Magento has many shipping storefront options. Each one offers different functionality, with different prices, versions, and editions. The right shipping storefront solution will make shipping more efficient, cost-effective, and encourage sales. It can also help you to be more eco-friendly. Shipping is complex. It is better to purchase complex shipping software that includes all the shipping management tools, rather than purchasing individual shipping plugins.

Although it is simple to navigate the Magento Marketplace, it can be tedious. We’ve compiled a list of the top three shipping features that every e-commerce business should have this year. Each feature is briefly explained and highlighted with its benefits to e-commerce owners.

Dimensional Shipping

For calculating shipping rates, the dimensional weight (also called Volumetric) is used by all carriers. It is calculated by multiplying length by width and height by shipping factor (LxWxH/SF), which can vary from one carrier to the next. Smart packaging is a way to improve dimensional weight shipping.

This goes one step further, as it takes into account both the product’s and package’s dimensions. The smart packaging algorithm “pre-packages” orders into packages in real time. The algorithm sends to the carrier the exact final parameters of the package (dimensions and weight). This smart and automated way displays the most current rates from major carriers such as FedEx, UPS, FedEx and DHL at the checkout. 

What are the benefits of Smart Packaging?

Environmental Impact

Packaging the product optimally can have a positive effect on the environment. How can this be? It saves space and reduces emissions. Smart Packaging also avoids the shipping of poorly packaged orders. Smart Packaging also reduces the amount of filling materials and packaging materials required to fill the boxes.

Accuracy and Real-Time Rates

Please provide the exact package dimensions and weight

It can be costly and inefficient to request real-time rates that are based on only weight parameters. Shipping a package based only on the product dimensions is easier, but not the best. Only if the exact dimensions of the package (length x width x height) are given to the carrier, the shipping rate will be the most accurate. Although dimensional weight shipping can be acceptable, it is not precise enough. Smart Packaging is a smart packaging solution that increases the accuracy of real time shipping rates and makes it more eco-friendly.

Landed cost

Because of the cost involved in shipping a package overseas, the landed cost is closely linked to international shipping. Landed cost is simply the total of all the costs incurred by the retailer to ship the product to the customer. The cost of shipping, customs duties, and value-added taxes are all included in the landed cost.

As it affects your profit margins, it is crucial to accurately account for all costs. You can easily lose a lot of money if you underestimate the cost of shipping merchandise internationally.

What are the benefits of the Landed Cost feature

Unexpected costs

The most important piece of information that you can give your customers is to display the cost at checkout. Failing to clearly display the landed cost can lead to poor customer service and negative feedback after an order has been fulfilled. It’s simple. No one likes to be surprised by unexpected costs when receiving orders from overseas. You as a retailer need to ensure that you provide all information.

Consider implementing the Landed Cost shipping option if your e-commerce business deals with international shipping. This feature allows you to hide or show applicable taxes and duties during checkout for your customers.

Profit Margin

You need to be able to determine the price of each product before you can sell it. You can lower sales if you set the prices too high, but it will not result in any profit. The retailer can use landed cost to determine the cost of each product imported or exported, and then set the profit margins correctly.

Supply Chain Savings

You can also account for expenses in the supply chain, just like profits. You can see the savings that can be made in the supply-chain management by comparing the costs of purchasing goods, shipping and packaging.

Supply Chain Savings

Shop at a Discount

Magento ecommerce offers another shipping option, Rate Shopping. Rate Shopping allows you to compare shipping rates among shipping carriers and their services, and will display the lowest at the checkout. It allows you to compare two services, such as FedEx Ground vs UPS Ground shipping. 

This process can be time-consuming, and if you don’t have a shipping feature, it will need to be done manually. It is recommended that you implement shipping software that automatically obtains real-time rates from carriers.

What are the benefits of Rate Shopping?

Lowers the Cart Abandonment rate

As we have already mentioned, Rate Shopping displays the lowest shipping costs for selected carriers and shows them at checkout. You might miss rates that are right for your e-commerce if you don’t use this feature.

Customers are less likely to complete their order if shipping costs are higher. This leads to higher abandonment rates. This leads to lower sales. The retailer can display the most economical and convenient shipping rates by rate shopping. This results in a more user-friendly checkout process and a lower abandonment rate.

High Conversion Rate

The conversion rate will rise if you can lower the abandonment rates. You can do this by offering your customers better shipping options. If shipping costs are low, more people will place online orders.

Shipping costs are more efficient

Rate shopping helps increase conversion rates and decrease cart abandonment. All these steps lead to lower shipping costs. Rate shopping displays the most affordable options for customers and shows real-time rates from carriers.

Summary

The Magento Marketplace provides a variety of shipping options, including complicated shipping extensions that combine all the advanced shipping features into one service. Shipping features such as Dimensional Shipping, Landed Cost and Rate Shopping are extremely popular and in high demand. E-commerce store owners must choose the best shipping options for their business. It is better to choose shipping software with all of the features included in a solid solution rather than dozens of incompatible plugins.

These are just a few of the many shipping options available on Magento. You should also consider Shipping Rules and shipping Restrictions, Dimensional weight, In Store Pickup and Shipping Zones, table rates and Delivery Dates. They are all equally useful and can simplify the shipping process.