Discovering defects in the products they ordered is among the last things online shoppers wish to encounter. This is, indeed, a dilemma, and when these scenarios happen, consumers easily blame it on the eCommerce store.
Before you even get into a fight or argument with your customers online, you must know how to protect shipments. In this guide, learn about the best practices for safeguarding valuable shipments, from obtaining the right shipping insurance to ensuring proper packaging. Let’s begin.
Protecting Valuable Shipments: Best Practices
There are several ways to protect valuable shipments, with the best ones being:
1. Use Proper Packaging
Nowadays, simply labeling boxes with “Fragile” and “Handle With Care” is no longer enough. It all boils down to packaging them right.
Proper packaging buffers these products against shocks and temperature shifts. This becomes even more crucial when shipments are of high value. To ensure that the product arrives at your customers’ doorsteps in the perfect condition, here are the best packaging to consider:
- Cushioned and with bubble wrap: These materials are shock-absorbing, protecting goods from high impact while minimizing movement.
- Custom crates: Have you ever noticed the tiny or large holes on boxes? They’re not just for aesthetics, but also for protecting temperature- and pressure-sensitive goods, such as medicines.
- Cooling measures: Some packages require coolants – such as dry ice, gel packs, and the like – to maintain the ideal temperature during transit.
- Vivid labeling: Apart from words like “Fragile,” you may also label your package with “temperature-sensitive” labels to inform not just their end-users, but also their handlers during transport.
Security is essential, so, as an added tip, use tamper-evident tapes to seal your packages. These protect them from theft.
2. Implement Contingency Plans For Delays
Think of this scenario. You find yourself processing your customer’s order in time for Thanksgiving. Thanksgiving has a date, a deadline, and if their package does not arrive on time at this date, it’s like ruining their celebration.
But then again, delays are normal. Sometimes, the store isn’t the one to blame, but the sorting center. Yet, it is still your fault if the customer does not get the item on the date specified on the shopping platform.
Thus, contingency plans are essential. You could do so by using predictive analytics tools that empower businesses to plan ahead when these situations arrive.
3. Search For Expedited Shipping Services
Another recommended way to ensure the safe delivery of your customers’ goods is to use expedited shipping. Fewer stops and transfers mean less packaging handling, which minimizes the risk of damage to your high-value products. Note also that shorter durations make it easier to guarantee cold chain integrity if the items are perishables.
Therefore, you must partner with shipping companies that are experts in expedited freight and temperature-controlled deliveries. Could they fast-track time-sensitive shipments all the time? Then, choose them.
4. Tap Real-Time Tracking Technologies
High-value package shipping does not have to be stressful. When this cargo is in transit, it is not only the customer who gets impatient, but your company, too. Sometimes, you couldn’t receive their payments until they receive the product.
So, real-time tracking technology ensures you have your eyes on the package, also to precent loss or damage.
With the rise of Internet of Things-enabled logistics tracking, businesses could receive alerts on their shipments, too, in real-time, that’s right.
Also, attaching smart sensors to your packages is recommended. This way, your business could monitor the condition of the package during the trip – temperature, humidity, shock factors, and so much more. The early bird catches the early worm, as they say, and prevention is key. When you could spot damages early on, you could make a detour without the domino effect.
5. Check Documentation And Compliance
Just like how certification and compliance are essential for equipment manufacturers, they are, too, for these shipments. Getting documentations in order is key to preventing delays at the customs department. You may have the technologies, but incomplete paperwork holds up your shipment, and even if you don’t want this, customers will get frustrated. Additionally, there are higher chances of damage as well.
So, double-check that paperwork – invoices, certificates of origin, and customs declarations. Ensure they are precise. It is also vital to provide detailed product descriptions, stating the most accurate values, to streamline the clearance process.
Be aware that import regulations vary between countries, so conduct thorough research to determine which compliance documents are required. For instance, dry ice is classified as a dangerous good in many parts of the world.
Furthermore, products and packaging may face additional tariffs and regulations in your target market. Sometimes, special permits are needed for antiques, food items, and medicines. It always comes down to choosing the right logistics provider that could help simplify customs clearance, as well as offer recommendations and support on regulations.
6. Invest In Shipping Insurance
When running an online business, selecting the best shipping insurance provider is essential to protect valuable parcels and maintain customer trust.
Shipping insurance works like your travel insurance or health insurance, ensuring you are safer even when you’re met with accidents abroad, and providing complete healthcare for your ailing dad or mom, respectively.
It is a service that provides financial reimbursement if a package gets lost, stolen, or damaged during shipping. What’s fantastic is that it offers more comprehensive protection than standard carrier liability, which has limits in coverage. Shipping insurance provides businesses with a way to mitigate financial losses, which is what you want.
Thus, investing in the right shipping insurance provides essential protection for high-value shipments by covering potential damages or losses that occur along the way. Whether around are accidents, theft, natural disasters, or mishandling, these risks lead to setbacks that need insurance solutions.
This insurance ensures that businesses and individuals are compensated fairly in the event of such issues. Plus, it also minimizes disputes between shippers and carriers by defining liability clearly.
Achieve Peace Of Mind For Valuable Shipments
At the end of the day, it’s a three-letter word to remember: peace of mind. It is not only customers who get stressed whenever they learn there are possible delays in the arrival of the package, but your business, too.
High-value shipments may cost more to ship than standard items, true enough, but wth proper planning and following precautionary measures, the mishaps could be avoided. By adhering to the tips and best practices above, you could tackle all the challenges that your shipments may face along the way.