UNDERSTANDING DELIVERY IN ECOMMERCE
Delivery, Shipping, Logistics are the terminologies used in eCommerce in moving products from stores or warehouses to its final consumers.
There are certain important factors to consider in delivery of products and determining the
cost of delivery
Factors to consider
- Weight of the item
- Location or Delivery Address of recipient
- Method of Payment: Cash on Delivery and Cash before Delivery
- Urgency of order
Weight of the item
The weight of the item is very important in order to determine the cost and method of shipping. There are two types being used: Actual Weight and Dimensional/Volumetric Weight.
The actual or physical weight is exactly what the item weighs including its packaging and it is measured in Kilogram. While the Dimensional Weight considers the size and physical or actual weight of the item. It is calculated by multiplying the Length by Width and Depth divided by a common factor,The common factor could be 5000, 6000 or 4000 and it is determined by the courier company to fix its delivery cost
The delivery companies use either a weight based or volumetric weight to determine the shipping weight. For regular objects and properly packaged items, it is much easier to know/measure the length, breadth and width of the item. However, for irregular items and large sized items, volumetric weight is used.
Items less than 20kg can easily be transported on a bike for intra-city delivery. When the weight is higher, vehicular, air or sea transportation becomes inevitable.
Location or Delivery Address of Recipient
The recipient delivery location is the most important factor in the order fulfillment process. Delivery addresses must be detailed and easy to understand. If the delivery information for your shipments are not accurate, then the courier companies won’t be able to deliver them, or it may even result to wrong deliveries or shipments would just be returned back to you. All these, lead to unnecessary delays, frustrations and negative PR for the companies.
If you properly address a package correctly, then you’re halfway towards a smooth order fulfillment.
To make things simple, most couriers or countries use a standardized address format
Format
- A flat or house number
- A street name
- The name of the city
- An area or state
- A postal code
- The name of the country
Some locations
may not have proper location details due to the fact they are new sites or there are changes in house numbering or
construction is ongoing. At other times, the recipient is just ignorant of
his/her location.
Regardless, proper delivery addresses should include landmarks, nearest bus-stops and even color of the building. It is also necessary to inform logistics company if there is/are any barriers such as ongoing construction or Access restrictions just like the type in an Estate or Government Reserved Area
Method of Payment: There are two major methods, eCommerce transactions could be completed: Payment or Cash before Delivery and Cash or Payment on Delivery. The means of achieving this can be through traditional means such as credit/debit cards, mobile wallets, bank transfers, cash or more recent means of using digital currencies .
Integration of
payments on eCommerce platforms offered by Payment processors such as
interswitch, skrill, paypal, paystack has made payment collection easy using
the means described above. Customers are prompted to use their credit/debit
cards, bank transfer when they checkout on
merchant’s site
Payment on delivery on the other hand is done when the goods arrive the buyers delivery location. Customers pay mostly by cash or transfer or can use credit/debit if POS terminal is available .Payment on delivery has been widely accepted due to trust issues from both parties. However, most delivery companies would charge extra fees as they consider this method of payment time wasting, and more prone to theft issues.The charges are called cash handling charges.
It is also important to mention not all delivery companies accept this form of payment. In fact, many have introduced it and abolished this method afterwards.
Payment before delivery is touted as a more sustainable method and deliveries could be completed easily and faster as other occupants at your destination can accept your packages on behalf of recipients
Urgency of order: How urgent an order is needed will greatly affect the cost of delivery. Delivery companies prioritize urgent orders and usually label such orders as Express delivery.
Same day orders for intra-city is an example of such and attracts higher charges.
At Pointsource, we carefully put all these factors into consideration in determining Estimated Time of Delivery and our delivery rates. We also try to inform our customers ahead in order to meet expectations. In some cases or during promotions. we offer FREE DELIVERY if certain purchase price is met, within or across locations. Customers should also endeavor to know how much delivery costs during checkout and be patient or review tracking information when orders are shipped to them
To learn more, visit https://www.pointsource.ng/delivery