When it comes to online shopping, fast shipping is a big deal. Consumers have been trained to expect faster delivery times and are willing to pay more for businesses that can meet those expectations. As a result, many ecommerce companies have rushed to keep up with the demand for fast shipping. Unfortunately, this race to the bottom on speed has had a negative impact on the environment. In fact, a growing number of ecommerce companies have started to slow down their shipping speeds to combat the rising environmental costs of rapid delivery options.
As a result, the carbon emissions produced by shipping trucks have skyrocketed, and the demand for expedited deliveries is hurting local communities. In the United States alone, there are now over 100 million packages a day shipped on express or same-day service. This is a significant increase over the 50 million packages that were delivered on same-day or next-day services in 2000. As a result, the amount of GHG emissions from freight transport has tripled since then.
Despite the rising environmental costs of high-speed shipping, consumers have shown no signs of slowing down their demands. In fact, recent research has shown that 68% of shoppers claim that fast shipping is the main factor that will lead them to purchase a product. As such, if your business doesn’t offer fast shipping, you could be losing customers to competitors that do.
In order to meet the demand for fast shipping, many ecommerce businesses are rushing to offer same-day or two-day delivery as an option. While these promises may help you boost sales and conversions, they can also have a major impact on your profit margins. When you combine these high shipping fees with the cost of the products themselves, you can end up losing money on every sale.
The good news is that you can still offer fast shipping to your consumers without damaging your margins by choosing the right delivery methods. Offering a variety of delivery options is always a smart idea, and providing clients with multiple choices will reduce cart abandonment. In addition, you can use your fastest delivery options to help increase average order values (AOV) and build customer loyalty.
What Is Expedited Shipping?
In a nutshell, expedited shipping is taking your shipment directly from the shipper to the recipient without any intermediate stops. This means that shipments don’t have to travel as far and are less likely to be damaged. In addition, because shipments have to go through fewer hands, they spend less time in inventory and your company can save on storage costs.
However, the choice to offer expedited shipping should be carefully considered. It’s important to remember that the cost of the extra speed and handling will be reflected in your prices. Additionally, if your products are very fragile and need special care to avoid damage, the extra handling will also be expensive. Finally, if your business has a lot of return merchandise, then you will have to make up for the losses associated with this service as well.