Shipping Nightmare Shopify Community

Shipping Nightmare Shopify Community. This study was conducted across Multiple Shopify user websites. Our focus was to determine why either shipping did not work to Central American Countries and why users had sites configured for US Postal Services, considering no reliable post services existed in Central American Countries, resulting in Shopify users losing sales.

Shopify Bug Found Shipping Nightmare Shopify Community

This report and our findings are provided to investors of Major Brands’ products sold on and presented to consumers using the Shopify Platform.

Our evidence is based on a series of test samples from all of Shark Tank’s Seasons 11 and 12 brands that are considering offering products to international markets.

Why we have not notified Shopify?

• Note Shopify’s Terms and Conditions fully absolves them from any responsibility for managing shipping services, postage, and printing shipping labels. Indeed, they are explicitly referred to as only the “intermediary” between your brand and the “applicable Carrier.”

Our research covered Central America, South America, Europe, and Asia and was consistent with our findings detailed below.

The results?

Your Brands are losing International sales and have no idea they are, let alone why. The reasons for this became clear when we attempted to place an order.

1. One of the most unusual sites and prices we encountered: https://fortressclothing.com/checkout/. Subtotal $219.99. Worldwide Express, $745.93. to ship a pair of pants.

2. BRUMACHEN BREWER USPS First Class Package International 6 to 20 business days $25.18, issue, no postal services exist in Guatemala.

3. Miuff Wader Medium/Black 1 $85.00. DHL Express Worldwide 2 business days $158.96

4. Quickflip VAT/Tax GTQ 107.15 Duty GTQ 262.72 Estimated Total GTQ 369.87 The estimated duties and taxes are based on GTQ 425.12 of the product and may fluctuate due to changes in currencies, shipping costs, clearance fees, or how the items are classified by customs. Duties and taxes may be collected upon delivery of the items. FedEx International Priority Duties & Taxes Included $39.68 shipping, $45.99 duty, and tax $85.68. Incorrect no Duty is applied on this type of item FedEx keeps the duty.

This was not a random sampling of only your Brands. EG tested 261 other Brands and discovered similar findings. Our first inclination about this problem is that this is a configuration issue with the Shopify shipping set up by the owner or administrator within a particular shop.

Our recommendation to any Shopify user is to check the confirmation for shipping when a customer fails to complete a sale. Based on your estimated volumes, EF would also suggest that you thoroughly check into which price option you have with Shopify.

• Where shipping did work, the transactions appeared to be through UPS for International shipping. In one of our tests, when ordering a $74.99 product, the cost to ship to Central America or Europe was $62.42. And this $62.42 appears to be a flat rate charge. Our cost is $28.97 for our clients.

A similar problem occurs on Amazon when Your Brands’ customers enter the shipping option for any Central American address or those that can be found on a certain list of “Other Countries Addresses.” Your customers’ orders are rejected at the time of order, even though DHL partners with Amazon for International shipping services.

• Why? Because in most cases, Amazon will not accept Central American addresses and other specific countries. A known issue. You are losing sales.

5. Your brand’s conversion rate and net International revenues are negatively impacted by Shopify’s shipping services.
   1. Evidence: 63% of consumers state that high shipping costs are the primary reason why they abandon their carts on eCommerce platforms.^I Brands must find ways to reduce shipping costs to improve their conversion rates and stay viable in a highly competitive industry.

E-Commerce Problems:

6. Shipping is complicated, expensive, and slow on Shopify’s platform.
   1. Evidence: Brumachen Brewer’s USPS First Class Package for international shipping costs $25.18 with a stated delivery timeline of 6 to 20 business days to an address in Guatemala. Unfortunately, due to the lack of postal service, the package will be held at customs until the customer can pay an additional fee to recover their item.
7. Shipping prices are astronomically high despite Shopify’s “preferred” rates.
   1. Evidence: Fortress Clothing sells pairs of pants that retail for $219.99 but with stated international shipping fees of $745.93. This means the shipping more than triples the cost of the transaction, leading many customers to abandon their cart and seek out domestic alternatives. EF cost for the shipment to any country is $38.98 three day delivery.
8. Most brands do not have access to markets like Central + South America and Asia Shopify has limited services for Australia when they use platforms like Shopify or Amazon.
   1. Evidence: Large eCommerce platforms lack the necessary flexibility and adaptability to account for nuances in the regulations governing importing logistics in many developing markets. While DHL is partnered with Amazon to handle the shipping to countries like Guatemala, the order will be rejected at the time of purchase because the platform is not able to process the final delivery address.
      
9. The COVID-19 pandemic, paired with ongoing logistical issues in the Suez Canal, has disrupted global supply chains and created havoc with many brands’ inventory management and order fulfillment strategies.
   1. Evidence: 44.5% of eCommerce brands cite the challenges navigating customs regulations as the primary challenge they face to sell their goods in international markets, with a further 37% pointing to “cross-border logistics” as the biggest problem. It is important to note, however, that this was disregarding cost as a factor, implying that logistics challenges are most affected by rapidly fluctuating prices.

About Our Company:

Ethical Fashion Guatemala LLC, a US Corp. provides international door-to-door express pick-up and delivery services of parcels and documents for customers and businesses in all 195 countries worldwide.

We began with an idea four years ago protecting the copyrights of impoverished and disadvantaged female artisans in the Lake Atitlan region of Guatemala 4 years ago, starting with a $25 website and a viral series of articles, we now protect Artisans in 90 countries.

The growth of eCommerce, as well as a longstanding relationship with DHL, the global shipping leader, has pushed us to develop into the primary logistics servicing online entity in addition to expanding our ability to support local artisans with competitive shipping prices. Ethical Fashion Guatemala LLC can now coordinate and manage to import and export for any firm based anywhere in the world with competitive rates.

Shipping Nightmare Shopify Community

Business Context:

• In 2020, the leading reason why internet users around the world added a product to their online basket and purchased the item, was the free delivery: just over half (53%) of consumers stated that this benefit would increase their likelihood of buying a product when shopping online. Thus, lowering shipping prices can lead to more purchases and a better conversion rate.
• Online shoppers spent an average of USD 3.83 per visit to luxury apparel eCommerce channels and USD 3.00 across all verticals. These figures are low because about 88.05% of all online shopping orders are abandoned, with luxury goods (92.61%) and fashion items (90.68%) both topping the 90% threshold.^v
• Converting individuals into customers can have a tangible positive impact as 37% of consumers will make repeat purchases on online marketplaces, and 75% will do so on any online channel, compared to just 25% who go to physical stores.
• E-Commerce is projected to represent 21.8% of total global retail sales by 2024, almost tripling since 2015. This growth, however, is not uniform, and it is increasingly key for brands to reach global markets to stay viable. By 2023, for example, retail eCommerce sales in the Asia-Pacific region are expected to be greater than the rest of the world combined.
• More than 95% of business executives suggest that the importance of supply chain resilience is integral to achieving their strategic goals, and 9 in 10 companies say they are making significant further investments to improve their logistics to protect.

Our Solutions: Shipping Nightmare Shopify Community

1. Ethical Fashion Guatemala LLC services enable simpler, faster, and safer shipping logistics.
   1. We provide 5-day shipping to and from any market, with over 4 years of experience handling imports and exports in Central America, Europe, Asia, and North America and boasting a 99.87% delivery success rate across thousands of shipments.
2. Our exclusive rates are highly competitive and can generate greater revenue for brands by boosting international sales.
   1. Fortress Clothing’s $735.93 shipping costs on a pair of pants to Europe would come in at just $35.00 with Ethical Fashion. That is to say, our price for the same shipment is just 4.76% as expensive.
3. A higher customer conversion rate means a longer consumer lifecycle and more net profit while building goodwill and brand awareness.
   1. We conservatively suggest we could improve conversion rates by 0.5%, which translates to hundreds or thousands of additional dollars in revenue. Ethical Fashion will do so by targeting the number one complaint from online shoppers – astronomical shipping costs.
4. Ethical Fashion Guatemala LLC handles shipping logistics between any two countries worldwide, giving your brands and clients a much wider market penetration without the headache of dealing with customs and duty regulations.
   1. When shipping with FedEx, one brand was charged a $45.99 duty on top of $39.68 shipping, and $85.68 tax. While companies generally pass this cost down to the consumer, the real winner is FedEx which pockets the duty fee as it did not apply for this type of product.
      
5. The ability to import goods from China and Taiwan to any global distribution center or drop shipping warehouse means that Ethical Fashion Guatemala LLC can further help brands lower operating costs and improve inventory management.
   1. We have contracts with Chinese and Taiwanese manufacturing companies to enable products to be sent in bulk at highly competitive prices. This is the future of eCommerce logistics management, and your brand would benefit by being at the forefront of this macroeconomic trend.