Blog

In recent years there has been a noticeable increase in Subscription box services. People seem to like the novelty and convenience of having their favorite items wrapped and delivered to them gift-like on a monthly basis. Alongside this increase in the product is an improvement in the quality of the distribution service offered by order fulfillment providers. This has improved brand performance in some cases and given them an edge over the competition. 

Challenges Of The Subscription Box Model 

The Subscription Box model is relatively simple on the surface; it should be no more complicated than choosing a product category, planning a monthly selection of items, and then implementing an effective marketing campaign to attract customers. However, the difference between and roughly assembled product and a quality selection is a difference that customers will notice immediately. 

With a Subscription Box quality is all-important. You need to build a brand that customers can trust. If the monthly Subscription Box contains what customers expect plus something novel to maintain interest, they will likely be satisfied with the product and continue subscribing. Retaining customers for Subscription Box services is a big challenge, made easier by knowing the product and niche thoroughly and ensuring quality. 

How To Build A Successful Box Brand 

As mentioned above the key to a successful Subscription Box service is quality. Marketing campaigns should be carefully curated to develop realistic expectations and a strong reputation. Along with quality, retaining membership is a key to success that every brand should have a strategy for long after the initial excitement has worn off. 

Issues encountered in this market include customer expectations, competition, and uniqueness of service. Firstly, customers expect a product that matches its description, at the very least. There must also be an option for easy cancellation if desired. Try to ensure you have many customer resolution options in place before cancellation takes place. 

This market is very competitive as most niches have a number of brands. Customers are unlikely to subscribe to more than one of them. But this also makes it easier for customers to switch services if they are unsatisfied. Incorporate this into your marketing campaign. Finally, it can be difficult for customers to distinguish between brands within a niche, find ways to raise the profile of your box above the rest with innovation and imagination. 

Successful Subscription Box Fulfillment 

When you have your Subscription Box business model up and running it’s time to look at your fulfillment processes. These should be efficient and reliable, particularly during the busy seasonal periods when distribution centers are struggling to keep up with demand. Your subscription boxes must still get through even if centers are working double time. 

Consider a third-party fulfillment provider such as ShipJoy to take care of your fulfillment requirements. There are many benefits to this: it takes the pressure off your business, handling important operational decisions to a professional. It frees up your time to spend on improving the quality of your product. Furthermore, it ensures customers will receive orders when expected due to an efficient distribution network. The product will also be delivered carefully.

If you’re an e-commerce or retail business, demand for your products and services can fluctuate throughout the year, but usually, the most demanding time will be in the fourth quarter. If you’re interested in running your business to its maximum efficiency, you should be reviewing its seasonality performance before the summer gets into full swing. How did your fulfillment solution handle high demand, what issues and inefficiencies did you encounter? Now is the time to analyze and optimize your order fulfillment process.

Fulfillment Solutions

When it comes to fulfilling your orders, particularly across your busy periods, there is no guarantee that your current logistics providers will be able to cover the volume. This can result in loss of earnings and reputation when it appears that you’ve failed your customers. It might seem like your current solution is adequate but it is worth reviewing especially ahead of the busy season. Ensure you do thorough research into your distributor for a bulletproof order fulfillment solution.

Peak Season Planning

For the majority of e-commerce and retail-based businesses, a significant portion of their annual income takes place across an eight to twelve week holiday period. It’s crucial to plan ahead and gets this right as any inefficiency in your supply chain will result in lost revenue, lost reputation, and the loss of valued customers to the competition. Don’t let this become a reality for your business, scale-up for the holiday period, ensure you have a distribution net wait that can fulfill orders within three business days or less. 

The Importance Of Scaling Up 

Knowing that the holiday season is the busiest time and most lucrative it makes sense to organize ahead of time, during the quiet spells. Your distribution center will be shifting from standard business hours, five days a week, to double shifts over seven days. It’s important that you contact your fulfillment solution ahead of time and discuss this increase in volume. Get written guarantees from your provider that the orders will be met and make sure they are held accountable.  

Is It Possible To Scale Up?

When you contact your distribution facilitator don’t take their word for it that seasonal orders can be fulfilled without any trouble. On the face of it that might seem to be the case but be sure to ask the right questions. During high demand periods, both people and machines will be operating at maximum capacity; there must be safeguards in place in case something goes wrong – people may fall ill or machinery could unexpectedly fail. Does your fulfillment provider have adequate cover for unexpected events?

Safeguarding Fulfillment Solutions 

At least once a year it’s important to re-evaluate your fulfillment solution. Review the holiday season from the year before, how efficient was it, what issues did you encounter? What could have happened that didn’t in the previous year? Asking questions about your provider and processes across this crucial period is the best way to optimize the efficiency of your business and improve the quality of your service year on year. Don’t get comfortable with your provider and miss out on valuable opportunities. 

ShipJoy is led by proven logistics experts who guide clients to eCommerce success. For over 25 years we’ve served global brands with premier logistics, freight forwarding, and warehousing support. With ShipJoy you’ll have the absolute best in technology, support, and customer service. We are committed to bringing joy into the lives of our customers and deliver simple solutions to complex eCommerce problems. Contact us today for more information.

With online shopping on the rise, eCommerce is becoming more popular than ever before. To find out what the future holds, take a look at these top eCommerce trends for 2020…

1. Post-Lockdown Sales Flurry

The COVID-19 pandemic has affected every industry, although not necessarily in the same way. As more people turn to online shopping in a bid to overcome lockdown restrictions, a continued rise in online purchases is expected. 

2. Continued Growth

Expected to rise threefold in just seven years, the online shopping trend shows no signs of slowing down. With consumers happier than ever to buy online, businesses will need to ensure they facilitate user-friendly eCommerce options if they want to remain successful. 

3. Voice Commerce to Rise

The mainstream use of voice-activated devices has led to an increase in voice-controlled online searches. As you might expect, this has resulted in more people buying goods online via voice. With more people embracing the voice-activated method of surfing the internet, this is an eCommerce trend that will continue to grow. 

4. Mobile Shopping Becomes Even Bigger

The widespread availability of 4G connectivity and the introduction of 5G technology means people have access to super-fast mobile internet speeds. Statistics show that they’re putting these speeds to good use by making online purchases from smartphones, tablets, and other mobile devices. With Google pushing its ‘mobile-first’ indexing methods, it’s easy to see that this is an eCommerce trend that’s set to stay. 

5. Social Causes Play an Increasingly Important Role

Consumers are becoming more conscious of what they buy and where they source it from. The environment, in particular, is a major topic of concern and is reflected in consumer behavior. With many people actively seeking out a company’s green credentials before engaging with them, there will be increased demand for eco-friendly products and brands. 

6. Shopping on Social Media

Much of our lives are reflected in our social media profiles, so it’s not surprising that platforms are having an increasing influence on what we buy, how we buy it, and where we buy it from. For brands, reputable fulfillment companies, like ShipJoy, make it easy to accept orders from a variety of online locations. Whether you’re selling from your own website, a well-known marketplace, or via social media, the right fulfillment firm makes it easy to operate a successful eCommerce business. 

7. Augmented Reality Becomes More Mainstream

As technological capabilities increase, more retailers will be using augmented reality to showcase their products. Allowing consumers to experience products before they buy, this eCommerce trend means online shopping is going to become even more user friendly in 2020.

8. Personalization is on the Rise 

Personalized marketing is important to the majority of consumers, so it’s something brands should be paying attention too. With increased automation, personalizing your marketing content can be simple and straightforward, so don’t overlook the opportunities it can offer. 

9. Visual Commerce Expands

Instead of featuring standard, static product images on your site, think outside the box when you’re advertising your goods. User-generated content, product placements, and interactive content is all part of visual commerce but expect the trend to grow this year. 

10. Artificial Intelligence to Enhance eCommerce

AI is capable of facilitating access to reams of data and making it useable. For businesses, this means you can learn more about your target audience, prompt more meaningful engagement, and deliver a superior service. If you aren’t focusing on incorporating AI into your operations, you should be. 

Preparing for the Future of eCommerce

Technology always evolves rapidly, so it’s important to stay up to date when it comes to the latest eCommerce trends. By staying one step ahead of your competitors, you can establish your brand as forward-thinking and innovative, as well as increasing your sales and boosting your profitability. 

Learn how ShipJoy’s purpose-built technology can help you rise above the competition.

Amazon Prime is the standard-setter when it comes to timely e-commerce operations and order fulfillment. This started back in 2005 when Prime membership was first introduced. This membership option provided affordable one-day and overnight shipping, and free two-day shipping. 63% of U.S. shoppers now expect orders to be delivered within three days, according to a 2019 survey. 

Although Amazon is the clear leader when it comes to fast shipping, customer expectations are now rising when it comes to other retailers too. Meeting their demand for timely delivery is seen as one of the most difficult tasks in the supply chain, according to a recent MHI industry report. It’s becoming increasingly difficult for retailers to live up to expectations when shipping to outlets as well as direct to consumers (DTC).

Companies are scrambling to come up with solutions to their e-commerce order fulfillment and logistics predicaments. With a focus on customer satisfaction and focus, here are four strategies to help your company meet these rising standards. 

1. Establish Micro-Fulfillment Centers (MFCs)

A greater number of small warehouses purposefully located in key areas can slash order fulfillment time. These MFCs don’t have the same capacity as a large warehouse, but they can be more useful if your priority is to shorten delivery time. 

This approach takes strategic planning and can be expensive due to real estate costs.

2. Partner with Third-Party Logistics Providers (3PL)

If your company doesn’t have the capacity to meet the shipping demands of customers, consider outsourcing delivery. Partnering with a 3PL provider helps streamline your shipping service. All aspects from product receiving and storage to picking and shipping are handled externally. 

Many 3PLs are continually improving their efficiency through automation, making them industry specialists. 

It helps to partner with a 3PL provider that has order fulfillment centers in key delivery areas for your business. 

3PLs are also useful if your warehouses are reaching capacity because of SKU expansion or the overall growth of your company. 

This approach can be cost-effective as it eliminates the need to invest in new properties. ShipJoy

3. Adjust Approach to Brick-and-Mortar Stores

E-commerce in the grocery sector is growing. Many retailers are adapting to this demand by increasing the number of products in fulfillment centers. This leveraging of stock means there are fewer items in-store, but it helps speed up and grow the e-commerce aspect of the business.

Leading companies in the grocery sector, such as Whole Foods, Walmart, Target, and Kroger, use this business model. It allows them to offer fast and efficient delivery. Sometimes as quickly as two-hours.

4. Commit to Automation

Investing in an automated e-commerce fulfillment center could be enabling your business for increased future profits. Automated FCs can be six times more efficient than traditional FCs.

Robotic technologies allow for high-density storage, meaning considerable space savings. With automation, scalability is key. The goal should be to have a system that can adjust based on demand. This helps to keep productivity high while costs are manageable. 

Speeding up your e-commerce order fulfillment time directly relates to business efficiency. Improvements give your business a significant competitive advantage. Consistently meeting customer expectations won’t go unnoticed. This is a sure way to increase sales and to grow a loyal customer base. 

Giving something for “Free” has a huge impact on consumer behavior. 90% of customers claim that free shipping is the most important factor that would encourage them to do more online shopping. 86% of consumers clear their online shopping cart due to shipping costs. 93% admit that they would add items to their cart to qualify them for free shipping.

Free shipping is now seen as a key marketing tool for companies that sell online. However, for some, it seems like an impossibility.

Here’s a look into how your company can provide free shipping on your e-commerce store.

How to afford to offer free shipping?

Free shipping doesn’t have to take a significant chunk of your turnover. There are methods of covering the shipping costs.

Increase Pricing

Calculate what increases you need to make to your pricing to cover the cost of shipping. Consider that these mark-ups will need to be scaled, depending on the price of each product.

Encourage customer loyalty to increase sales over time.

Concentrate on retaining customers through various marketing channels. By creating a loyal customer base, you are increasing customer lifetime value, which leads to more sales in the long-term. Free shipping adds value to your services, which is likely to increase satisfaction.

Entice customers to buy more in one order

Increasing the average order value (AOV) through upselling and bundle offerings can contribute toward shipment costs. Offering low-cost accessory items before customers complete their purchase may increase the average spend.

Calculating a minimum spend threshold for free shipping

Setting a minimum spend requirement for free shipping can be effective. However, if done wrong, it can backfire, and you may lose potential customers. 

It’s recommended that you increase your AOV by 30%, round up the figure to a typical price, and set that as your minimum spend threshold.

It’s important to note that an increase in AOV may raise shipping costs, as orders will be larger. Free shipping may also lead to more returns. 

Determining if free shipping is right for your business

Although the demand is increasing, covering shipping costs doesn’t work for every business. If it doesn’t make sense for your company, you should leave shipping to your third party couriers.

If you’re unsure, why not try it out for a limited time and analyze the results?

Offering free shipping within a specific radius, for a certain product, or for a limited time, is a great way to test the waters without making big sacrifices.

Again, it’s vital to consider your returns policy when doing so.

Keeping shipping costs low 

It’s not possible for most companies to simply absorb shipping costs for their customers.

A third-party logistics (3PL) partner is beneficial for lowering the costs of high volume orders. Strategic depot locations allow for storage in key geographic areas, lowering the shipping distance, and therefore reducing costs. This should also speed up delivery times.

Is free shipping the right move for your e-commerce store?

Ultimately, free shipping is a fantastic offering that adds significant value to your business. However, it comes at a price that your business might not be able to afford. 

The best path forward is to crunch the numbers, assess the risk, and start a trial. Analyze the results and make your decision. With ShipJoy’s eCommerce fulfillment support you’ll have the guidance and technology you need to help make the big decisions. 

Whether you just had an idea that you would like to turn into a business or are planning to take your company online, today, the process is accessible to anybody. Of course, if you know where to start and what support you will need. That is where leveraging a third-party for eCommerce order fulfillment can help you achieve your goals.

Submitting products for ShipJoy warehousing

1. Create your products
   

   Design your products and get them manufactured either in-house or through a third-party company.

    

2. Head over to ShipJoy and create an account
   

   Requesting an order fulfillment quote and creating an account on our website is the first step in the process. It allows us to understand your business and product betters and check whether we are a suitable match for each other.

    

3. Submit an application
   

   Then, you will need to submit a more comprehensive order fulfillment application. While it won’t take long, we will ask for details regarding your product, how much storage you need, and how many orders you receive per month.

    

4. Pick the best pricing plan for your needs
   

   Picking the best pricing plan for you is the next step. As this moment approaches, you can find all the information regarding our pricing and offers on this page. This overview allows you to get a glimpse of what to expect before submitting the applications. The price will vary depending on how many orders per month your company receives – the larger the order, the lower the cost per piece!

    

5. After approval, you can deliver your products to our warehouses.
   

   Our experts will receive your inventory upon delivery in one of our warehouses.

What happens at the warehouse

1. Storage
   

   Once in the warehouse, your order is organized in a dedicated area, stored in our systems, and shelved.

    

2. Streamlining the process
   

   Here at ShipJoy, we leverage the latest, purpose-built technologies to integrate all of your sales channels – such as Amazon, Etsy, eBay, etc. – into a single system. This allows us to maximize shipping speed, simplify order fulfillment operations, and help you grow your business!

    

3. We focus on marketing!
   

   Instead of just focusing on shipping your company’s product, we do everything we can to help you grow your product. This is why, as the orders roll in – or even while we wait for the first one to arrive – we put our efforts into your marketing campaign. 

The shipping process

1. We pick the product in your inventory.
   

   We are going to put the same care in selecting the right product for each customer as you would! Aside from ensuring that the product to be shipped matches the order, we check for eventual damages to ensure its quality.

2. We pack and label your products.
   

   At ShipJoy, we know that each product needs different care and attention. That is why our order fulfillment team is composed only of expert technicians that will pack and label the items in your inventory professionally.

    

3. We make another customer happy!
   

   After the products are packed and ready to be shipped, it is time to bring them to your customer’s doorstep.  

At Shipjoy, our eCommerce order fulfillment experts are here to provide the guidance and technology you need to delight customers, maximize growth, and scale your business. Let us help you get started and provide the support you will need to turn your idea into a reality. Get in touch with one of our experts today!

What services do we offer

• Multichannel eCommerce Order Fulfillment
• Retail Order Fulfillment
• Subscription Box Fulfillment
• Crowdfunding Fulfillment
• FBA Prep Services
• Seller Fulfilled Prime