Using Smart Shipping Solutions for Your E-Commerce Subscription Service

The pandemic that hit hard in 2020 made major and lasting changes to all of our lives and businesses. One of the most dramatic shifts in the business world has been the meteoric rise of e-commerce. Last year, U.S. consumers spent more than $800 billion online, which is a 44% increase year-over-year, and triple the online spending increase from 2018 to 2019.

More than one out of every five retail dollars is now spent online, and the percentage is only going up from here. The lesson is this: if your business isn't currently set up for e-commerce success, it will need to be very soon.

So how best to ride the e-commerce wave that's just getting bigger and bigger? One of the strategies that many smart companies (and their customers) are embracing is subscription services. Establishing a subscription service where your products are shipped to your customers on a regular basis can have multiple benefits to help grow your e-commerce business.

A one-time investment leads to long-term results.

As any business owner knows, the cost of retaining a customer is miniscule compared to the cost of acquiring one. Setting up a successful subscription service can mean that your one-time investment in customer acquisition will pay off with long-term results. As your customers make repeated purchases, the return on your marketing investment only increases. Customers on subscription services tend to be more loyal, and this increased level of retention leads to orders month after month.

Recurring revenue and improved forecasting.

Speaking of month after month, another benefit of these "auto-ship" programs is a much more steady and predictable revenue stream – the dream of every business owner.

Accompanying this predictable revenue stream is improved forecasting accuracy based on subscriber numbers and order types. Enhancing your forecasting allows you to support reduced inventory costs and storage needs, which translates into a stronger bottom line. This just-in-time delivery of raw goods and materials means you're receiving what you need to fulfill your recurring order pipeline, based on more accurate forecasts, versus spending valuable time hunting down what you need to fulfill highly unpredictable order volumes. That's both a budget and a sanity saver!

Substantial parcel shipping savings.

The shipping advantages from a subscription box service are powerful. With a subscription service, your customer expects regular, on-time delivery of their shipment according to the subscription timeline they've signed up for. This liberates you from the speedy shipping expectations of transactional e-commerce customers, and allows you to save money on shipping costs through more economical 3- to 7-day ground delivery or even UPS SurePost. As long as their subscription box arrives when they expect it to, your customers won’t care about the shipping method!

Shipping solutions for e-commerce success.

To fully leverage your subscription service, you'll need to employ the expertise of a third-party logistics provider (3PL). Your local Worldwide Express (WWEX) team has unrivaled experience in setting up inbound and outbound shipping solutions to work with any subscription box service. Whether your subscription service requires weekly, monthly, quarterly or annual parcel shipping, WWEX is the perfect partner due to our longstanding relationship with the nation's leading package carrier, UPS^®. Set up your complimentary shipping consultation today, and get ready to earn an "A" in e-commerce subscriptions!

US e-commerce grows 44% in 2020. Digital Commerce 360 website. https://www.digitalcommerce360.com/article/us-ecommerce-sales/
5 Reasons to Offer E-commerce Subscriptions. PractialEcommerce website. https://www.practicalecommerce.com/5-Reasons-to-Offer-Ecommerce-Subscriptions