What shipping method is best for you

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The ecommerce space has been expanding at an exponential rate due to the shift in consumer spending. More people than ever before are purchasing goods online compared to brick-and-mortar premises. This large increase has also created challenging environment in the logistics and shipping industry. Shipping and logistics companies are competing fiercely to capture this new demand for their services fueled by the growth of ecommerce and online spending. Are you a budding ecommerce vendor? Are the multiple shipping solutions for your business too confusing and complex? Here are some of the best shipping methods that you need to take into consideration for the growth of your business and to provide options to your customers.

1. Free in-store pickup

If you have a brick-and-mortar shop and you have grown your business online recently, it may be wise to offer your customers an option to pickup from your store for free. This is a very suitable option for customers in the vicinity of your premises and enables them to get a better deal from their purchases. This also increases exposure to your store location and may give you an opportunity to retain a regular customer in the long run. While this may not look like a shipping strategy for you, this is offloading your shipping costs to your customers who do not mind the cost and time to pickup your product. Thus, you can save on shipping costs while retaining a higher profit margin on your product.

2. Truckload freight

If you are looking to make bulk shipments to a customer, a truckload freight service maybe the most cost-effective solution for you. This of course depends entirely on the volume of your shipment. If you are able to fill a truck up to capacity, shipping cost per item may actually be lower than any other option. An added advantage is the direct delivery of the shipment to your customer since the route for the truck is serviced entirely for your products. However, as the amount of stops for product drop off increase, so does your shipping cost as the total distance of the shipping route may increase. All in all, truckload freight service provides an exclusive cargo space for your products where the cost of shipping depends on your shipping route and product volume.

3. LTL freight

LTL freight stands for Less Than Truckload freight. This is also another bulk shipping method which may provide cost savings under certain conditions. If you are not able to fill a truck up to capacity, you should consider this option for bulk shipping. LTL freight mixes cargo from multiple shipments to optimize the use of cargo space in the truck. Thus, it reduces the shipping cost per item of your product when compare to using a truckload freight service at the same capacity. You can learn more about LTL freight in your preferred shipping service provider as this option is offered by most companies in this industry.