Offering Only 1 Shipping Method To Customers?

[olimits7]

Hi,

Do you guys think offering customers 1 shipping method for their order(s) would have a negative effect on customers submitting orders on my website?

The 1 shipping method would be "trackable", and I would probably use the "UPS Ground" shipping method.

I would say that most of the time my customers select UPS Ground anyway for their order; very seldom do they pick an upgraded shipping method like Overnight or 2nd Day, so I think having 1 shipping method shouldn't have a negative effect on my website?

Thank you,

olimits7

[ssgumby]

Just curious as to why you would want to do this? Its very simple to pull ups rates for all options. Why limit your customers?

[olimits7]

I would if I could but it's a supplier issue; so just seeing what everyone thinks regarding a 1 shipping method (tracking) option to customers?

Thank you,

olimits7

[Trucker]

We have offered only ground shipping on our site for years. They have to call if they want any type of air freight. We want to verify that we have stock along with the shipping date and cost before the customer places the order. I don't believe it has hurt our business considerably.

[olimits7]

Thanks for the reply!

That's good to hear! I think that as long as the order isn't urgent (which could sometimes mean fraud too) and has a tracking number offering just UPS ground would be fine for most customers!

[topr8]

we only offer one shipping method too - have done since the site started in '99

we do sell niche products though, so this seems to be acceptable for our customers

[mattb]

We used to offer only ground for the same reason. In the past year we started offering 3 day, 2 day, 1 day. A small percentage pick the upgraded option. Maybe 3% of the orders or so. It has cut down on phone orders as that was the only way to get expedited shipping from us in the past.

[jsinger]

Good Subject.

We offer only one method which WE choose according to our needs. It is usually UPS but is sometimes mail. After the January UPS rate increase we plan to use USPS more.

Many sites offer a confusing menu of shipping options including next day air for products I'm pretty sure they don't have in stock.

We tell customers to phone us if they need expedited shipping AT MUCH HIGHER COST. That way we can make sure we have the item in stock. Few call.

General rule of ecommerce: Simplify, simplify, simplify

[ssgumby]

#2 General rule of ecommerce : give customer what they want.

Personally, if im shopping and you don't offer expedited delivery I will go elsewhere. Frankly I would rather pay a little more and get it much sooner.

Our policy is we offer every US option UPS offers us. We pass a bit of our discount onto the customer. What we sale can definitely be needed ASAP in many cases so I know out niche is different than most. We have probably 10-15 express packages per day.

[olimits7]

Yes, that's true...I guess some "niche" products customers would ask for express shipments more often than ground!

olimits7

[jecasc]

We only offer one shipping option. If someone wants next-day delivery and asks for it by phone or email, we can do that. But that happens perhaps once in 5000 orders. It probably depends a little on the niche. Our average order has an amount of less than 100 EUR so a faster shipment would add 15-20% to the product price. If you sell electronics and someone buys a TV for 2000 EUR he will more likely pay 20-100 EUR more for a delivery before the big [insert favorite sport event] final and you might loose sales if you do not offer additional faster shipping options.

As a rule of thumb I would say: The higher your average order amount the more demand for fast delivery. If you buy for 2000 EUR you are more likely to spend an additional 20-50 EUR for fast delivery as if you order only for 100 EUR.

[jsinger]

"But that happens perhaps once in 5000 orders"

We get more requests for express shipping than that, but they're still rare, especially when we tell callers the high cost.

UPS alone offers about 8 different flavors of domestic shipping. Should we require the huge bulk of customers to read about every option? (the differences can be trivial).

We could also throw a myriad of similar FedEx and USPS options at customers. At some point options become counter productive. I quickly glanced at Walmart.com and they offered 4 shipping options.

[dpd1]

Every once in a while I have a business ask for express. It's not enough to justify offering it as an automated option. I already do most stuff Priority, though sometimes stuff ends up being about a week to delivery. It gives me some wiggle room. I consider myself a custom shop, so I almost don't want to make it appear that the stuff is just sitting there on the shelves, and merely has to be thrown in a box. That's rarely the case. Many items have to be worked on or customized somehow. So all of that put together with crazy package dimensions... It's already complicated enough as it is. But it's going to be different for everybody.

[ssgumby]

I quickly glanced at Walmart.com and they offered 4 shipping options.

Sounds about right to me.

Just for clarity, here is what we offer. This is displayed to the customer on a one page checkout via radio button selection, ordered from lowest cost to highest cost.

UPS Ground
UPS Next Day Air
UPS 2nd Day Air
UPS 3-Day Select

Our average order is $70.

[mattb]

About 8% of our orders are 1,2, or 3 day upgraded shipping. Actually depending on where you ship from FedEx ground reaches most of the US in 3 days or less with the west coast at 4 days. (If you are shipping from the mid-west.)

[willybfriendly]

I deal with this as a consumer frequently, and it will definitely effect who I buy from and whether I return.

We do not receive mail at our physical home address, which is in one town/zip.

Our PO Box is in another town/zip.

It is essential that I have a few things available when placing an Internet order:

1) I gotta' know how its going to ship (USPS, UPS, FedEx, etc.)

2) I gotta' be able to select the shipping method that is going to get it to the proper place.

3) I gotta' be able to provide a shipping address different from the card address - assuming its coming to our physical address

4) I need a place to explain the shipping dilemma on the order form.

If you site says you ship USPS, then do so, because if you change up and use UPS they will not deliver to a PO Box.

If you say you are going to ship UPS, then you better, else my order will be returned as undeliverable...

I know I am in the minority here, but I have had problems with everything from Amazon (which I don't shop from anymore) to mom & pops. Shucks, I even had problems with my own company on this with some stuff sent from Tennessee :(

But, get it right and you will have a repeat customer ;)

[jsinger]

"If you say you are going to ship UPS, then you better, else my order will be returned as undeliverable..."


We just had that situation arise. Customer assumed we ship by UPS which **is** our usual method. Because they ordered <1 lb of merchandise and they live in a rural residence, we mailed the package, which is far cheaper than using UPS. They don't have a mailbox. While we and the customer wasted a lot of time on this matter, in the end it wasn't a huge problem. The local post office held the package for them to pick up.

Although our site said we USUALLY use UPS, today I re-wrote our instructions to make it clearer that packages can go by UPS or USPS and that customers need contact us if they have special needs.

--
This is a good time to review the cost/benefits of UPS/FEDEX versus the post office. We ship more and more things by mail.

Remember UPS rates rise in January. USPS rates don't. And don't overlook UPS's nickel and diming on residential delivery.

[piatkow]

At my previous company we changed all the shipping options from offering specific carriers and their service levels to generic options (eg next day AM, next day anytime, 48 hours). This gave us the freedom to change carriers and meant that we didn't need to update the options every time a specific carrier made a change to their service.

Personally, if goods are not coming by Royal Mail (I am in the UK) I expect an accurate delivery date to be quoted up front. Collecting from the postal delivery office less than 2 miles away is no big deal, collecting from a depot in a strange town in the rush hour is a different matter.