What is Shipping?
Shipping is the process of delivering a product from one point to another. In e-commerce, the product endpoint is the customers, and the starting point of a shipping cycle is the merchant. Nowadays, shipping encapsulates many processes, such as warehouse management, freight management, or other methods used within a shipping cycle. First-mile delivery, middle-mile delivery, and last-mile delivery are the three shipping phases.
Significance of Shipping in an E-commerce Shipping and Delivery
Shipping is a significant contributor to the success of e-commerce. The process allows the delivery of a product within a given range, thus allowing merchants to expand their product’s exposure nationally and internationally.
- Increased product exposure: Today’s shipping processes allow a company to ship products nationally and internationally. Therefore, the average seller is not limited to a specific distance range.
- Establishing international brands: Sellers can now target and sell products to international customers and cater to their needs through the new-age optimized shipping process. Sellers can fulfill more customers in different parts of the globe. It further allows a merchant to build an international brand steadily.
Prerequisites of Shipping and How It Works
The prerequisites of shipping depend on the location of the customer and its serviceability among various shipping companies. Shipping is divided into three cycles which are mentioned below.
- First-mile delivery: The product is received from the seller’s address along with the required documents.
- Middle-mile delivery: Products are loaded in a freight carrier per the requirements and sent out.
- Last-mile delivery: The products are received from the freight carriers and stored in a warehouse. After processing the product, a courier delivers the product to the customer’s address.
Use Case with Shipping
Suppose a company wishes to expand globally and starts accepting international orders.The seller is based in Australia and ships an ordered microwave oven to a buyer in Bangkok by partnering with a shipping company. By timely shipping the products to the buyer will help the seller in their enhanced shopping experience.