and control; This provides faster and more efficient charging.

2. The use of shipping companies
Choosing specialized shipping companies to ship products depends on several factors, the first of which is the specifications of the package such as dimensions, weight, delivery time, in addition to costs. In the case of relying on this method, it is not necessary to go to one company only, but it is possible to contract with several companies with different plans in order to cover all transportation options.

For example, some companies may offer parcel delivery to certain areas not covered by other companies. While some companies provide shipping products with fast international delivery and special prices. Developing a strategy that combines the best options is one of the most important steps you need to take to create an integrated shipping plan.

Shipping types according to price
The types of shipping products are divided into three ways according to the prices offered by most electronic stores as follows:

FREE SHIPPING
Most online stores offer a free shipping option depending on several factors in order to attract more consumers. Some stores offer a free shipping strategy, but they may add the original shipping costs to the product price.

While some other stores apply it if the customer requests products for a certain amount as a minimum, which leads him to order a lot of products to get this feature. Other stores have a policy of shipping products for free through a loyalty program in which customers sign up for a monthly or annual amount such as the Amazon loyalty program.

Shipping products at a fixed price
Flat shipping is the charge of a flat amount on shipping all orders, or for each group of products of similar weight and dimensions. In this method, the average shipping costs for the products on the online store are calculated and approved in the form of a fixed shipping price. One of the disadvantages of this method is that the shipping costs of most products are not fully covered, and at the same time, additional shipping costs are charged on other products.

Shipping at the price of courier companies
A lot of online stores rely on providing shipping options based on the actual rates of the shipping companies. This method is implemented by providing it as a clear option within the payment page, and updating it continuously to keep pace with the updates of shipping companies.

In the end, providing a combination of the above options for shipping products is the best possible option. For example, shipping companies may offer faster delivery but higher costs than free shipping that may take days. This makes it an available option for some customers who prefer faster delivery.