• Fulfillment Services
    • E-Commerce Fulfillment
    • Warehouse Management
    • Kitting & Assembly
    • Returns Management
    • Order Management
    • Transportation Management
  • Shopify
    • Shopify Consulting
  • About
  • Blog
  • Contact
  • Get A Quote
Ships-a-LotShips-a-Lot
  • Fulfillment Services
    • E-Commerce Fulfillment
    • Warehouse Management
    • Kitting & Assembly
    • Returns Management
    • Order Management
    • Transportation Management
  • Shopify
    • Shopify Consulting
  • About
  • Blog
  • Contact
  • Get A Quote
Shopify

Shopify Consulting

woman on laptop looking at dashboard

Elevating Your Shopify Integration

Shopify is an incredibly powerful tool to improve consumer experience and online shop management. But, like lots of powerful software tools, it is densely layered with optionality and avenues for efficiency, and the UI isn’t exactly new-user friendly. Chances are, if you aren’t a Shopify expert and have set up your Shopify yourself or in-house, you are missing out on ways you could improve the efficacy of your Shopify content. Maybe customers can’t find their orders, or you’re having to rescan SKUs multiple times to log them correctly, or your inventory counts aren’t right. Regardless of the specific problem, proper optimization of your Shopify set-up could save you money, make you money, and create a better experience for your customers and employees. That’s where Shopify consulting comes in.

We sometimes think of the new technologies of today’s online marketplace as plug n’ play, like a game console. All you should have to do is install it, maybe fill out a registration, and then you’re done, right? Well–done incorrectly, amazing software integration systems like Shopify can actually be costing you money. This is because you’re paying for the service and adjusting much of your workflow around it. Imagine trying to drive a rental car around, but also paying for a squad of teamsters to push each wheel. Yes, you’ve got transportation, but that’s not how it’s supposed to work!

This is what Ships-a-lot will fix for you without any extra effort on your part. We are the plug n’ play solution–just point us in the direction you want, and our “white glove” service takes care of the rest.

What Can Ships-a-lot Do To Improve My Shopify Integration?

This is not our first time in the dojo. We cater to an exclusive clientele of content creators and small and medium business owners looking to take the next step with their venture. Most of the time, these amazing people are go-getters and self-starters and tried to do it all themselves before reaching out to us. Maybe you can relate? Because their considerable expertise wasn’t in a brand-new area of technology like Shopify, we were able to quickly find ways to improve their business and help them make the jump to the next level.

We’ve helped clients with Shopify for years, and there are a few common areas of improvement that we have seen. In fact, we’ve decided to offer Shopify consulting because it is so common for us to see mistakes or missed opportunities with Shopify set-up.

These are all issues that Shopify is actually well-equipped to handle in the hands of a pro. You’re a pro at the rest of your business; we are the experts you need for Shopify.

  • Too much SKU variance
  • Your products don’t have SKUs inside Shopify
  • Your product SKUs and Barcodes aren’t set-up properly
  • Your barcodes aren’t unique
  • Inaccuracies like weights or measurements (or no information about these) are attached to SKUs
  • Tariff codes and product descriptions are not tied to SKUs
  • Exorbitant Postage Costs
  • Difficulty Pre-Determining Shipping Costs
  • Inventory Issues
  • Inaccuracies stemming from 3PL inventory counts and transmissions
  • Available inventory numbers are unreliable
  • Not offering–or difficulty in offering—digital kits
  • Lack of automation

Our Core Values

FAST

Fulfilled Accurately, Shipped Today

F-A-S-T stands for Fulfilled Accurately, Shipped Today. Everything starts with accuracy, as nothing else matters unless the correct item is shipped to the correct person. The key to accuracy is having a limited number of similar clients. Many clients, all with differing needs, are the enemy of accuracy. Once accuracy is established, speed can be achieved.

Twin

Business Twin

The founders of Ships-a-Lot are twin brothers. More times than not, they know what the other is going to say before the words leave their mouth. In a similar light, we have walked in your shoes before as brand owners and know what’s important to you. All you want to know is that the right products are arriving to the right person on time.

Workhorse

Workhorse

We run our business for you, and the buck stops with us. We’re the behind-the-scenes workhorse. You’re the star. Whenever you need to talk to a real person–not an answering machine–give us a call. If there is a problem, we will solve it.

Shopify

Why Choose Ships-a-Lot?

Ships-a-lot has years of experience with Shopify; your business is your business, but our business is making your business better. This means we constantly stay up-to-date with any changes in the Shopify software and ensure that your experience (and that of your customers) is always smooth and seamless. Integrating on your own means spending more of your company’s precious time on a process that isn’t what you started that business to do. Hand over the problem to us, and it’s a problem solved.

Ships-a-lot offers a full-service suite of improvements for your business, such as Warehouse Management, E-Commerce Fulfillment Management, Returns Management, and much more. All of these other areas also integrate with Shopify, which means that our expertise particularly with Shopify is always being tested and improved.

“Optimization” can be a scary word in business. Business owners take a lot of time and effort into setting up our business into a way that works. We view the prospect of change with some suspicion–what we had been doing got us this far, didn’t it?

You know you have Shopify up and running, but you’re still not seeing the savings and efficiencies you’ve been promised. So what do you do? Contact us today for your free consultation.

  • Great company to work with!!

    It is very hard to find a good fulfillment company at a reasonable price that is reliable and has good customer service and actually passes on shipping discounts as well. These guys do it all!! Highly recommended.

    — Progressive Health Nutraceuticals Inc.

  • Very helpful

    John is excellent. He was very helpful, answered all my questions, and provided a lot of insight. I was also very impressed with their high touch vetting process.

    — Jake

  • Ships-a-Lot is quick, reliable and professional

    The SHIPS-a-Lot staff has always been professional, quick to respond and act with all of our orders and shipping needs. Their quick shipping times keeps our customers happy, our company growing, and gives us peace of mind!
    Leona is AMAZING! Her customer service is immeasurable!

    — Heather deRijke

  • Simply the best!

    One of the best decisions we ever made was to scale our operations with Zach and the Ships-a-lot team. We picked them and never looked back. Do not hesitate! Pick these guys for your 3PL needs today.

    — JR

FAQ

FAQs

How do I onboard with a third-party fulfillment company?

When vetting fulfillment partners, learning about the onboarding process is critical!  It is a great test for “fit”– that is the “fit” between your company and the fulfillment partner.  

Run away if the onboarding process is unclear, long, complicated, or disorganized!  Oftentimes, this means that the fulfillment partner’s focus differs from your company’s focus.  

For example, a third-party logistics company might do a lot of pallet shipments to large physical retailers, then get an inbound lead from a Shopify, direct-to-consumer brand.  Working with Carts and Marketplaces, picking and packing individual orders, and shipping small parcels is very different from pallet shipments to retailers.  

Assuming fit is right, the onboarding process should look as follows: 

Step #1 – Day 1.  Initial Call (basic facts about your company, etc.).  

Step #2 – Day 2.  Materials from the fulfillment company are sent to you (qualitative attributes, pricing, etc.).  

Step #3 – Day 3.  A follow-up call to talk through details. 

Step #4 – Day 4.  Decision made to a partner. 

Step #5 – Day 5.  Brand/s grant access to their stores and marketplaces so the software can speak to each other (i.e. warehouse management software).  Initial inbound instructions were sent. The brand/s are given an overview of the Client portal and introduced to anyone they will be working with on a daily/weekly basis. 

Step #6 – Day 12.  Initial inbound receiving and put away.  Orders are flowing from Stores/Marketplaces to the fulfillment partner.  The first shipment is sent.

Contact us today to talk about your unique onboarding needs (i.e. existing lease in your facility, moving from another fulfillment partner, etc.).

How do I ship my product internationally?

Approximately 30% of our shipments are international (tens of thousands a month), so we have a lot of experience here! 

First, we only recommend shipping internationally unless you’re dedicated to growing your brand in a given country.  Passively allowing your product to be purchased from any country is not a good strategy.  The U.S. is a big place–exhaust this market first!  

Second, when you are ready to ship internationally, we recommend restricting sales to large, developed international economies (at least initially). For example, Canada, EU, UK, Australia, New Zealand, Japan, etc.

Third, when you’re ready to start, there are two broad approaches to shipping internationally.  1) ship product Delivered Duties Paid (DDP), meaning the customer pays for the Duties and Taxes (if relevant) at check-out on your store, or ship Delivered Duties Unpaid (DDU), meaning the customer just pays for the product and shipping cost when they check-out and then pays for any Duties and Taxes at the time of delivery.  Both approaches have advantages and disadvantages.  We have some clients who only ship DDP, some only DDU, and some a combination.  

Regardless of the method, you’ll need to ensure you accurately charge your customer for the true cost to ship the product to them.  

If you ship DDP (duties and taxes are collected at the time of checkout), you’ll need to set up your store to auto-calculate the duties and taxes due.  There are many good Apps out there that we can direct you to.

This topic sounds complicated, but it’s very simple. Contact us today to strategize with our team on how to ship outside the U.S effectively.

How should my product be packaged?

There are two broad considerations when determining how to package your product: a) protection, and b) cost.   

Protection.  When determining how to protect your product with packaging, imagine you’re a fly (an insect).  You “land” on your package inside the fulfillment center, stay on during the truck ride to the local UPS/FedEx/USPS terminal, witness it get unloaded from the truck, and enter a massive maze of high-speed conveyors where is routed onto yet another truck for a cross-state/country ride, then enters another final mile terminal before getting on another truck before ending up on someone’s front porch. Phew!  Along the way, your dear package is thrown, stepped on, caught in high-speed sortation equipment, and exposed to 120-degree heat (or below freezing cold) in the back of a truck traveling across the country. Would your product and package survive 9 times out of 10?  If not, you need to rethink your packaging.  

This could include moving from a poly mailer to a box, inserting a small dry ice cube (if temperature sensitive), filling the void in a box with sturdy packaging material (if glass), or getting a custom box made so your product fits perfectly inside and is fully protected. 

Cost.  However, these precautions all come at a cost (cost of materials and cost in increased postage due to weight or dimensions, etc.).  So you will need to determine the cost/benefit of any choice.  For example, if 1% of your packages are getting destroyed in transit, it’s probably not worth the increased cost to pursue more protective packaging.  

Have a specific product in mind?  Contact us today to strategize with our team on how to package your products most effectively.

What are my shipping options and how much will they cost?

For purposes of this discussion let’s assume it’s a shipment from a U.S. address to a U.S. address.  (International shipments are determined differently.)  It’s very simple…

  • How much does your product and packaging material weigh together?  For example, if you ship a small bottle weighing 6oz inside a corrugated box weighing 2.5oz, your shipment would be 8.5oz–which would be rounded up to 9oz.
  • If the answer is less than 16 ounces (1 pound / 454 grams), your shipment is eligible for USPS First Class (approximately $3.50 – $6.50 at the time of this writing). (Other “consolidated” services effectively service these lightweight shipments; however, we’ll just use USPS First Class as an example for simplicity.)   

Speed for USPS First Class shipments is usually 3 to 5 days (depending on the time of year and distance traveled).  In our experience, while the “consolidated” services might be a few cents cheaper, they are much slower and not worth the headache and increased customer service costs (“Where is my package!?”).

The exact cost of the shipment will be determined by: a) the exact weight of the shipment (1 – 16 oz), and b) the “Zone” of the destination zip code from the shipper’s zip code.  (For example, a shipment from New York to California will be a Zone 8 shipment and cost more than a Shipment from New York to Washington D.C., a Zone 3 shipment.)  We advise clients to assume a “Zone 5” shipment on average.  

  • If the answer is equal to or more than 16 ounces (1 pound / 454 grams), your shipment should be “rate shopped” between UPS, FedEx, and USPS Priority Mail. (Any fulfillment center worth talking to will have software that can “rate shop” different carriers on every shipment to get the best rate on a given shipment.)   

Generally speaking, USPS Priority Mail will “beat” UPS Ground and FedEx Ground in the “rate shop” on lighter weight, closer “Zone” shipments.  As the distance and weight increase, it becomes more likely that UPS and FedEx will “win” the “rate shop.” 

As of this writing (2022), shipments that weigh 1 to 10 pounds will cost anywhere from $8.00 to $18.00 (roughly!) – depending on exact weight (which is rounded up to the nearest pound) and Zone of end destination.  

Importantly, this price includes the Base Rate + Residential Delivery Surcharge that FedEx and UPS apply + the Fuel Surcharge that FedEx and UPS apply.  USPS only has a Base Rate.  The Fuel Surcharge changes weekly, and the Base Rate and Residential Delivery Surcharge are reset (increased) annually.

Shipments above 1 pound also have to consider “Dimensional Weight.”  Shipments will be priced at the greater of real weight (on a scale) and their dimensional weight (L x W x H in inches / 139 = Dimensional Weight in LBs).  (So a massive box of feathers will cost more to ship than a small brick.)

Lastly, this discussion only considered the most efficient method (balancing cost and speed).  If speed is the only concern, there are “Express Options” (i.e. Overnight, 2-day, etc. from both UPS and FedEx).  If cost is the only concern, there are numerous cheap “consolidated” services.  However, in our opinion, the above discussion should cover ~90%+ of your needs, with maybe the occasional expedited shipment. The slow/cheap consolidated services (in our opinion!) are not worth the headache. 

Additional shipping cost questions: Contact us today to strategize with our team on how to effectively ship your products. 

How should I set up my shipping options on Shopify?

There is no right answer here.  Generally speaking, there are six methods in setting up shipping options on Shopify.  The choice between the three has to do more with psychology than finance! 

Option #1 – Fixed Rate Shipping Cost, regardless of Order (for example, $9.99 regardless of what the customer purchases) 

Option #2 – Fixed Rate Shipping Cost, depending on the Order (for example, $9.99 if the customer purchases XYZ and $5.99 if the customer purchases ABC).  (You can get as fancy as you want—change based on weights, cart total, etc.).  

Option #3 – Free Shipping 

Option #4 – Different Speeds. For example, $9.99 for 3-4 day Ground and $14.99 for 2-day Air. 

Option #5 – Combination of two or more of the above.  (For example, flat $9.99 on all orders unless X is true, then Free Shipping.)

Option #6 – Carrier Calculated Shipping Cost (for example, the customer is charged an estimate of what the shipment will actually cost based on their address and order details). 

Regardless of which option one chooses, we find that the most successful and sustainable privately owned e-commerce brands get compensated for their true postage costs.  This can be accomplished by: a) charging the customer equal to or more than the actual postage costs, or b) increasing the retail price of the products to include some average postage costs. Brands that truly subsidize postage mean two things: a) they will burn through a lot of cash (and won’t be around long), and b) they have weak brands, as their customers aren’t loyal enough to pay a few extra dollars for delivery. 

The above discussion ignores International Shipments.  There are creative ways to set up International Shipping options, whether shipping Delivered Duties Paid (DDP) or Delivered Duties Unpaid (DDU).   

Additional shipping set-up questions?  Contact us today to strategize with our team on how to set up your shipping options effectively.  We can even do it for you!

Get a Quote! Fast! Get a Quote
Ships-a-Lot Logo Stacked
E-Mailinfo@shipsalot.com Phone(901) 410-2153 FacebookInstagramTwitterYouTube
America's Fastest Growing Companies Badge

Fulfillment Services

  • E-Commerce Fulfillment
  • Shopify Order Fulfillment
  • Warehouse Management
  • Kitting & Assembly
  • Returns Management

Copyright © 2023 Ships-a-lot