6 common mistakes when shipping overseas (and how to avoid them)

From forgetting duties and taxes to over promising on delivery timeframes, here are the most common mistakes e-commerce businesses make when shipping overseas…

Thanks to online shipping aggregators and freight companies that are rapidly evolving to ease international shipping for Australian e-commerce retailers, it’s easier than ever to grow your business into a global brand. (If you’re thinking about starting global shipping- check out our four step guide to determine whether your business should go global.

Should you ship overseas? The four-step guide

Not all products suit overseas shipment. Follow this four-step guide to determine whether your e-commerce business should be going global

While the potential of accessing international markets may leave you feeling more excited than ever about the future of your e-commerce business, it’s important to remember that not all products suit overseas shipment.
Follow this four-step guide to determine whether you should ship your product overseas:
1 Product weight
Just like domestic shipping, international freight is largely calculated on the weight and size of your product.

5 ways to use parcel tracking to increase repeat sales

For ecommerce retailers, your online reputation is everything. And as consumers increasingly turn to your online reviews to gauge the quality of your business, ecommerce entrepreneurs must pull out all stops to avoid negative customer feedback.
According to a BrightLocal survey, 88 per cent of consumers have read online reviews to determine the quality of your business. And 85 per cent said they read up to 10 reviews.
That means your customers are paying close attention to what other customers are saying,

The pros and cons of international shipping

Entering new international markets can be an effective way to rapidly grow your e-commerce business. But it comes with a few challenges you need to consider.

 
Thinking about taking your e-commerce business global? (If you are, check out our 4 step guide first to decide whether you should ship overseas).
Implementing an international shipping policy comes with many positives including the opportunity to grow your business by selling a wider range of products to larger markets.

How to master your ecommerce product returns template

Your returns policy template wields a heavy impact on your ability to win repeat business.

Make it easy for your customers and they’ll buy from you in future with trust, but get it wrong and you’ll be waving goodbye to frustrated customers forever.
Here’s how five of Australia’s biggest online retailers handle their returns to ensure their customers keep coming back:

Lorna Jane

What’s an acceptable return?
Australia’s leading sportswear brand offers returns and exchanges on all full-priced online order,

7 ways to reduce product returns

Dealing with excessive product returns costs you time and money, and runs the risk of building customer frustration that leads to poor online reviews.
Even if you’ve streamlined your returns policy, it still pays to focus some attention on reducing the number of product returns being sent back your way. Having an ecommerce postage strategy is a smart place to start when setting off on this postage adventure, and will help you avoid returns.
Here are seven things you can do to keep your products in the hands of happy customers:

1.

10 ways to pimp your ecommerce packaging

For online retailers, your packaging is often the major tangible touch point for your brand.
So getting your packaging right is not only important for keeping your shipping costs down, but is also an opportunity for you to add to the overall customer experience.
Here are 10 ecommerce packaging ideas that surprise and delight:
1. Printing on the inside of the box adds a sense of occasion to the product reveal and gives you an additional space to direct people to your website or social media accounts.

International shipping from Australia: State of the industry overview

Rising internet penetration rates around the world and the emergence of a new Asia Pacific middle class are driving the rapid growth of Australia’s international shipping industry.

 
Australia’s e-commerce retailers are increasingly tapping into lucrative international markets as rapidly increasing internet usage around the world make global online shopping the new retail powerhouse.
In fact, market research predicts that the web will account for 12.4 per cent of all global retail sales by 2019 and international shipments are expected to comprise up to 20 per cent of Australia’s total e-commerce purchases by 2017.

6 things you must know about shipping insurance

There’s nothing more frustrating for a customer than patiently waiting for their product to arrive only to pop open the package to find it has been damaged in transit.
It’s one of the major risks of buying online, and a good reason why offering postal insurance to your customers makes sense.
With postage insurance in place, your customer can be assured of a timely replacement, and as the seller, you’d don’t have to reach into your pocket to pay for it.

How to make money from ecommerce postage

Setting the right postage strategy can boost your revenue by as much as 10 per cent. Find out how. 
Making money from postage in Australia is possible – but not how you might think. Simply inflating your postage rates with steep ‘handling’ surcharges is not necessarily the way to go.
Thanks to the proliferation of low-cost foreign eBay sellers who sell products at or below cost and make up profits on inflated delivery fees, online shoppers are becoming better at spotting poor postage deals – and they don’t like it.