Optimizing your SmartEtailing™ Website Categories for Shipping Success

The Problem

Now that you are selling more and more product on you're website, you're finding lots of ways to lose money on shipping.

You can deal with it in two ways: keep rolling with the same process knowing that you're winning new customers, or you can restrict shipping by category.

This article focuses on the second choice.

Restricting Category Shipping Settings

This article will show you how to optimize your SmartEtailing™ catalog to leverage greater shipping efficiencies.

The best part is that it is quick and easy to execute too! Plan on spending 1-2 minutes to per category.

Here's the Process

Go to each category in the catalog structure (SE Catalog Manager > Catalog Structure).

Click the category that is giving you fits.

Click Advanced Settings

Scroll down and click edit Brand fulfillment options

On next screen you'll be able to deselect shipping for each of the applicable brands.

Click Submit to close Popup.

Click Save to save the Category Settings.

Rinse and Repeat

Use this technique on each and every category you're losing money on shipping 

Bike Shop SEO's Position on Shipping

Bike Shop SEO has performed analyses of shipping rates on client accounts and have routinely found that shipping OVER THE AGGREGATE / LONG HAUL is less of a money loser than shops think it is.

It hurts when your margin is crushed on an individual sale.

It is important though to keep in mind that each new customer your site attracts is a the beginning of a lifetime of potential returning sales on other items that you will lose out on by not shipping these weird items.

At the end of the day, you need to do what's right for your business; we just want you to know that there are costs to not shipping items that have a worse margin.

What do You think?

Do any other solutions come to mind?

Are there any bike shop e-commerce areas you'd like optimization ideas to read about?  Put your questions and thoughts in the comments below.

Back to Blog Home