The e-commerce growth that COVID-19 brought about in the past year has saw to an increase in dropshippers. While you are excited to get a portion of this e-commerce pie, 2021 is different from the previous years. Cheap Chinese-made products that sell fast are a thing of the past. You may still employ traditional dropshipping methods to test the market but that cannot be the main staple of your business.
In our series expounding on dropshipping strategies you should adopt in 2021, we’ll be covering 3 key strategies which you cannot miss! In the second part of this series, we’ll be talking about WHY you should invest in logistics for your dropshipping business in 2021.
Imagine if you are really hungry at home and you have 2 stores near you, selling the same dish at the same price, delivering to your place. Which would you choose? Of course, the one which reviews tell you reaches you fast, with the food in the right form as you expected it to be. As different countries enter different stages of lockdown, people are increasingly turning to e-commerce for all of their shopping needs. Hence speedy and quality fulfilment is no longer a luxury- it is a basic need to be met with each online shopping experience. Here’s why YOU should invest a bit more in logistics for your dropshipping business to flourish:
1.Cheaper shipping doesn’t always mean better shipping
While you may save a little by choosing cheaper shipping, the pandemic has exposed that this isn’t the case. The issue with some ‘cheaper’ fulfilment services is that they use passenger flights instead of cargo flights to deliver your parcels to the intended countries.
When globally and internally, passenger flights are cancelled because of COVID-19, it doesn’t take a genius to figure that your shipping will be delayed. It’s really simple! No passenger flights = your parcels will not be delivered. The delivery process will not start again until the passenger flights open up.
This was why when the lockdown first happened, parcels were unable to move and some customers had to wait up till 71 days for their orders to be shipped to them. Additionally, cheaper shipping lines usually have less control over their delivery. Currently, the outlook of COVID-19 is not positive and it is better to err on the more conservative side when planning your e-commerce business. You really don’t want to lose to your competitors because of slower shipping times.
2. Better fulfilment services use freight lines instead of passenger lines
As mentioned earlier, many dropshippers who chose cheaper delivery options saw an increase in complaints during the first few months of quarantine. This is because of the bottleneck that came with the closing of passenger lines. However, when you work with good fulfilment services, parcels are shipped using freight lines. So you don’t have to worry about your goods not being delivered. Freight lines continue to run even during the pandemic and special seasons like Christmas!
Xianchao Logistics Pte Ltd has over 30 years of logistics experience before we started serving the dropshipping community in 2015. With strategic partnerships, we have built a reliable supply-chain which your dropshipping business may tap-on! Consistent shipping and good curation of quality goods are how we helped our clients build their e-commerce empires! Let us know today how we may help you build your dropshipping empire!
3. Credible fulfilment services offer better tracking than cheap delivery services would.
After the parcel leaves the warehouse, it travels quite a journey to your clients’ hands. Here’s the issue with cheaper fulfilment services- it is really hard to track the parcel’s journey. Typically, the parcel will have to travel and clear a few customs (depending on the country) before reaching your clients. So when you’re not given a tracking number through the process, it is hard to be accountable to your clients when delays happen as you can’t give an accurate update! Avoid this by choosing better fulfilment services as it will be easier for you to track the packages’ movements.
4. You wouldn’t want Chinese words printed all over your brands’ package
If you’re marketing your store as a Chinese store, this will not be an issue. However, this is a niche in the European or American continents. Customers purchasing from your stores are purchasing from what they think is a western or local brand. Even if they aren’t motivated by #supportlocal to purchase from you, most of your clients will be feeling confused when they see Chinese words printed all over the package. In some cases, the details of custom clearance fees are printed all over the package. These cause your store’s customer experience to take a hit as your customers would feel that they are not getting the value that they paid for. You may clarify it with your clients afterwards but isn’t it better to just avoid this by investing in a better fulfilment service in the first place??
5. Smoother custom clearance = Shorter shipping times
For some cheaper fulfilment services, they ship the parcels straight from the warehouse to the intended country. While you may think that this would mean shorter shipping times, reality speaks a different truth. Different countries, especially European nations, have different custom clearance processes. What becomes of these single parcels at the customs is that they take a longer time to clear than if they were exported in bulk. Hence, better fulfilment providers usually ship in bulk. Your packages will be able to clear customs faster, providing you with shorter shipping times.
While the points mentioned above are non-exhaustive, we hope that it adds more transparency with regards to the shipping process. Let us know what you think in the comments!
With over 30 years of logistics experience, Xianchao Logistics began to branch out to serve the dropshipping industry in 2015. With our experience in logistics fulfilment and close relationships with suppliers, our company has risen to help different dropshippers grow their businesses over these years. We believe that our company’s success and growth will only come with helping our clients grow. Do you have a dropshipping business to grow? Discuss with us and let’s get started ASAP!
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