An E-commerce Guide to Fast & Affordable 2-Day Shipping

In the first years of e-commerce, online shopping was a novelty, and shipping time didn’t matter. Today, shipping time has become important for the average online shopper. It determines where shoppers shop and how much they are willing to spend. Shoppers expect to receive their orders within days of purchase. Research shows that 65% of clients are eager to spend more on fast deliveries.

With so many prominent enterprise e-commerce platforms, competition is toughening, which makes customer satisfaction crucial. Today’s online shoppers expect to receive their packages within the shortest time possible after placing their orders.

Online shipping fast delivery has become so crucial in recent years that shoppers will shop on one e-commerce site over another if it offers fast delivery and reliable shipping solutions. So, you must meet your clients’ delivery expectations to maintain your brand perception and avoid losses.

2-day shipping is among the best e-commerce shipping solutions for online retail brands. It may seem overwhelming for small to medium-sized e-commerce sites to offer 2-day shipping, but it’s possible. Read through this comprehensive guide on 2-day shipping, what it is, its benefits, and how you can offer affordable and fast 2-day shipping.

What Exactly is 2-Day Shipping?

2-Day shipping is when an online retailer sends a package(s) through a shipping carrier(s) to a client’s doorstep within two days. It’s a common e-commerce practice online sellers use to deliver online orders to clients with quick turnarounds.

E-commerce sites are adopting 2-day shipping to guarantee fast delivery to consumers. While 2 day delivery is an effective e-commerce strategy, most e-commerce sites use it sparingly due to high overhead costs and logistics limitations—especially small-sized, mid-sized, and upcoming e-commerce sites.

However, clients’ demand for faster deliveries will force e-commerce sites to change their e-commerce strategies and use 2-day shipping to beat the soaring competition.

How 2-day Shipping Works?

The process of 2-day shipping begins when a client clicks the ‘BUY’ button on an e-commerce site. A lot occurs within the two days the package will be in transit. First, the e-commerce site will process and send a client’s order to a warehouse. A shipping carrier will pick up the package from the warehouse and deliver it to the client’s doorstep.

Factors like shipping method, destination, and business day for shipping can affect how 2-day shipping runs. If you are wondering what a business day for shipping is, it’s a business day when carriers accept, process, and transport delivery packages.

The 2-day shipping process relies on ground or air shipping to make deliveries in two days. Air shipping is suitable for sending deliveries to far-flung destinations via airplanes. Although air shipping is more costly than other shipping methods, it is the only method to guarantee successful 2-day shipping.

Other benefits of air shipping include speed, reliability, and security of transit goods. E-commerce sites making deliveries via air shipping usually partner with freight management solution companies to ensure packages get to their destinations on time and cost-effectively. 

Ground shipping uses vehicles to transport delivery packages. While it’s cheaper than air shipping, it’s only suitable for delivering shorter distances. It doesn’t guarantee 2-day shipping because transit time depends on the shipping destination.

E-commerce sites offering ground shipping have warehouses or fulfillment centers in different places to provide shipping and fulfillment solutions.

Why Should I Offer 2-day Shipping on My E-commerce Site?

These are some benefits of 2-day shipping on your e-commerce site;

• Helps you meet and exceed client expectations– Today’s consumers want fast deliveries. 2-day shipping guarantees fast deliveries, fostering positive client experiences and meeting your client’s expectations.
• Eliminates cart abandonment– Cart abandonment happens when clients put their purchases in a shopping cart but fail to complete the buying process. Slow delivery speeds and high shipping costs are reasons for cart abandonment among consumers. Using 2-day shopping will reduce cart abandonment cases since clients know how fast they will get their packages to their doorsteps.
• Keep clients coming to your site– 2-day shipping can improve your brand image since clients know they will get their packages on time when they purchase from your e-commerce site, encouraging repeat customers.

How to Offer Affordable 2-day Shipping on Your E-commerce Site?

2-day shipping shouldn’t be a reserve of giant online retailers like Alibaba and Amazon. Small-sized, medium-sized, and upcoming e-commerce sites can offer fast and affordable 2-day shipping.

Here are simple tips to help you provide affordable 2-day shopping on your site;

• Partner with 3^rd party logistics services– Partnering with third-party services like Shipcarte can help online merchants provide fast and affordable shipping. Most third-party logistic services have fulfillment centers to help online retailers send packages to clients within two days. These services have technology and infrastructure that lowers their customers’ shipping costs. While shipping fragile goods, for instance, you can partner with the best courier services for fragile goods to ship your fragile merchandise safely and cost-effectively.
• Utilize paid membership programs– Offering 2-day shipping to many clients can be costly. You can start a paid membership program to ensure only members can access 2-day shipping. The key benefit of having a membership program is that clients will pay a small shipping fee, making shipping affordable.
• Use ground shipping– Ground shipping is cheaper than air shipping. Since most consumers reside in cities, your sales will likely originate from cities and metropolitan areas. Using ground shipping to transport packages from fulfillment centers or warehouse services near large cities to your clients will lower shipping costs in the long run.
• Have your inventory closer to the clients– Online merchants must shorten the distances between their customers and products to run 2-day shipping successfully. Having your inventory closer to your clients can lower shipping costs and time, especially if you are shipping from one warehouse or fulfillment center.

Conclusion

2-day shipping can set your e-commerce up for success. With clients valuing fast deliveries over convenience, having a working 2-day shipping in your e-commerce strategy will help your site make more sales, meet clients’ expectations and improves your brand.