Let’s say you’ve gotten the best shipping partner there is in your area. Everything goes well until you learn about the shipping hassles that your company is currently experiencing. It’s not the end of the world. In fact, these are temporary issues that can be resolved by effectively complying with your business units.
The real questions are: What should you do first? How do you implement the steps? What comes next? We want to better your business by making shipping solutions easier and faster to execute. For these reasons, this article will discuss the common shipping problems of ecommerce sellers and the five strategies that can be done to keep your business running smoothly.
If you’re looking for ways to ensure your business security despite certain incidents involving shipping problems (either between you and the shipping solutions company or you and your customers), then this is the article just for you. Skip the trouble with your shipping partner and maintain your customer base. Read on to find out more!
Common Shipping Problems for Ecommerce Sellers
While it may seem a bit frightening to realize that shipping problems may come along the way, it’s easier to take immediate action if you can identify what kind of problem is currently happening and the consequences that will transpire if these red flags are left unattended.
The biggest problem related to shipping is a delay in delivery date or hour. There are many reasons why this issue occurs, so read through this list to give you a clearer picture of what these factors are for ecommerce sellers:
- Customs Exam: This is a common procedure practiced in several countries such as the U.S. when facilitating international shipping from Canada. The inspections happen randomly for 2% to 10% of the shipments. If you’re a business that largely needs to ship across these areas, then the chances of getting tagged for inspection are much higher.
- Customs Clearance Issue: Should your shipment get tagged, it does not necessarily get prioritized for clearance. In addition, there may be specific problems related to the laws of the product’s destination country. This is why you need to consider country-specific products and accuracy in the recipient’s information, otherwise, you may face bigger problems, particularly delays in delivery.
- Delay in Costs: Delay-related charges are caused by your shipment being placed on hold. The reasons behind this can range from the delayed release of freights to mandatory examinations. You might want to take a look into the three types of delay charges: demurrage, detention, and per diem.
- Missing Documents: The most important document in the shipping process is the original copy of the Bill of Lading. Lacking the Bill of Lading tends to happen when the document is misplaced or delivered through an unreliable courier, but you need to have it otherwise you’ll be faced with delays in the release of your shipment.
- Missing Duties or Taxes: Certain locations require extra paperwork; the reason for this process is to protect a country’s residents, economy, and environment. Keep in mind that they also want to double-check if your shipments are legally allowed to enter the country and if your products require a special permit.
- Damage in Cargo: Believe it or not, this can happen to your cargo if it was not placed correctly and safely inside the container of its origin, or if it was mishandled in the carrier or terminal. If you discover that your cargo is damaged, file for an insurance claim. Nonetheless, be sure to learn the basics of loading a container to avoid this hassle.
- Overweight Cargo: The uneven distribution of weight in your cargo is a headache to your business.This happens when a trucker tries to pick up or transport your container but can’t, requiring them to find different equipment to lift your container or place the container on hold due to the allowable road weight limits.
- Shipping Penalties: Businesses are expected to adhere to the rules and regulations of importing cargo or they are penalized with a fine. You need to be fully aware of your shipper’s liability and prepare for the worst-case scenario which is being charged.
- Unexpected Closures: Other causes of shipment delay may include riots from workers, and natural disasters like hurricanes, storms, and earthquakes. Unfortunately, ports need to delay shipments to cut down on the possibility of losses.
- Missing Containers: Even without signs of extreme weather conditions or calamities, containers can get lost. Once containers are discharged and port workers receive information of a missing container, they will deploy experts to search the entire port area, causing delays.
Now that you know what the common shipping hassles are, let’s go over the solutions to these problems: what you need to do, how you must communicate, and what comes afterwards.
Ecommerce Sellers’ Quick Shipping Solutions
As repeatedly mentioned, there is nothing to worry about if your shipment is experiencing specific inconveniences for as long as you know what to do. Here are five quick shipping solutions and shipping considerations to deal with these shipping hassles, which are all easily doable:
- Communicate with your customers: Let them be one of the first people to know of their parcel’s whereabouts and explain that the situation is promptly being taken care of. You may also offer a one-on-one discussion with your clients to go over the details of their orders. No matter how you go about it, remember to send frequent updates.
- Offer free shipping to compensate for the delay: If you’re having troubles with same-day deliveries, the best solution is to provide free shipping. Once you offer this perk, your customers will naturally wait.
- Provide a shipment location tracking system: You don’t want to cause anxiety and frustration among your clients due to the delay, so the best you can do is to keep them posted about their order’s status using a tracking system.
- Have a partnership with a domestic supplier: If your market is outside your location, you might want to look at partnering up with warehouses based abroad or in the location of your target market to significantly reduce the shipment and delivery delays.
- Give out exclusive offers and discounts: Coupons, inexpensive freebies, and discount vouchers are commonly used. Although these cost money, they act to neutralize your client’s frustration, save your company from losing all your customer’s loyalty, and give you the chance to win back the trust of your buyers.
Did this article give you quick solutions for the shipping hassles in your business? Let us know what you think about these by sharing your thoughts in the comments below!
