In its new white paper, “Overcoming the Amazon Effect and the Cost of Free Shipping,” Parcel TMS developer, Pierbridge, looks at the impact eCommerce consumer expectations for free and fast shipping is having on shippers across all industries.
Marlborough, Mass. – Free and fast shipping doesn’t come cheap. Thanks largely to Amazon, consumers have been conditioned to expect free shipping and within increasingly narrowing delivery windows, and this is impacting shipper profitability. While Amazon can afford to lose billions on outbound shipping costs, most shippers cannot. They need to balance the cost of free shipping against optimizing customer experience. Pierbridge’s new white paper explores this balance.
According to findings in the January 2018 edition of Consumer View, a quarterly report issued by the National Retail Federation (NRF), 68% of online shoppers expect free shipping even on purchases of less than $50 and 47% say they typically abandon their cart if shipping isn’t free.
And it’s not just retailers and eCommerce merchants who are impacted. The parcel and LTL capacity crunch caused by supply chain shifts to smaller more frequent shipments is raising transportation prices at twice the rate of inflation across all industries.
“Amazon and Walmart are now extending free shipping to premium services including same-day and even Sunday deliveries,” said Bob Malley, CEO of Pierbridge. “This means that the days of handing all your shipments off to one carrier are over. More carriers and service choices mean more complexity, the kind of complexity that can only be managed by an enterprise-class Parcel TMS solution. Point solutions just don’t cut it anymore, especially when e-tailers are struggling to keep margins while meeting customer expectations.”
The white paper, available for download at https://pierbridge.com/overcoming-amazon-effect-white-paper-first.html, provides insights on the shipping struggles and solutions facing eCommerce players.
To learn more about Transtream, powered by Pierbridge, visit www.Pierbridge.com/Transtream.html
About Pierbridge, Inc.
Founded in 2004 by an experienced executive team with a proven track record of success in the transportation software industry, Pierbridge is now a global organization with offices in North America, UK, and Europe. Pierbridge’s Transtream Parcel TMS enterprise shipping software powers some of the largest shipping operations in the world. Pierbridge is the only transportation management software provider whose solutions have earned both FedEx and UPS ConnectShip Platinum partner status in recognition of product excellence and customer adoption. For more information about Pierbridge, visit https://pierbridge.com.