Since the internet is now easier to get to than ever, it’s no surprise that online shopping has become even more popular.
More than 2 billion people are shopping online right now. But the rise in online shoppers has also given online sellers, especially dropshippers, a new question to think about.
How to get things sent out faster?
In this guide, we’ll talk about the different things that affect shipping times, how to speed up shipping times, and how to deal with long shipping times.
This article should help anyone who wants to make customers happier and cut down on the time they have to wait.
Let’s get started.
Dropshipping with fast shipping
What Are Shopper’s Expectations on Online Shopping Delivery Times and Options?
Now that online shopping is common, more people expect their trusted websites and brands to deliver quickly.
Dropshippers can’t always meet this expectation, though, because of how long it takes for an order to get to the address a customer gives.
The most recent data shows that 62% of online shoppers expect their orders to arrive in 3 business days or less, especially when they choose free shipping.
This shows that people want to order online, but they want their orders to arrive quickly.
Another interesting fact is that if a website offers free shipping, the number of orders can go up by as much as 90%. Aside from making delivery times shorter, free shipping also encourages people to buy your products.
From the numbers above, it’s clear that it’s important to find ways to speed up delivery or at least find ways to attract customers.
How Fast Is Dropshipping?
Now that we’ve looked at some numbers, we can ask how fast dropshipping is.
The easiest way to answer this question is to say that shipping depends on four things: the processing time, the location of the supplier, the shipping options, and things that can’t be planned for.
Some of these things are also important steps in the process of getting an order to the customer.
We will talk about all of these things in more depth below.
Processing Time
Customers, and even some dropshippers, might forget to think about how long it takes for a supplier to process an order and send out the package.
We call this time “processing time.” What happens during this time is shown in the steps below:
The supplier gets the order and checks the method of payment.
Orders are picked up and put in boxes.
Orders that are ready to ship are picked up and put into groups.
The orders are sent out.
Processing time: Each step may take its own amount of time, which is completely based on the step that came before it.
Steps 1 and 2 depend on who you buy from. When supplies are low, it can take a while for the items to be found, wrapped, and sent out.
Steps 3 and 4 on the other hand depend on logistics providers. There are different times for each of these providers to sort out packages and get them ready to ship.
It’s also important to know that the processing time is different from the shipping time. This could take anywhere from 3 to 8 business days for an AliExpress order, depending on the logistics provider and the current supply of products.
Supplier Location
Customers can now order from anywhere in the world, as long as the item can be sent to them. This means that you can order things from places that are thousands of miles away.
Even though it seems like a good idea, it will take time to ship.
When choosing products to sell on your website, it’s a good idea to think about where the dropshipping supplier is located. How long it takes for the product to get to your customers will depend on where they are.
Most of the time, there are a lot of places near you that sell the products you want to sell. If not, you can learn more about your product and look for other sellers who can get it to you faster.
Dropshipping Shipping Options
Shipping time takes up a big chunk of the time it takes to complete the order. Each logistics company has its own schedule, but it usually takes them more than two days to ship products.
But as the e-commerce market has grown, it has given rise to more choices, depending on where the supplier is located.
But for China, these options are China Post, AliExpress Packaging Service, e-Packet, YunExpress, Yanwen, and Special Line. AliExpress also has logistics providers like DHL UK, DHL HK, Meest Express, and BST.
Dropshipping shipping options
Standard shipping usually takes between 14 and 60 calendar days. Third-party logistics providers, on the other hand, take between 3 and 25 working days.
Both Yanwen and YunExpress have gotten a lot of attention because they always ship on time and are cheap. Read on to learn more about these companies if you’re looking for a reliable logistics company that won’t break the bank.
Unforeseen Circumstances
Things we don’t plan for will happen, whether we like it or not. This is one of the risks that both sellers and buyers need to be aware of when doing business online.
It doesn’t happen all the time, but it’s good to keep an open mind in case something unexpected comes up.
As an example, the COVID-19 pandemic shows how much these unplanned events can change shipping times. There are also things like bad weather, a lack of supplies, or even just stockouts.
How Can I Do Fast Shipping Dropshipping?
Even with all the things listed above, there are still ways to speed up shipping. Take the time to look into each choice and see if it will work for your business.
Here are some options you can explore:
Reliable Logistics Providers
We’ve already talked about how important logistics providers are to the whole order fulfillment process. Choosing the right one will, of course, help you speed up your delivery times.
There are a few well-known companies you should think about right now. This is Yanwen, and this is YunExpress.
Yanwen
Yanwen has been around since 1998 and is thought to be one of the best third-party logistics (3PL) companies in China. The company helps ecommerce sellers with services that work well and cross borders.
Yanwen
In 2015, AliExpress, eBay, and other e-commerce sites, such as Etsy, recommended and gave permission to the company to handle their logistics.
The company had already sent out more than 250 million packages by 2016.
From pick-up to the last mile of delivery, Yanwen’s services make sure that customers are happy. Also, customers can easily track their orders, which is a good sign of honesty.
Customers can also use their website to track their packages.
YunExpress
YunExpress is another 3PL that dropshippers can trust. YunExpress isn’t as old as some other companies; it was started in 2014.
YunExpress
But don’t think too little of this company because it’s one of the most reliable and affordable logistics companies in China right now.
At the moment, the company is focusing on parcels from online shopping for directline logistics solutions. It has more than 15 hubs for moving packages and handles more than 700,000 packages every day.
YunExpress has many warehouses in North America, Europe, Asia, and Oceania.
The company has four different products: cross-border B2C lines, Fulfillment by Amazon Transfer, Postal Parcel, and International Express.
Local Suppliers
You’ll also be better off if you choose local suppliers because shipping will be faster. Most of the time, the goods no longer have to travel by sea for a few days just to get to their destination.
By being close to your customers, you can offer cheaper options because the cost of shipping is less. With this method, it might also be possible to deliver the same day.
The catch is that you might not have a lot of choices when it comes to the products you can sell or the quality of those products. So, just remember that you should also think about the quality of the products.
Pre-stocking
You could also think about pre-stocking so that you can ship quickly. You can make sure you have enough of your best-selling items on hand by sending them to warehouses in important places.
Now that these warehouses are closer together, you’ll be able to store your inventory and fill customer orders much faster.
This works best for dropshippers who are ready to grow their business and have a steady flow of orders coming in.
Tips for Increasing Customer Satisfaction for Long Delivery Times
We’ve already established that you don’t have full control over how quickly the order of a customer is filled. But that doesn’t mean you can’t improve the whole experience for your customers.
Even if it takes weeks to fill an order, there are a few things you can do to keep your customers happy and manage their expectations.
Here are a few examples:
Know Actual Delivery Times
As a dropshipper, you should know what your customers go through when they order from your store. When you do what they do, you learn more about how to make your business better.
The actual delivery time is one of the most important things you need to know about. By ordering from your stores, you can act like a shopper.
Note how long it takes from when you send your order to when you get what you ordered.
If you want to take it to the next level, find important people in other parts of the world, like friends or family, who can also order and receive items.
Getting real numbers and direct feedback helps you improve your process, find better suppliers, and put the right delivery time on your website.
Be Transparent
Trust is the most important thing you need to build with your customers. Once you’ve earned their trust, you can expect them to come back often, if not always.
Being honest with your customers is the best way to gain their trust. You can do this by giving a tracker or showing the real shipping times.
From the information you got from the above tip, you can figure out the real shipping times.
A tracker is also helpful because it lets your customers see how their orders are coming along. AliExpress offers different ways to track orders through partnerships with logistics companies.
The AliExpress Standard Shipping Tracker is one of the trackers that you can use. It lets you track up to 30 orders.
Coordinate Closely With Suppliers and Customers
During the order fulfillment process, a lot of things, both good and bad, can happen. As we’ve said, the time the order arrives depends on a number of things.
So, if you want your customers to feel at ease, one tip is to work closely with them and your suppliers.
This tip is different from the last one because it is not machine-automated—there is no tracker involved. You’ll do this instead through emails or phone calls.
This is also one way to get to know your customers pretty well.
Before you can do this, you must first get updates from suppliers about orders you’ve sent them. These updates are important, especially when they’ve already taken too long to do their part.
Once you get new information from your suppliers, pass it along to your customers to let them know that their order is being processed.
But this tip might not work for all dropshipping businesses and be useful to them. Unless you have a small number of customers or a customer service team at your disposal, this can take a lot of time and effort.
So, be smart about how you use your resources and decide if this kind of approach is right for your business.
Charge Flat Rates
Flat rates often help you cover your costs and get customers to buy more from your store, which is a win-win situation.
Single and tiered flat rates are the two types of flat rates. Your overall sales forecast is used to figure out single flat rates. Here is an example of how to figure out single flat shipping rates from Shopify:
Your flat shipping rate is figured out by dividing the total shipping cost of all orders you expect to get by the total number of items you expect to order.
On the other hand, tiered flat rates are based on how much the orders weigh or how much they cost in total.
Price ranges can have a flat rate set. For example, charge $5 for carts that cost between $0 and $9.99, $10 for carts that cost between $10 and $19.99, and so on.
You can also choose to charge a flat rate based on the total weight of the order, such as $10 for orders between 0.001 lb and 9.99 lb, $20 for orders between 10 lb and 19.99 lb, and so on.
Just choose which type of flat rate works best for your products and makes the most sense.
Offer Free Shipping
There’s no denying that any e-commerce site with a “Free Shipping” sign can be enticing. Even when the supplier is only a few hundred miles away, shipping costs tend to go through the roof.
There are two ways that free shipping can be offered.
The first thing that could happen is that you pay for shipping. Either include the cost of shipping in the price of your product or take it out of your profits.
The second possibility is that your supplier will send your order to you for free. Shipping costs are already built into their prices, which makes things easy for you and your customer.
Many dropshippers do more of the first scenario than the second. But if you do enough research on a product, you might be able to get free shipping from a supplier.
Key Takeaways
Delivery through dropshipping often takes a long time. Dropshippers can find a way around this by looking into other options.
