Most of the small businesses ignore shipping cost factor and
fail to realize that higher shipping costs actually cause decline in overall
business profitability. Shipping costs do not only involve the cost of items
that you ship but they also include the costs of items that are shipped at your
address.
What most of the entrepreneurs tend to do is increasing the
number of business prospects in order to enhance profitability, which is
definitely understandable. However, they do not pay attention to the fact that
businesses across the world spend 25% of their budget on shipping items. With
that said, new businesses definitely need to work on reducing the shipping costs
in order to save revenue for business growth.
Some tips that entrepreneurs can take into consideration for
controlling shipping costs are worth mentioning in this article.
Make friends with
shipping company representatives
There are many roles that a carrier company representative
plays. He/she is responsible to do a sales representative job, provide customer
support and offer negotiation to make shipping process easier for new
businesses. If you are a new business and you are yet to finalize your carrier
for shipping purposes, accessing the carrier representatives provides you with
an opportunity to get permanent and cost effective solution to your company’s
shipping needs.
Make good use of flat
rate shipping facility by your carrier
Flat rate shipping option is the best solution if you are
worried about variability in the payments you make to your carrier to get your shipping supplies shipped. Moreover, the major shipping companies such as UPS and FedEx
provide free shipping boxes if you choose flat rate option. Not spending on the
purchase of boxes is itself a big saving.
Try to negotiate over
shipping costs
Shipping companies hate it the most when their customers
quit their services in order to switch to better and comfortable option. These
companies are also well aware of the fact that customers also don’t like
switching the services because it can be a costly practice. These are the
reasons that carriers try to facilitate the customers as much as they can. As a
customer, you can leverage your membership and relationship with the company in
order to negotiate over costs of shipping. There is a mighty chance that you
will be able to get your shipping costs reduced, ultimately benefitting the
profitability of your business.
Equipment provided by
carrier
Another prospect that can help you save big in your business
is to ask your carrier for the equipment like computers and printers for office
use. It’s the policy of big companies to provide equipment to entrepreneurs
based on the volume of shipment. There are two purposes for which a carrier
company provides equipment; i.e. helping a new business to make growth, and
retaining a customer. Based on how you negotiate with the company, you may be
able to get equipment for free or at a subsidized cost.
