Your Small Business Shipping Practices Are Marketing, Too, You Know . . .
November 25, 2011
Guest Post by Colleen Hazelrigs
Some of you are part of a business that sells stuff rather than a service. You make something and people buy it and take it home, or to work, or play. Or maybe you have an idea to make something and sell it to people. You are the people I am talking to. The rest of you are welcome to listen in for inspiration.
I am Research and Development Director at World Address, llc, dba OPAS. OPAS is in the business of forwarding packages to global shoppers who buy stuff in the US and live outside the US, a growing phenomenon that eventually will touch you and your business. I believe that this information could make a significant improvement on the bottom line in your business; help you and your business thrive like you knew you could when you had the idea to make the stuff you do.
And then, when you established your on-line store, you unexpectedly got an order from outside the US. You evaluated the request and decided to tell the customer that you don’t ship outside the country. You didn’t know how to deal with customs. You felt intimidated by the effort it could take to find the best international shipper and shipping rates for your customer’s country. You didn’t want to take the risk that the credit card payment would be charged back for some reason with no recourse to get paid. You decided that the risk far outweighed the possible benefit, so you turned away the business and associated profit. You breathed a sigh of relief and congratulated yourself for making a smart decision about a tough situation. But there is a small part of you that regrets losing the sale and profit.
I’m here to tell you you don’t have to lose that sale. In fact, you can confidently open your business to international sales with little or no risk and expense by using a package forwarder.
The primary point I want to make here is that how you represent your shipping policies makes a difference in the success of your business and the benefit of your product to more customers. What I would like to do is open up your vision of the market and show you that you can deliver your product to people all over the world, helping them be and do and have whatever they want.
I will be following up with a few posts that explain in detail how you can take advantage of the package forwarding service to ship your stuff, and some of the nuances of doing business this way. I look forward to any questions you have about how this works.
Colleen Hazelrigs is Director of Research and Development at World Address, llc, dba OPAS. She researches new lines of business and coordinates promotional efforts. OPAS was the first package forwarder in the US, opening their doors in 1990. Colleen is also Principal at Hazelrigs Architecture & Colleen Hazelrigs Design, pllc in Seattle, WA, a green corporate interior architecture firm.
Photo used under Creative Commons SA/ND license by Pat Castaldo on Flickr
Colleen, I very much look forward to you later posts with details on how to take advantage of package forwarding services internationally.
As a photographer, I have a line of fine art photography that I'd LOVE to be able to sell across the border and yet have shied away from the expenses.
Thank you for the helpful info in advance! Happy holidays!
Jean
Posted by: Jean Huang Photography | December 03, 2011 at 08:17 PM
Shipping policies should widen a little bit , in general specifically where and how they shipped.
I am really thankful for companies like OPAS, for persons like me who live in ASIA but would love to by something on online stores that only ships items on USA, and through companies like OPAS the same way that Paypal is doing now, it is possible for us to have what we want even if we are outside US.
Posted by: Home Improvement | November 26, 2011 at 09:12 AM