Advanced software technology like ecommerce platforms and payment gateways can be pretty confusing to deal with, but logistics can be just as complicated and aggravating. A typical retailer often has to deal with dozens of different product types, each having different shipping requirements depending on where it’s being sent, which can either be local or even international.
This complexity can sometimes spill over to the customer, who shouldn’t have to deal with excessively high shipping rates and confusing shipping options. That’s why it’s important to have an ecommerce platform that can support a complex logistics infrastructure—one that can help streamline the process right at the checkout page.
B2B ecommerce platforms like Cart.com excel in these kinds of scenarios. By providing businesses like yours with a range of shipping options and the flexibility to build the workflow that best fits your operations, you can pass those efficiencies onto the customer and drastically improve their shopping experience.
Below, we’ll review some common complex logistics scenarios that our own clients have to deal with, and how we handle them at Cart.com.
Multi-warehouse management
Large brands like Dogtopia have to service customers from all over the world, and they can’t do that from a single warehouse. Instead, the brands have to operate multiple warehouse locations in order to enable rapid delivery of their products.
By the way—you don’t have to be an international brand to need multiple warehouses. Drop shipping is also a common use-case, and is subject to the same need for optimized delivery times and costs as the larger organizations.
How to manage multiple warehouses in Cart.com’s B2B Commerce Platform
Warehouses can be defined in Cart.com’s b2b commerce platform by going to Storefront > Settings > Shipping > Warehouses and clicking New to create a new warehouse.
Once there, all you need to do is enter the following information as required:
- Name
- Postal code
- State
- Country
Cart.com’s B2B Commerce Platform also gives you a few more settings that can help streamline your shipping process:
- Set warehouse to “Default”
- Status URL: URL for the status of your warehouse or dropshipper
- New order notification
- Payment received notification
Note: Each product in your store can be assigned to a specific warehouse. This is important if you’re storing specific SKUs in specific locations.
Learn more about defining warehouses here.
Configuring shipping regions
If your warehouses are in different shipping regions, you can set those regions up in Cart.com so that you can apply different shipping rates and rules.
Navigate to Settings > Shipping > Shipping Regions and open up the Edit Shipping Region screen.
From here, fill out the following fields:
- Region name
- Priority
- Region type
- Zip code
- State
- Country
From here, you can also configure store-specific Shipping Region Restrictions in case customers are outside the coverage area.
Click here to learn more about setting up shipping regions.
International shipping rules
Shipping locally is already a complex tangle of warehouses, state laws and taxes, and logistical routes, but shipping internationally is a whole other level of red tape. The transit time can be much longer and less stable (which means the rate calculations can change on a daily basis). You’ve also got to deal with different customs regulations for every single country you ship to, along with the different taxes they apply.
If the shipping rate is vague, missing, or expensive, the customer is more than likely to abort the transaction and shop somewhere else. So it’s best to make the calculations as transparent and accurate as possible via live shipping rates.
Fortunately, Cart.com can provide clear and immediate shipping rates to your international customers in a way that’s easy to set up and maintain.
International shipping settings within Cart.com’s B2B Commerce Platform
You can set up live shipping rates by going to Settings > Shipping > Shipping Providers and setting up the Shipping Provider of your choice. Cart.com’s B2B Commerce Platform works with USPS, UPS, and FedEx, and even APO/FPO for U.S. service members.
Once your shipping account is linked, the system should automatically display the provider’s quoted rate for a given transaction based on the customer’s location and the location of the warehouse storing the product (see Multi-warehouse management section above).
You can also apply markups based on a percentage or a fixed dollar amount. Visit our knowledge center for more information on international shipping.
Cross-border shipping solutions
If you do a lot of cross-border selling, you may want to look into our Zonos integration. By using this third-party integration, you can:
- Reduce rejected packages by letting Zonos calculate, collect, and remit all of the duties, taxes, and fees associated with international orders. By paying these costs upfront, items clear customs faster and reduce the risk of rejection.
- Improve cross-border compliance by automating in-country tax registration, threshold monitoring, and accurate calculation, collection, reconciliation, and remittance.
- Automate HS classification and stay compliant with accurate product classification codes. Zonos Classify can classify your entire catalog at once or look up HS codes using product descriptions or images.
Breakout shipping
What happens when a customer orders both a couch and a pillow in one purchase? There’s a huge size difference, which means different shipping methods and shipping rate calculations.
Breakout shipping allows the customer to select multiple shipping rates when an order ships from two or more warehouses, or requires different shipping rate types.
To set this up, you’ll need to go to each product and assign a Classification Code to each. A classification code basically tells the system what the preferred shipping method is for that product. That way, any purchased items with the same code will be grouped together in the same shipment.
You can learn more about breakout shipping here.
Custom shipping methods
If you require a non-standard shipping method, like in the case of white-glove delivery services or special rates, you can set that up in Cart.com’s B2B Commerce Platform fairly easily.
Simply navigate to Storefront > Setting > Shipping > Custom Shipping Methods and create a new shipping method from scratch.
From here, you can enter the details of your special shipping arrangements and set up Rules for how they will be used.
Cart.com b2b commerce platform has a Rule Engine that allows you to greatly expand your store’s flexibility and automation. You can configure the system to perform one or more specific actions when an event happens and the defined conditions are met.
Let’s say a customer orders an especially fragile or high-priority product that has to be sent via courier. You can set up a rule that scans new orders for the presence of that specific item. When that fragile item is detected, the system can alert the warehouse to schedule a courier and also tell the customer that a courier service will be in touch soon.
You can explore both the Custom Shipping Methods and the Rule Engine in full by going to our Knowledge Base.
Are advanced shipping rules worth the effort?
While advanced shipping rules on your webstore may involve a lot of work to set up and maintain, the payoff is worth it. Having these options available can drastically improve customer satisfaction and increase your checkout conversion rate.
Not only that, setting up these rules as part of your system well in advance can drastically improve operational efficiency. People on your team will already know the proper procedure and there will be very little back and forth.
Click here if you’d like to read more about how shipping and logistics is handled within Cart.com.