In past blogs, we detailed the best ways to prime and promote your products to take advantage of this incredibly busy holiday season. This chapter is about taking a wider view of one of the quickest profit drains of the season: Shipping and Returns. We will detail the latest industry trends and the fulfillment tools available for Newegg sellers to proactively address rising customer expectations, 3PL fees, and high RMAs.
Shipping and Fulfillment
Similar to how consumers can’t remember a life without the convenience of online shopping, the days of acceptable shipping taking several business days are now a distant memory. We’ve written about this previously, but 83% of online consumers believe “fast shipping” to be two days or less. With this fact in mind, many sellers are feeling the pressure to compete with larger competitors on not just price, but also fulfillment times and fees. Because it’s so difficult to contend with the established shipping rates and services of these large competitors, sellers are now fighting to compete to the detriment of their own profits. Newegg recognized these challenges facing our sellers and created a family of fulfillment services with the goal to alleviate profit-sapping expenses such as 3PL logistics and warehousing fees. Whether it be for sellers who choose to ship on their own, or for those who prefer for Newegg to handle all fulfillment responsibilities, we have an affordable service that can address your businesses needs this holiday season – or for as long as you like.
Returns
High Return rates are one of the most difficult aspects of doing business during the holidays. Because most return policies on Newegg offer 30 days, it makes it difficult to gauge your success until long after the season ends. Returns should be viewed as an important tool in building customer satisfaction and gaining positive reviews. In a recent Shopify poll, 72% of online consumers say that they would spend more and buy more often from merchants that make the return experience simple and painless. As a great indicator of customer loyalty, this same poll also found that 89% of repeat customers with a positive return experience are likely to buy again. We can see here that consumers are rewarding sellers who value quality returns services, and we feel it is important that sellers recognize this, or run the risk of losing initial and repeat sales. This shouldn’t be a surprise to many Newegg sellers, but electronic devices rank second only to clothing as a top returned product category for e-commerce sales. This was touched on in past blogs, but the need for sellers to establish a customer-friendly return policy and display it prominently is significant. A customer’s return experience must be weighted with as much importance as the initial purchasing experience. This growing demand for exceptional customer service and hassle-free returns is sure to catch many sellers by surprise, especially during the busy holiday season. If your concerned about being able to adequately handle this increase in customer demand during Q4, or maybe are interested in ways that you can save more on original or return shipping, then Newegg also has the fulfillment tools to meet these needs. So, we have learned that there is a growing expectation with modern online shoppers for cheap and fast two-way shipping. Also, they are greatly rewarding high levels of customer service and hassle-free solutions. If your business is set up with the staff and infrastructure to capitalize on this evolving demand, then you are set up for success this holiday season. For the sellers who are concerned with this increased rush in demand and resources, we’ll now go over some of the proven fulfillment services we’ve been alluding to throughout this blog.
Shipped by Newegg (SBN)
Shipped by Newegg (SBN) was created to address the 360-degree fulfillment needs of marketplace sellers. With a focus on cost-effective fulfillment that picks, packs, and ships on a seller’s behalf, SBN allows merchants to focus on the more important aspects of their business. SBN was designed for sellers who want to free up resources and warehouse space by having Newegg handle all the warehousing, shipping, and customer service duties. An additional perk of SBN is the effect it may have on your buybox. There is no doubt that pricing plays a large role in determining which seller wins this coveted position. But because Newegg supports sellers who value their customers’ buying and return experiences, SBN can be leveraged to help sellers to compete – even if they don’t always have the lowest price. It’s because SBN exemplifies top-tier customer service, trusted shipping providers, and knowledgeable customer service, that these customer-centric qualities carry weight over into our buybox algorithm and wind up getting sellers’ products in front of more eyes and ranked ahead of competitors with lesser attributes.
Newegg Return Service
For sellers who prefer to house their own inventory and handle shipments, but still want a professional return program like SBN, there is Newegg Return Service. This service takes care of your customer service issues, with the goal of preventing unnecessary returns. If the customer still chooses to return the product, Newegg will then receive and vet all returns. After a careful inspection, the customer service team will automatically issue customer refunds or replacements. Also, as seasonal business picks up and returns grow, we will temporarily house your returned inventory until you determine how you would like it handled. This process includes services such as returns to your warehouse, disposal of the products, or the option for physical pickup from one of the many Newegg Return Centers.
Shipping Label Service
Let’s say that none of these services fit your business needs and all you really care about is saving a bit on your 3PL — well, Newegg has you covered. Created for sellers who favor shipping and handling inventory themselves, this service provides an alternative, cost-effective shipping service compared to other 3rd party shipping services. Shipping Label Service passes along Newegg’s discounted partner rates straight to our sellers. Once an order is placed, we provide sellers with a print-ready shipping label and from there, they just simply attach the label to the package and ship out.
What’s Next??
This concludes our holiday blog series. If you are still looking for a deeper dive, please check out our Holiday Prep Webinar to get a larger view of what to expect for Q4 and the best tactics to get more eyeballs on your listings. While the webinar is extremely comprehensive, nothing beats going straight to the source. Connect with our account managers as soon as possible and learn what promotions and tools are best suited for your brand and products.
