MaineToday.com | Ocean Omega: Shipping Costs - when to charge, when not to charge

Ocean Omega
Bill Holt one of the founding partners of Ocean Omega. It distributes menhaden fish oil pet food supplement for dogs, cats, horses and all carnivorous animals. Ocean Omega offers two grades of fish oil, Gold and Plus, as well as our Ocean Omega Seahorse Brand Flavored Equine Fish Oil.

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September 10, 2007

Shipping Costs - when to charge, when not to charge

Shipping and handling fees represent one of the biggest quandries that Ocean Omega faces today. Shipping charges are tough to convey to consumers; so we try to lay out our rate chart based on weight of our product unique to the individual order being placed.

We initially offered free shipping on first orders for our first two+ years of existence. However, the cost of doing business for small proprietors such as ourselves, we just couldn't survive covering the freight costs

Ocean Omega tries to stay innovative and FAIR in our shipping policy, so we offer a reduced rate to simply pass on shipping costs to consumers.

We simply cannot loose money by offering free shipping. "Those days are gone." I have been thinking of ways that we can perhaps implement some sort of a "possible free shipping", but more likely a higher percentage of discount on the shipping rate at our OO website.

This will probably entail my business partner and I adding some sort of functionality to our shopping cart that figures out how much more our customers would need to spend in order to qualify for free/or discounted shipping when placing their order. - I am working out the "kinks" on this marketing strategy, and I could use some survey type input from you readers for how you may perceive this theorem as a value added service from Ocean Omega

For example: these are rough scenarios but for lets say Ocean Omega were to offer something like:"Free shipping on orders exceeding $100 or more" Actual figures would need to be determined-this is just an example for this entry in todays OO Blog. Would you potential and existing OO customers find this a viable and appealing option??

I think free shipping works for very large merchants because they have massive promotional budgets, but not so much for small and medium sized proprietors like ourselves. I constantly strive to offer as low a price as I can and we charge fair shipping rates by absorbing some of the costs ourselves.

I am of the consensus that most shoppers are looking for low prices and expect to pay shipping at small/medium sized online websites such as our own Ocean Omega website.

When customers understand the high shipping costs BASED ON WEIGHT of the product, especially when far geographics for the end recipient of our fish oil are involved, i.e West Coast shipments,. I think they then more readily accept incurring shipping charges per order.

I would encourage your input as to whether an option to increase your items in your shopping cart by a MODEST amount, to receive free shipping, would be perceived as VALUE ADDED SERVICE by Ocean Omega.

I look forward to fielding your suggestions and responses, as we are seriously taking a look at updating our checkout system on our OO website to accommodate these options.

BH
Ocean Omega
Promoting Good Health In ALL Pets!
www.oceanomega.com

Posted by Bill Holt at 03:11 PM

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Comments

I'm of the opinion that a uniform shipping cost 'across the board' is more acceptable by the general public. It can get tedious if you start calculating actual shipping weight and distance, so it's probably easier to use the 'order amount' as your guide, especially if most of your products are liquid (heavy). Just 'for example, something like $4.00 for the first $10 and $1 more for each $5 purchased with free shipping on orders $100 or more. I'm always prone to buy extra to get a shipping discount if the proprietor has products I know I like and will use, so this is in your best interest. Of course you probably need to add a little 'buffer' to your retail prices to cover any potential 'general' loss and packaging supplies, but I'm sure you've figured on that.

Posted by Vickie
September 11, 2007 04:43 AM

I read the blog and I know shipping is becoming a real problem. Would it be less expensive to purchase/ship a smaller container as the gallons are heavy. I know they are more lucrative for the kennel buyer but this shipping thing is out of control. The average owner with one or two dogs is not going to spend $100 and store oil just to get free shipping. Thats my thought only. Kennels maybe but not the average person. We sell a lot to individuals I think who are willing to buy a bottle or two at a time. I have found that most people are happy with the 16 oz or 32 oz bottle. It is easy to handle and does not cost a lot at any given time. It may not be as economical but lots of people do not think that way.

Posted by Barbara
September 11, 2007 04:47 AM

Thanks Barbara & Vickie for responding to this article regarding shipping.We are exploring some options, to include some of your own suggestions, as well as some packaging and carton content varieties, and different size bottles to abate shipping expense.

We send as much as we can through US Postal; as that is more cost effective, but we need to balance that with UPS for expediency sake as well as delivering to more rural and geographic distances.

I will keep you abreast of our efforts as we are trying to keep the overhead low, the profits moderate, and help get the word out to as many pet owners as possible.

Thank you both for being such great OO Advocates, we appreciate not only your business, but your input and interest in our marketing efforts.

BH
Ocean Omega Promoting Good Health In ALL Pets!
www.oceanomega.com

Posted by Bill
September 11, 2007 04:55 AM