This blog was updated on 02 April 2025, for more information connect with our team: https://www.easystore.co/contact

Why Your Shipping Strategy Matters

You’ve invested time and effort into marketing your online store, but without a solid shipping strategy, all that effort could go to waste. 

One of the biggest reasons shoppers abandon their carts at checkout is unexpected shipping costs. However, absorbing shipping costs completely can eat into your profits.

So, what’s the best shipping strategy for your online store? The answer depends on your business model, products, and customer expectations. Below are five shipping strategies you can try.

1. Offer Free Shipping

Free shipping is one of the most effective ways to attract shoppers. Unexpected extra costs at checkout often lead to cart abandonment, and offering free shipping eliminates this concern. 

Displaying “Free Shipping” on your website—perhaps with a sliding banner—can increase conversions and give you an edge over competitors who don’t offer this benefit.

How to make free shipping work for your business:

• Increase product prices slightly to absorb shipping costs

• Offer free shipping only on orders above a certain amount to encourage larger purchases

• Restrict free shipping to specific regions or products

Things to consider:Be sure to calculate your profit margins before implementing free shipping. If your market is highly competitive, increasing your prices to cover shipping might not be an ideal approach.

2. Charge the Exact Cost of Delivery

Another approach is to pass the exact shipping cost to your customers. Most courier services charge based on package weight and delivery location. With this method, your customers pay for the precise cost of shipping their order.

How to implement this:

• Check the shipping rates of your preferred courier service

• Use weight-based pricing for shipping calculations (e.g., RM7 for the first 500g, RM3 for every additional 500g)

• Use EasyStore’s shipping module to automate these calculations

Things to consider:Customers may feel discouraged if shipping fees seem high, so it’s a good idea to be transparent about shipping costs upfront.

3. Set Your Own Custom Shipping Rates

Rather than charging the exact shipping rate, you can set your own shipping rates. This gives you more control and allows you to make shipping costs more predictable for customers.

How to implement this:

• Check prepaid shipping options from courier services (e.g., flat-rate envelopes or boxes)

• Round up shipping fees to the nearest whole number for simplicity

• Consider a slight markup on shipping to cover packaging costs

Things to consider:Avoid setting unrealistic shipping fees. Customers are generally aware of standard shipping costs, and charging significantly more may harm your store’s reputation.

4. Use Flat-Rate Shipping

Flat-rate shipping is a simple approach where you charge the same fee regardless of package size or weight. This method works best when your products are similar in size and weight.

How to implement this:

• Set a fixed shipping fee per order (e.g., RM6 for all orders within Malaysia)

• Offer different flat rates for different regions if necessary

• Consider using this method for promotional campaigns

Things to consider:If your products vary significantly in size and weight, this method might not be suitable as it could lead to losses on heavier shipments.

5. Combine Different Strategies

You don’t have to stick to just one shipping method. Many successful online stores use a mix of strategies to balance customer satisfaction and profitability.

Popular combinations:

• Free shipping for orders above a certain amount + weight-based pricing for smaller orders

• Flat-rate shipping for standard deliveries + express shipping at an extra cost

• Free delivery within a specific area + courier shipping for other regions

For example, IM Home Stylist offers free shipping on orders above RM100, combining free shipping with weight-based pricing. This encourages customers to buy more while ensuring shipping costs remain manageable.

Conclusion

Every online business is different, and no single shipping strategy works for everyone. Testing different approaches over time will help you determine which option works best for your store. You can also ask your customers for feedback to understand their shipping preferences.

Make Customers Love Buying From You

EasyStore empowers your brand to prioritize customers and enhance their experience, creating a unified customer experience (UCX) that makes customers love buying from you.

Over 50,000 brands have grown their businesses by embracing unified customer experiences (UCX) strategy through EasyStore across multiple sales channels - online store, retail outlets, marketplaces, and social media, ensuring consistency in product and service offerings for a seamless shopping journey.