Forums: Discussions for entrepreneurs and small business.

Acal,

I agree with you and Bert that the two sites I listed above may not be best put to use under your circumstances. However, I gave your scenario some more thought. It seems to me that the small problem is how to ship the pillows, but the BIGGER problem is having to deal with shipping the pillows. It seems all of your shipping woes would be alleviated if that issue wasn`t your problem. This is especially true if you are not trying to make money off shipping. You are in the business of selling pillows and not shipping them...

With all of this being said, when you get time take a look at a service offered by Amazon called Fulfillment by Amazon (FBA). Here is the link: http://www.amazonservices.com/fulfillment/

I am not too familiar with all the details, or, most importantly, pricing, but if you are needing to ship a large quantity of these pillows it may be a viable option. I do realize that with this service you have to get the pillows to them but you can do so in very large quantities and then let them deal with the multiple individual shipments to each customer and then pass on that exact cost to the customer. You can even sell this to the customers by saying through Amazon`s economies of scale we are able to offer you lower shipping costs, or something like that.

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J.J. Thomas, JD/MBA

Entrevisor - Entrepreneur Advisory Services

www.Entrevisor.com

Entrevisor@Gmail.com

Entrevisor,

Thanks for the info. I will look in to it.  Not sure what gave you the idea I was trying to make money off of shipping.  Nothing could be farther from the truth.  I am doing everything I can to keep the price down.  Even when I sell one of my pillows on my website, I "eat" $3 on shipping.  It costs me $8 to ship (USPS priority), but I only charge $5.

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Anthony Calvert
PODillow, Inc.

Anthony,

I think you may have been confused with my response. As this statement illustrates, "This is especially true if you are not trying to make money off shipping.", I understand that you are not trying to profit from shipping. That is why I recommended you letting a professional shipping company like Amazon take over for you. What I was getting at was that if you sat down at a table and told people what PODillow, Inc did you would likely say sell pillows, and not shipping them.

Therefore, I personally think it might be beneficial for you to take advantage of a service such as Amazon`s that basically allows you to outsource your shipping department to them. With their experience, partnerships, economies of scale, etc.. they would be best able to handle the most appropriate box size and shipping method. Plus, they handle any problems with shipping as well. You can calculate the exact cost more easily this way and then pass on whatever portion of that amount to your customer. If you choose to continue to "eat" some of the shipping costs you still can or you could always choose to pass on the exact cost of shipping and be a little more profitable.  

However, this sort of process may only work if you have a high sales volume. If you are only making a few shipments per week then it might be too much trouble. Anyways, just thought it was worth looking at in case you were already selling a large volume or hope to one day. It seems it would take a lot of worries and time off your hand. Best of luck and sorry for the confusion.

JJ

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J.J. Thomas, JD/MBA

Entrevisor - Entrepreneur Advisory Services

www.Entrevisor.com

Entrevisor@Gmail.com

I agree with JJ that Amazon might be a solution depending on your volume, product/market maturity and specialized needs.  Amazon is a great company that I know very well.  They have an outstanding logistics knowledge from selling their own products that is second to none.  You must be aware that the service JJ is talking about is a new venture for them.  This is not necessarily bad, but it does mean that you need to stay flexible as they adjust if you decide to use them.  They are not insulated from current energy costs and other issues that are driving up the cost of shipping.

 

Amazon has basically done what I have outlined anyone can do on their own in my whitepaper at http://www.BusinessShipper.com.   They have a larger number of shipments to spread their flat rate shipping averaging over.  The only down side could come from the fact that you will lose control of your choice of carrier.  This becomes important if the carrier they choose is not the best one to get your product to the customer in good shape and on time.  Using a service like this also puts a third party between you and your customer.  When you are getting started with a new business venture having direct control of these items can allow you to fine tune your operations to make it easier to sell more and change things rapidly.  Once you get control and have things optimized then you can consider a service like Amazon’s or others that do the same thing.

 

At least this is what I have seen works best for start up companies…

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Bert at Harvey Software, Inc.
Multi-Carrier Shipping Software and Supply Chain Solutions for Internet Retailers

Also a provider of free shipping information and resources at Harvey Software`s Parcel Shipping Blog along with free tracking solutions at TrackingPage.com...

Entrivisor,

Sorry, I got you know.  It was late last night when I read your post. 

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Anthony Calvert
PODillow, Inc.

Ha, no problem. I`m sure trying to deal with how to ship your unique product must be frustrating. Hopefully, some of our suggestions will help.

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J.J. Thomas, JD/MBA

Entrevisor - Entrepreneur Advisory Services

www.Entrevisor.com

Entrevisor@Gmail.com

Duh, "now" not "know" sorry I need more sleep.  I have been burning the candle at both ends.

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Anthony Calvert
PODillow, Inc.