One of the most painstaking aspects of exporting is the shipping process – how do you get your product to the consumer who might be 5,000 miles away from your warehouse? And how do you scale the process up?
Itâs a daunting task, and if youâve ever tried to mail something personal internationally, you know that itâs not cheap⊠even if you go with the slowest possible shipping speed. And the slowest shipping speed isnât usually viable in a commercial setting – consumers in our day and age expect prompt delivery times.
Below, weâll cover how to overcome this problem of too-expensive shipping. Thereâs no âone size fits allâ solution, but once youâre done reading, youâll be on the right track.
Setback: my item costs too much to ship
The first decision to make is whether youâll be shipping internationally, or using fulfilment centres to ship domestically.
Shipping internationally is only really feasible when you have a product that is either both light and small, or your customers donât care about the speed. If itâs light and small, speedy, international product-by-product shipping wonât be too expensive, and customers not caring about speed is self-explanatory. Very few products will fall into either of these categories, unfortunately.
For everything else, you will need to ship internationally to fulfilment centres, and then domestically from the fulfilment centre to the customer. So you pay for shipping two separate times, but combined, those add up to less than if you were to ship it once internationally.
Determining your type of Fulfilment Company
There are basically two types of fulfilment companies – those that have reach in multiple countries, and those that have reach in just one country. For example, there are many, many fulfilment companies in the UK, but very few of those companies have their own fulfilment locations elsewhere.
Itâs ideal to go with a company that has its own international locations and infrastructure. This makes it easier for you – you only deal with one other company, and that company (hopefully) has everything streamlined, so no matter which location your item is shipping from, the process is the same.
The problem is that larger companies tend to cater to other larger companies. A powerhouse like Shipwire (10 locations in 7 different countries) isnât ideal for the company that only ships a couple of units outside of the UK per year. Your minimums wonât be high enough, and even if they are, youâll pay fees on the upper end of the spectrum.
If you donât have the volume to justify an international fulfilment company, limit your exportation efforts to one country at a time, and go with individual fulfilment centres in each of those locations. All countries have dedicated fulfilment centres – a rudimentary Google search will put you on the right track.
By now, youâve determined if youâre shipping internationally or via fulfilment centres, and if you chose the latter, youâve determined which type of fulfilment company to use. The next step is getting your product to that fulfilment centre, which, unfortunately, is no walk in the park.
Bulk international shipping
There is no uniform international shipping option, and there are two metrics that affect your cost – size and weight. Companies like DHL will weigh your package and measure the dimensions of it. They calculate shipping for each of these metrics, and then charge you the more expensive rate.
Because of this, you need to take steps to make the product either smaller or lighter. Making it lighter is difficult unless you can source product parts in the country youâre shipping to. You have some wiggle room with decreasing the size of your package – consider taking apart your product to make it fit perfectly into a rectangle, and then assembling it at the country youâre sending it to. (Smaller companies without the staff to perform either of these options will have to just eat the cost).
Then from there, you determine whether you want to ship by air or by sea. Air is faster, but more expensive. Sea is slower, but cheaper. Usually, you can only ship smaller orders via air – orders of 30+ pallets certainly arenât fitting onto any airplane.
Youâll notice that you pay a lot to get a bulk order shipped around the world. Itâs just a cost of exporting. But your fees from the fulfilment centre to the customer will be so low that overall, assuming you unload all of your inventory, you will spend less money. This may have the necessary impact on your margins to allow you to start exporting to certain countries.
Making it easier with a shipping agency
Tackling international shipping as a beginner will make your head spin. Thatâs not to say that itâs not possible, but we donât think anyone is denying the fact that itâs difficult.
If you have more money than time, go with a shipping agency or individual shipping agent. They work with you to take your product and get it to your fulfilment centre in the cheapest and fastest way possible. Theyâll also let you know about the logistics of everything – taxes, customs, etc.
If you donât go with a shipping agent, youâll have to school yourself on the import costs for each and every country that you export to. Again, itâs not impossible, but it is difficult.
Article Summary
- Shipping individual items internationally is often too expensive unless itâs both light and small
- You can cut down on costs by shipping bulk to fulfilment centres in individual countries
- Choose an international fulfilment company or one that specializes in one certain country, depending on the volume you plan on exporting
- Try to make your product as light and small as possible to reduce bulk shipping costs further
- Finally, if you want someone to just take care of it for you, work with a shipping agency or individual agent
