Shipping is expensive, both inside Canada as well as out of the country. It’s also important to consider customers will want their purchased items to be shipped quickly and with little to no cost. This means investing a lot of money in this aspect of your business. Fortunately, there are ways to make shipping more affordable without losing excellent customer service experience.
Next up are 9 ways to make shipping more affordable for your business.
Table of Contents
Use Canada Post
If you have a small business, you can sign up for Canada Post’s program for small businesses. They will give you a shipping discount and will also allow you to cut costs if you use their online shipping tools.
Always choose ground shipping
Most customers are willing to wait longer for a product if the shipping is free. Nevertheless, you’ll need to have options if your customers want their purchases delivered quickly. They won’t mind paying a little more if their product reaches them when they’ve requested it.
Weighing and measuring your shipments before sending them
The difference between shipment rates can change with just an extra gram or centimeter. This is why it’s important to make sure your shipment is inside the price range before you send it. If it’s not, you can make adjustments to make sure it is.
Choosing the right courier service to save on costs
Most courier services offer discounts if you ship a big enough volume of products. In case you don’t, you can also save money by using the packaging the courier provides shipping Canada and avoid the fees for using non-standard packaging.
Use shipping solutions when you can’t apply to volume discounts
A lot of small businesses won’t be able to qualify for shipping volume discounts with regular couriers. But there are options for this type of situation. There are shipping companies that offer discounts for smaller volumes, but you will have to subscribe to them for a monthly fee. This will cut costs for your business since the monthly fee is lower than you would spend on shipping with no volume discount.
Use Shopify shipping
Shopify is one of the most impressive ecommerce platforms for shipping, especially for cheap shipping inside and outside of Canada. They offer up to a 47% discount in Canada Post shipping and have fully integrated shipping solutions that will allow you to update inventory, fulfill orders, and print labels and custom forms.
Discounts for business organizations
Being a member of a business organization might entitle you to discounts when shipping Canada. For example, if you’re a member of Startup Canada, you’ll have discounts on small packages and brokerage services. If you’re part of the Canadian Chamber of Commerce, you will be entitled to their nation-wide shipping system. And if you’re a member of the Canadian Federation of Independent Business, you’ll have access to special prices for CFIB members.
Use international shipping fulfillment centres
Having an American or global fulfillment company to manage your shipping orders can save you a lot of money. These are third party service providers that process and ship products to your customers. These services will usually charge you for storage and the services they offer, but costs are much lower than a traditional shipping company.
RRR
Always consider the three Rs when shipping: reducing, reusing, and recycling. Reduce box sizes and packaging materials. Reuse packaging materials and boxes. Recycle whatever you can’t reuse.
