{"id":1535857,"date":"2024-04-23T05:00:35","date_gmt":"2024-04-23T09:00:35","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.practicalecommerce.com\/?p=1535857"},"modified":"2024-04-23T05:35:40","modified_gmt":"2024-04-23T09:35:40","slug":"can-retailer-co-ops-cut-ecommerce-shipping-costs","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.practicalecommerce.com\/can-retailer-co-ops-cut-ecommerce-shipping-costs","title":{"rendered":"Can Retailer Co-ops Cut Ecommerce Shipping Costs?"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><span data-preserver-spaces=\"true\">Retailer cooperatives have long helped smaller, independent stores purchase in volume. These loose confederations could also be an answer for ecommerce shipping and returns.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span data-preserver-spaces=\"true\">The idea is simple: A group of retail businesses pool their money to buy in bulk.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<div id=\"attachment_1535860\" style=\"width: 580px\" class=\"wp-caption alignnone\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-1535860\" class=\"wp-image-1535860 size-large\" title=\"Photo of Boise Hardware\" src=\"https:\/\/www.practicalecommerce.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/04\/041924-boise-hardware-570x380.jpg\" alt=\"Photo of Boise Hardware\" width=\"570\" height=\"380\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.practicalecommerce.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/04\/041924-boise-hardware-570x380.jpg 570w, https:\/\/www.practicalecommerce.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/04\/041924-boise-hardware-300x200.jpg 300w, https:\/\/www.practicalecommerce.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/04\/041924-boise-hardware-360x240.jpg 360w, https:\/\/www.practicalecommerce.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/04\/041924-boise-hardware-768x511.jpg 768w, https:\/\/www.practicalecommerce.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/04\/041924-boise-hardware.jpg 1000w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 570px) 100vw, 570px\" \/><p id=\"caption-attachment-1535860\" class=\"wp-caption-text\">Cooperatives have helped small retailers boost buying power. Could the concept work for ecommerce shipping?<\/p><\/div>\n<p><span data-preserver-spaces=\"true\">A hardware store in Boise, Idaho, wanting to stock DeWalt tools might not have enough buying power to get the best prices. But if it cooperated with 50 independent hardware shops nationwide, suddenly the group would have the collective resources to be taken seriously.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span data-preserver-spaces=\"true\">That&#8217;s a retailer cooperative in action.<\/span><\/p>\n<h3><span data-preserver-spaces=\"true\">Shipping at Scale<\/span><\/h3>\n<p><span data-preserver-spaces=\"true\">Turn your attention to shipping <a href=\"https:\/\/www.practicalecommerce.com\/ecommerce-returns-becoming-easier-cheaper\">and returns<\/a>. There are at least three ways that scale \u2014 the size of a business \u2014 can impact ecommerce shipping.<\/span><\/p>\n<h4><span data-preserver-spaces=\"true\">Fulfillment centers<\/span><\/h4>\n<p><span data-preserver-spaces=\"true\">Walmart, the retail giant, earned about 17% of its revenue from ecommerce in 2023. The company <\/span><span data-preserver-spaces=\"true\">had 34 ecommerce fulfillment centers and 100 ecommerce distribution facilities in the United States at the beginning of 2023.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span data-preserver-spaces=\"true\">These facilities expedite delivery by placing items close to customers \u2014 a dual advantage over an SMB retailer shipping from a single location. Walmart can deliver an identical item more quickly since it has less distance to travel, and the shipping cost should be lower for the same reason<\/span><span data-preserver-spaces=\"true\">.<\/span><\/p>\n<h4><span data-preserver-spaces=\"true\">Physical locations<\/span><\/h4>\n<p>Physical locations allow shoppers to pick up orders and drop off returns. <span data-preserver-spaces=\"true\">Walmart can aggregate those items and reduce reverse shipping costs.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<h4><span data-preserver-spaces=\"true\">Carriers<\/span><\/h4>\n<p><span data-preserver-spaces=\"true\">The third advantage is an in-house delivery operation. Consider <a href=\"https:\/\/www.practicalecommerce.com\/will-amazon-convert-shipping-expense-into-profit\">Amazon Logistics<\/a>. <\/span><span data-preserver-spaces=\"true\">In 2023, it carried 5.9 billion parcels, according to a <\/span><a class=\"editor-rtfLink\" href=\"https:\/\/www.pitneybowes.com\/us\/shipping-index.html\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\"><span data-preserver-spaces=\"true\">Pitney Bowes report<\/span><\/a><span data-preserver-spaces=\"true\">. UPS hauled some 4.6 billion parcels, and FedEx carried 3.9 billion. Only the United States Postal Service delivered more domestic parcels than Amazon Logistics.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span data-preserver-spaces=\"true\">Without its logistics division, Amazon would have to pay and rely on USPS, UPS, or FedEx. And <\/span><span data-preserver-spaces=\"true\">Amazon is not the only ecommerce business with some form of delivery.<\/span><\/p>\n<h3><span data-preserver-spaces=\"true\">Cooperation<\/span><\/h3>\n<p>I know few, if any, ecommerce SMBs that have considered a cooperative to compete on shipping. Perhaps this article will get them thinking.<\/p>\n<h4><span data-preserver-spaces=\"true\">Store locations<\/span><\/h4>\n<p><span data-preserver-spaces=\"true\">Retailers can ship for each other. <\/span><span data-preserver-spaces=\"true\">Imagine you own a hardware store in Boise, Idaho. You belong to a retailer cooperative with another shop in Michigan. You both stock and sell the DeWalt DW46RN roofing nailer. Both stores have the nailer listed on their websites.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span data-preserver-spaces=\"true\">The Michigan shop receives an order for the DW46RN from a customer in Nampa, Idaho. A ground shipment via UPS would take at least four days. Your <\/span><span data-preserver-spaces=\"true\">Boise shop could deliver the nailer in one day \u2014 and for much less money.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span data-preserver-spaces=\"true\">Effectively, a retailer cooperative of 50 shops would resemble 50 strategically located ecommerce fulfillment centers.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span data-preserver-spaces=\"true\">The concept could extend to dropping off returns, too. <\/span><span data-preserver-spaces=\"true\">If the same customer needed to return the nailer, he could drop it off in Boise, saving shipping costs.<\/span><\/p>\n<h4><span data-preserver-spaces=\"true\">Carrier options<\/span><\/h4>\n<p><span data-preserver-spaces=\"true\">Cooperating stores could take advantage of alternative carriers. <\/span><span data-preserver-spaces=\"true\">According to the Pitney Bowes report, &#8220;other&#8221; carriers grew 28.5 percent in 2023, handling more than 600 million parcels collectively. Many of these &#8220;others&#8221; are regional package carriers and ride-share services that can <a href=\"https:\/\/www.practicalecommerce.com\/ecommerce-drone-delivery-is-coming\">deliver quickly<\/a>.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span data-preserver-spaces=\"true\">The roofing nailer could arrive at its buyer in an hour if the Michigan shop and its Boise partner worked together, <\/span><span data-preserver-spaces=\"true\">likely involving joint systems.<\/span><\/p>\n<h3><span data-preserver-spaces=\"true\">Worth Exploring<\/span><\/h3>\n<p><span data-preserver-spaces=\"true\">Retailer cooperatives (different from <em>retail<\/em>, no &#8220;er,&#8221; cooperatives, which are groups of consumers) give independent stores or chains more collective buying power.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span data-preserver-spaces=\"true\">Could retailer cooperatives apply to other parts of a business, such as ecommerce fulfillment? <\/span><span data-preserver-spaces=\"true\">It&#8217;s worth exploring, particularly by those competing with enterprise brands.<\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Retailers have used purchasing cooperatives for years to obtain volume pricing. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":391,"featured_media":1535859,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":"","_wp_rev_ctl_limit":""},"categories":[13096],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1535857","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-shipping-fulfillment",""],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO Premium plugin v25.2 (Yoast SEO v25.2) - https:\/\/yoast.com\/wordpress\/plugins\/seo\/ -->\n<title>Can Retailer Co-ops Cut Ecommerce Shipping Costs? 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