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Your Guide to Overseas Orders

In today’s globalized world, sales are no longer limited to people who live right next door. The internet makes it possible to sell to customers across the country or even to people in another country. However, we haven’t invented teleportation yet, which means that your products still have to get from point A to point B. This can be particularly challenging for international or overseas orders, which travel farther and take a much more roundabout and complicated journey. Especially in today’s uncertain shipping climate, how can you successfully fulfill online orders? Read on for our best tips.

Be Upfront with Customers

We cannot emphasize this enough. Especially for international customers, it’s imperative not to over-promise on turnaround or delivery times. If you can guarantee delivery in a week, that’s wonderful. But if there’s a significant chance that the package could be delayed, resist the urge and let your customers know upfront. They’ll appreciate it, and you’ll find yourself with customers that keep coming back rather than ditching your company over issues of trust.

Keep Up-to-Date on Pricing

Visitors are hooked with your well-designed website that piques their interest in Shipping prices, especially internationally, fluctuate often. Make sure you’re not basing price calculations on outdated numbers. Doing so will hurt your bottom line and cost you or your customers more. Nobody wants that, so make sure you’re regularly checking prices and making comparisons to see if you’ve got the best rate. Make sure you’re also keeping up with delays and storage issues—supply chain problems can result in significant delays and warehouse closures, leading to higher prices.

Perform a Cost-Benefit Analysis

You don’t have to offer to ship to all 195 countries worldwide. You don’t even have to provide shipping to a third of them. It’s best to carefully consider where your customers are located and how much it costs to ship to various countries. You may only want to offer international shipping to a handful of countries, where you know you’ll still make a profit, and your customer base is well-established. Are you unsure where your target customers live or how much you’re paying per package, depending on the country? It’s time to do a cost-benefit analysis: break down the number of orders in each country, the cost to ship, and your profit margins. This can help you determine what international shipping is worth your time and what is a drain on your resources.

Overseas shipping can be a fantastic way to boost your business. However, it can be a financial drain and a time-consuming effort without careful analysis and maintenance. How can you keep your international orders stress-free and successful? Make sure you’re upfront with your customers. Stay on top of price changes and market fluctuations. Do the math to see if shipping overseas adds up for you or plan to offer customized shipping to a small handful of the most profitable countries. Finally, make sure you find a fulfillment partner that offers overseas shipping.

Kable Product Services can help you with international shipping, no matter where your packages are going! Reach out to us today to get a free quote.