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Ecommerce Shipping - Oversized Items

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Thomas89

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Feb 11, 2019
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Hi Everyone,

I have a business start-up conundrum that I was hoping someone here might be able to help me solve.

I currently run a successful affiliate site in the UK. Through this website I have discovered an extremely profitable niche that I’m confident could be huge if I were able to source my own product and set-up as an ecommerce retailer. I have a number of years’ experience in digital marketing and have already sourced a great product at a competitive price, so I’m confident that this could be viable.

My problem is that the product I’m looking to sell is oversized. Specifically, single units are 200cm in length, and roughly 50cm in height, 50cm width. Unit sizes vary (though never more than 200x50x50) and sometimes customers will order more than one unit at a time. A single unit will weigh 120kg max – often less.

I have done quite a lot of research and the only delivery methods I can find for such an awkward sized product is a light pallet. The problem is that this costs roughly £70 per delivery. My product is a high average order value, but not high enough to absorb such high costs for delivery.

As I’m a complete newbie with product fulfilment (especially for such large items) I was hoping someone might be able to help me understand how this could be made viable? There are competitors making this work (and I know from research they are using delivery partners) so I'm trying to understand how this is possible.

Are there other options than pallet delivery for something this size? Or do I need to find a pallet delivery network that will offer lower costs per delivery given that I will be shipping multiple units through them?

Would really appreciate any help anyone might be able to offer.

Tom
 
How are your competitors dealing with the delivery? Try them and find out.

Whatever method its likely to cost some money, more than standard sized stuff.
Needing special handling at all handling stages of delivery. Unless you don't mind it being dragged.
 
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From the website of one of the biggest competitors in my niche, they charge £25 for delivery. Still doesn't seem enough to cover the costs of a pallet. As you say I will need to try them out to understand how that is dealt with.

Thanks for your suggestion.
 
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Thomas89 said:
From the website of one of the biggest competitors in my niche, they charge £25 for delivery. Still doesn't seem enough to cover the costs of a pallet. As you say I will need to try them out to understand how that is dealt with.

Thanks for your suggestion.
Click to expand...

Don't bet on the delivery charge fully covering the delivery. Can build part of the delivery cost they pay into the item pricing.
 
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Mr D said:
Don't bet on the delivery charge fully covering the delivery. Can build part of the delivery cost they pay into the item pricing.
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Sure, and I definitely think that's the case. But I'm just struggling to understand how they can make it profitable if their actual delivery costs are £70 a pop.
 
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Sounds like its racking or shelving type products. Big Dug offer free delivery for orders over £250. So of course they are building freight prices into product selling price. I have been to some of the factories that make their products and the cost prices are really low, but that's just part of the story. The total journey (and handling) cost incurred by the product from factory to end user is much more difficult to deal with cost effectively than sourcing the product.

Palletline etc find this very difficult to handle as you need two pallet widths for 2000. Tuffnells are regarded pretty highly for big stuff.

The other key factor to consider is what to do with a products of this size and weight when it arrives at its destination. Who will move it from kerbside to required position? How?

My best suggestion is that you place an order on an existing supplier of the products you are considering and see how they deal with it.

You can then send it back - ah yes, another conundrum - dealing with returns of products this size.......
 
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Thanks for getting back to me. It's actually a carpeting product that comes in lengths of 2M and will need to be rolled up.

As you say existing retailers in this space are clearly pricing their products to deal with the high product journey costs. The problem is, even at the upper-end of the market with minimum order quantities I'm struggling to run the numbers so that I can be competitive on price & profitable with ~£85 total P&P costs.

Definitely going to look to order from a few competitors and see how they're dealing with this stuff. I notice from their websites that all only offer kerb-side delivery and advise that customers will need to arrange products to be moved from there. Makes sense as the package could likely be broken up kerb-side and moved by two people.

Maybe it's also worth speaking with Tuffnells to get a custom quote too. Thanks for the suggestion.
 
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Thomas89 said:
offer kerb-side delivery and advise that customers will need to arrange products to be moved from there. Makes sense as the package could likely be broken up kerb-side and moved by two people.
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Be warned - who pays when the end user cannot deal with the kerbside delivery, whatever your T&C might say. Or when the end user is not in, even though they said they would be.
 
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I think we could look at what happens with kerb-side delivery to make this manageable for the customer. In terms of what happens when the end user is not in - what is the usual procedure when this happens with pallet delivery?
 
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Hey Thomas,

I run a fulfilment centre and work with a couple of clients that sell what we call 'ugly' freight (gazebos, fitness equipment). Most of the product range are either really heavy, really bulky or really long. We use a combination of pallet network delivery and also Tuffnells Courier Service to deliver orders in the UK.

Both tend to work best when you have volume, so it may be worth trying to find a local logistics/fulfilment company to help get you started.

This is in no way a direct sell. Just wanted to pass on some advice which I hope will help.

Thanks, Alex
 
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Although not a cover all, ideal or time sensitive option, have you considered return journeys using owner drivers who've done a drop, lets say in London, and are running back to Manchester without a load?

There are websites specifically for finding such folk.
 
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My business sells oversize items (though not as big / heavy as yours).

Have you worked out your storage costs? They will probably be significant as you'll get charged double pallet rate and you won't get many onto a pallet. If you are aiming to deliver from stock this is going to have a large impact on your costs. You will be lucky to get more than 6 on a double pallet that's going to cost you £2 - 4 per week to store.

Shipping is going to be expensive. We include shipping in our price to avoid barriers to purchase having looked at what our average cost of fulfilling and shipping an order. I can tell you that we use TNT and get a pretty good rate and for an item 200 x 50 x 50 weighing 100kg you're looking at least £50 + VAT. The other people selling will not be covering all their shipping costs at £25.

Anyvan might well work well for your deliveries in the short term.
 
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