What Delivery and Shipping Times Could Be Costing Your eCommerce Store

It’s no rocket science that shipping has ever been troublesome. Because there are too many factors that cannot be predicted, deliveries can cause a headache even to the largest and most successful of businesses.

Not to mention that both local and global shipping are caught between a rock and a hard place, according to More Than Shipping.

Just consider the following:

·        No new capacities are being introduced to Trans-Pacific trade in the period of 2022-2023

·        Low schedule reliability is one of the underlying causes for continued congestion in Asia and the U.S. Experts predict that it will lead to 15%-25% of capacity getting pulled out of the market as a result

·        Port congestion on the U.S. West Coast will likely continue and cause more blank sailings for the West Coast, creating more pressure on the pricing and space for the West Coast

·        Carriers’ new plans to add capacity to the U.S. East Coast may not be as fruitful, as U.S. Gulf and Florida ports won’t receive any new capacity according to carriers. Many allocations for the U.S. Gulf and Florida are currently being reduced by carriers

(Source: The More Than Shipping official website)

However, don’t despair! With new tech coming to the rescue, other problematic points can be alleviated, so let’s take a look at what can be done to make shipping as reliable as humanly possible.  

Implement Delivery Management Software

Implementing delivery management software is a good starting point. There are, actually, numerous options available and, as ever, you should compare offers.

New tech can simplify complex procedures but it can also cause headaches when it attempts to be smarter than humans operating it.

That being said, consider using a load-tracking app as well. It can save time and nerve cells when used regularly.

Planning Ahead

As mentioned above, some factors affecting shipping procedures are unpredictable, so the only thing that can be done to address the issue is to plan shipments well ahead.

This falls under common sense rather than rocket science but here are some recommendations nevertheless:  

·        Plan ahead for busy seasons (holidays, etc.)

·        Prioritize time-sensitive shipments

·        Check out which of your carriers have the fewest delays and put focus on them

·        Use digital freight software that can forecast delivery times

·        Track your containers’ delivery status digitally so that you can address potential problems in a timely manner

Increase End-To-End Visibility

It is a good idea to consider digital procurement platforms to increase shipments’ end-to-end visibility. Arguably, this may make or break a business as lack of visibility is one of the biggest problems when it comes to shipping.

International shipping, in particular, is too complex to be tamed. With the supply chains getting more globalized, there’s seemingly no way to control the outcome.

Digital procurement platforms are literally the only solution for addressing critical shipping phases as they specifically target end-to-end visibility by creating visual breakdowns of the rate sheets.

Handling Complications

The three biggest obstacles to successful shipping practices are security risks, rising costs, and environmental regulations.

Let’s take a look into each of these in a bit more detail.

Security Risks

Security risks obviously come first simply because they are difficult to predict. Now, when people mention this term, usually they’re referring to cyber attacks but don’t forget that there are also risks of robbery in some parts of the world.

Modern technologies can help with the first but not so much with the latter so it’s up to individual businesses to pick a reliable shipping service provider who can handle such unpredictable obstacles.

Rising Costs

Rising costs lead to higher costs of operations. In turn, higher costs of operations affect end-user prices. Add to that the unstable fuel prices and you should be able to grasp the severity of the issue.

Pretty much everything businesses can do is compare prices and the quality of service of different shipping providers. Software can be used to an extent to predict the most beneficial routes and suppliers.

Environmental Regulations

Lastly, environmental regulations can be tricky when your packages need to cross multiple countries, for an obvious reason: different countries have different environmental regulations.

Again, all you can do is be resourceful and use new tech to help you predict the safest route and the best courier.

Key Takeaways

International shipping is as complex as it gets. There are simply too many factors to consider and many of these can’t be dealt with all the same, especially when it comes to eCommerce.

Factors outside of business’ grasp deal with geo-political issues, rising costs, unsafe routes, cyber attacks, and similar. To alleviate negative occurrences that may or may not arise, businesses need, first and foremost, to be resourceful.

Using new tech comes close second but certainly not first.

How come?

Even the finest of digital tools won’t be able to help businesses unfamiliar with complex processes and such. Knowledge and planning ahead come first, the rest is crisis management.