Most businesses choose a carrier and service when they start out, then ship everything on it. It works, so nobody revisits it.
The problem is that shipping costs get reviewed as one average figure. That average can look fine while plenty of individual orders go out on a service that costs more than they need, or in packaging that tips them into a pricier band.
The savings are rarely in one big change. They come from four or five smaller ones that compound across every order you send.
- Sort your orders into groups
Export a few weeks of orders and group them by weight and destination. Under 1kg domestic, 1 to 5kg domestic, Europe, rest of world. Four or five groups is usually enough to show where your volume sits.
- Check your packaging against the weight and size bands
Carriers price by band, so a box that pushes a 900g order over 1kg costs you on every order like it. Weigh and measure your most common packed orders, then check whether a lighter box or a mailer brings a whole group into a cheaper band.
- Check your invoices against what you agreed
Pull three to six months of carrier invoices and compare them against your contracted rates. Surcharges for fuel, remote areas and residential delivery rarely appear on the headline rate, and rate increases sometimes go through without being flagged.
- Price each group properly
Take your biggest group first, since a cheaper rate there saves the most. Check what it costs you now against the alternatives: a different service on your current carrier, a rate you renegotiate, or discounted postage bought through Zenstores.
- Lock in your choices with rules
Set a rule in Zenstores Automations for each group, so every matching order goes out on the service you chose. Rules run on weight, destination, order value, SKU, channel or tags, so the saving holds on every order rather than depending on someone remembering it at dispatch.
This app is invaluable to our business and our fulfilment house who recommended it to us. It takes all the complexities and manual work away from despatch in just one click (and the team are incredibly supportive, speedy and will offer ways to save money on postage etc too.
GYM FOR YOUR SKIN
Frequently Asked Questions
Which of these saves the most money?
Usually packaging and order-type pricing, because both apply to every order in a group rather than as a one-off. Packaging is yours to fix. On pricing, the Zenstores team can help you work on your carrier rates during setup, and Zenstores Automations then applies the service you choose for each group to every matching order.
Does Zenstores decide which carrier my orders go on?
No. You choose the service for each group, and Zenstores Automations applies that choice to every matching order. Nothing moves between carriers unless you set it up that way.
Do these savings apply to international orders too?
Yes, and the gaps are often wider, since services vary more by destination. Zenstores also generates customs documentation automatically from your product data, so cheaper international routing doesn't create extra paperwork.
Do I need to switch carriers to save money?
Often savings can be found in your existing setup: packaging that sits in the right weight band, invoices that match your contract, and each order type on a service that suits it. Discounted postage through Zenstores can help you make more savings, though.
Does cheaper shipping mean slower delivery?
Not if you price by group rather than moving everything onto the cheapest service available. An order promised next day still needs a next day service, and downgrading it costs you more in complaints than it saves in postage. The saving comes from orders that never needed the premium service in the first place.
Do I need high order volume for this to be worth doing?
The packaging and invoice checks pay back at any size, since both apply to every order you send regardless of how many that is. Rules become worth setting up once you're picking services manually often enough that the choice isn't consistent.
What if everything I ship is roughly the same weight and size?
Then weight matters less, but destination still splits your orders. Domestic, Europe and rest of world usually price differently even at identical weight and dimensions. Fewer groups just means the setup takes less time.
