Vivian Tong from Wave Commerce kicks off our Shopify Meetup Hong Kong 2019 Spring edition.

Why Order Fulfillment Matters

Because shoppers are not purchasing from a physical store, how an item gets to your customer’s door becomes an important part of their experience in your brand. As 68 percent of online merchants consider the cost of shipping to be their biggest operational challenge, it is natural that fulfillment platforms have emerged to provide solutions for online stores. Below are factors Hong Kong merchants we invite merchants to consider when choosing fulfillment solutions options, including many global leaders, such as Easyship, that are based in Hong Kong.

Automation to Remove Manual Work

Look for a solutions provider that can integrate into your ecommerce platform and automate processes. Look for solutions providers that can import orders directly from your ecommerce platform, print labels, and track shipments. Merchants already using Shopify can go to the platform’s App Marketplace and check the options available in “Orders and shipping”.

Provides a Range of Delivery Options with Transparent Prices

Accessing accurate price comparisons between regional and local delivery services is crucial for cross-border expansion, which is crucial for ecommerce merchants in Hong Kong. Look for a platform that can provide a range of companies, prices for shipping between specific regions, delivery estimates, and taxes and duties, so that you can quickly choose delivery services to customers in Indonesia and the US.

Providing Options for Customers that matter to them

In addition to providing cost comparisons for merchants, effective platforms also help merchants give choices to customers. By providing customers with choices, such as a free option and an express delivery service with an added fee, you can appeal to both price sensitive and time sensitive consumers. An effective platform will provide services such as automated labels for each of your pre-selected delivery companies so that providing options to customers does not complicate business operations.

Automating Touchpoints to Immediately Improve Customer Satisfaction

After a customer makes a purchase, order fulfillment is the last opportunity for your brand to leave a positive impression. According to a 2015 UPS study, two of the main post-sale factors that determined customer satisfaction were:

1. Receiving an email confirmation of item delivery
2. Being able to track their order shipping status

Look for a solutions provider that provides extended features such as e-mail integrations and automated shipment notifications to keep customers informed without added work for you.

Deploying Comprehensive Fulfilment to Grow Ecommerce‍

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Rick Ngan from Easyship outlines the major considerations for shipping and fulfillment for ecommerce merchants.

For our Shopify Meetup Hong Kong 2019 Spring event, we invited Rick Ngan from Easyship to share the facets of order fulfillment that become opportunities to impress shoppers.

Letting Customers Choose What Matters

Easyship leverages Hong Kong’s position as a leading logistics center and provides a platform to manage 250+ shipping solutions with clear cost breakdowns, delivery times, and courier quality ratings. In the past, merchants usually chose a single delivery service based on what they were used to, but with Easyship, merchants can let customers sort and choose the fastest, cheapest, and best value shipping options for their region. This added choice helps convert customers who need same-day deliveries as well as shoppers who are looking for free shipping.

Using Transparent and Simple Costs Calculators for Cross-Border Shipments

Source: Easyship

One of the biggest challenges in cross-border ecommerce is calculating the total cost of goods, after shipping and taxes and duties. The Easyship Tax and Duty Calculator helps merchants and customers to understand the true cost of shipping, which helps brands build trusts by providing transparency. By knowing the true cost of cross-border shipping, merchants can then decide whether they offer pre-paid or post-paid tax so that there are no surprises for shoppers, thereby improving their online shopping experience.

Automating and Outsourcing Operations to Focus on Sales

Profit margins are improved through operational efficiency. Easyship helps merchants generate the tracking order labels for the shipment options that are chosen by customers. By automating routine tasks such as filling shipment forms and sending email confirmations, businesses reduce administrative tasks to focus on sales and marketing instead.

Easyship, along with other shipment platforms, help businesses digitally transform their operations and test new services with relatively low risk. For example, businesses exploring growth in new markets can outsource fulfillment services to logistics companies such as Easyship, which can ship from Hong Kong, the US, Singapore, Australia, and the Netherlands for the EU market. After there is a proven market demand, merchants can invest in their own ERPs and warehouses.

Rick from Easyship speaks with attendees during the networking session after the presentations.

After his presentation, Rick stayed during the networking session to speak to merchants and entrepreneurs about the finer details of fulfillment such as setting up shipping rules, managing customer expectations, and available integrations for Easyship. Also, check out our Shopify Meetup Hong Kong 2019 event recap to find out what other presenters shared their stories!

As always, feel free to get in touch to learn about how ecommerce can fit your business.

Disclaimer: Wave Commerce is an official EasyShip Partner and Shopify Partner.