Shipping is an essential aspect of the growth of the online business. However, companies must understand that shipping is more than just delivering the orders to the client. Instead, it displays a business’ commitment to providing a unique overall experience to the buyers. Avoiding common shipping mistakes can help B2B businesses gain a competitive edge. Although most of the shipping mistakes are manageable, they can impact the business and hamper its growth in the future. B2B businesses can easily avoid these mistakes unless they identify them. Identification, however, is the more challenging part.
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B2B Shipping Mistakes
Let’s identify some common mistakes that can adversely impact the shipping process.
Inadequate Packaging
About half of the challenges a B2B company faces while dealing with shipping carriers is improper packaging. Most of the time, defective packaging is the reason for the product getting damaged. B2B logistics involves transporting products that vary in size, shape, and dimensions. The products can be smaller such as screws and edible nuts, or they can be massive such as heavy machine parts, furniture, etc. Each product requires different packaging. Businesses must identify which packaging material is best for a particular product and what packing must be done.
In any case, if a product is packed correctly, there are chances that the product might get damaged while either in transit or at the client’s end. Moreover, the client might not be liable for any damage caused during shipping by shipping carriers. As a result, the B2B business or the shipping carriers must bear extra logistics costs.
Solution
To avoid the shipping mistake of improper packaging, businesses must hire a 3PL logistics partner having proficiency in product packaging. As a result, this will solve their packaging problem and help them reduce their logistics costs.
Shipping Processes without Automation
A typical shipping mistake B2B businesses commit is avoiding automation for their shipping processes. Today several platforms support the online shipping process. Regarding WordPress-based websites, tons of plugins can automate the whole task of shipment creation and packing. With the help of these automation tools, b2b businesses can even get shipping labels which they can easily download from their store’s back-office.
Solution
The business should hire a logistics company with advanced technologies allowing them to automate their routine task of shipping processes.
Wrong Shipping Address
To deliver the order on time to the client, B2B businesses must have a precise destination shipping address. This address can disrupt the entire shipping process and lead to unsuccessful deliveries. Moreover, while entering the shipping address, B2B companies must ensure that they enter the correct pin code to avoid shipments getting lost. For businesses, shipping a product to the wrong address and returning it to its rightful owner is very costly. Not only is there a loss of money, but the customer dissatisfaction it causes is much worse.
Solutions
Businesses must use a B2B bulk shipment logistics company that uses tools such as address intelligence to ensure they provide the correct shipping address of the client.
Inaccurate Shipment Weight
While commuting the bulk shipments, it is common to get discrepancies in weight estimation. One of the biggest reasons is that, in most cases, B2B businesses will need the correct tools to weigh the products. Hence, estimating the weight to some decimal places is the best option. This is one of the biggest mistakes committed by companies. The shipping carriers weigh the packages before shipment, and if there is a difference in the actual weight and the weight mentioned by the owners, they will charge extra cost.
Solution
To overcome this mistake, B2B companies should measure the exact product weight before and after packing. For this, the business owners must consult the shipping carriers about the tools and techniques used to measure the weight.
Transparent Return Policy
At the time of any damage or improper functioning, customers used to look out for the terms and conditions to return a product. Nowadays, even before buying the product, a customer wants to know the process of returning the product and buying a new one if the company launches a more recent version of the same product. Having a transparent and easy-to-access return policy is among the most common shipping mistakes that B2B business owners commit.
Solution
There is a need for a transparent return policy containing the details of what damages will be covered, whether there will be any shipping charges, who will pay for the shipping, etc. Store owners can also go further by providing printable return shipping labels to their customers.
Conclusion
B2B shipping mistakes can happen for any reason, including lack of proper communication or human error. However, in any case, the business owner has to bear the cost of transportation and utilization of resources. Nevertheless, these losses can be mitigated by avoiding some common mistakes. Moreover, to further gain the upper hand over the competitors in the market, businesses must hire top-notch b2b bulk shipment aggregators to ensure on-time deliveries and enhanced customer satisfaction.
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