Online Store Freight
One of the challenges that every online store owner has to face is how to calculate freight charges accurately without inconveniencing the customer. If you can't give your customer a final freight charge during checkout, it's obvious that you're going to really impact your checkout rate.
Over the past few years we've developed a number of different methods which, each tailored for the type of store. Some stores only sell products which are light and small, so shipping charges are pretty consistent. While others sell heavier items so freight becomes much more variable and requires a database to manage the combinations.
While working with Rhonda from Crimson Gifts and Homewares on our newest version of our online store offering, we've managed to incorporate a method of determining freight charges real time with Australia Post. This means that a shopper can enter their postcode (or country), select their desired method of postage and we can give them the freight charges within their shopping cart directly from data at Australia Post.
It's all seamless to the customer and very flexible. If the shop owner wants to add a buffer on the shipping charge to cover packing materials or time, this can be done as a straight percentage or set amount - and included in the freight quote.
In addition, the store owner can still nominate free shipping on set items within their store or just plain offer a discount.
Another way to make managing an online store simple.
David
Posted on Friday, April 20, 2007