Fish. Chocolate. Cheese. Cookies. Steak.
These are all delicious, edible items that can be purchased online. However, shipping perishables can pose a real challenge to etailers.
There are several features and policies to combat the challenge of shipping perishable items. Other features help customers understand these processes and requirements.
SHIPPING AND HANDLING
The way items are packaged and the time they spend en route determine their condition when they arrive.
Packaging
Pam Macharola of BlairCandy.com sells and ships many treats with melt-potential — chocolate, gummies, taffy, mints, gum and more.
“We’ve tried everything! Right now we use a gel ice pack that was designed so it doesn’t sweat next to the item. These only last 48 hours max,” she said. “We are about to offer dry ice, so now we are going to have two options.”
CountryCupboardCookie.com’s Judy Wittig packages baked goods direct from the oven to
ensure freshness.
“Our cookies and brownies are baked from scratch without preservatives. We spend a lot of effort so that the packages arrive as fresh and delicious as possible,” she said. “Cookies are baked, packaged in heat sealed bags within an hour or two, gift-boxed and shipped that
same day.”
Andrew Dimino runs five websites based
out of Nevada, four of them food related. The most affected by the elements is LowCarbChocolates.com.
“We go out of our way to say in big, bold letters in multiple places, that chocolate will melt in certain areas (of the country),” said Dimino. “We tell our customers that we have been in business nine years and we know that chocolate melts in the summer.”
The warehouse at LowCarbChocolates.com dons a big map of the United States, where Dimino’s staff displays where the weather is hot.
“We look at routes the different products will take. As the temperatures change, we determine what states need ice packs. In the December Holiday Rush for example, we know that we still need ice packs to Florida and Arizona, but nowhere else in the country. As the year goes on, we change the maps,” he said.
Shipping Limitations
Timing also determines how items will arrive. Most etailers avoid shipping perishable goods for Saturday deliveries.
“We avoid shipping over the weekend unless the gift will arrive on Monday, also within 2-3 business days,” said Wittig.
BlairCandy.com uses a similar method. “We ship on Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday for most areas. We spend a lot of time in the hot months looking at the area it’s going to and what they ordered,” said Macharola.
Many etailers require next day air during hot months for certain items. Management tools like Shipping Manager by Solid Cactus (http://www.solidcactus.com/shipping-manager.html) creates item level rules for cases like this, which would restrict shipping methods. This prevents the customer from selecting an unsafe method in case the etailer does not catch it.
Dimino also requires overnight or second day air delivery on perishable items going to hot climates.
“We would love our product to arrive in perfect condition, but it is impossible unless its expedited,” he said.
Restricting Items in Warm Weather
Sometimes it just boils down to making certain items unavailable at certain times of the year.
“During the summer months we have a
few items that we do not ship, like our
Belgian chocolate fudge and butter cream frosted brownies,” said Judy Wittig of CountryCupboardCookie.com.
BlairCandy.com makes certain products temporarily unavailable for ordering, but on the item page notates that the item is in stock, but they will not ship.
Dimino’s flagship site, CarbSmart.com has another weather limitation, this time in the cold weather. His popular DaVinci sugar-free syrups come in glass bottles that burst when they get too cold.
“The first few years, every winter we knew that we would lose 24-36 bottles. For the first six years of business it was an acceptable loss. Two years ago, we had 120 bottles break; that’s why we changed our policy to not ship in winter,” he said, adding that each fall he has a sale prompting customers to stock up.
INFORMING THE CONSUMER
Informing customers of potential shipping issues is a must. Wittig explains that etailers who stand by their policies shouldn’t have a problem.
“We are honest with our customers. Once they understand the reason for the sometime restrictive shipping policies, they are appreciative of our attention to the freshness of their gift,” she said.
Shipping Policy Page
All e-commerce sites should have a shipping policy page prominently linked from the header and/or footer. Moving seasonal restrictions to the top of the page will ensure they are not overlooked.
FoilWrappedChocolates.com has an entire section on “hot weather shipping.” It includes a link to the Weather Channel’s website to tell customers the temperature along the delivery route.
Shipping Policy Pop-up
The item page can also feature a Shipping Policy Pop-up, for shipping policies on a particular item.
“Our newly designed website by Solid Cactus offers a shipping policy pop-up page with rates, policies and options. This is a great feature as it keeps the customer from leaving the page, utilizing the pop-up,” said Wittig.
BlairCandy.com goes a step further with a pop-in.
“The customer cannot get past the pop-in and check-out without acknowledging they read the message and clicking through. We can say ‘We warned you ahead of time,’” Macharola explained.
BlairCandy.com also has a shipping graphic on their homepage linking them to a page with the seasonal and weather-related shipping issues.
LowCarbChocolates.com also has a required acknowledgement.
“During check-out, customers have to check a box that says they understand the shipping policy. We have to do that,” Dimino explains. “We had the policy four years, only had the check-box this year.”
Use of Customer Service Department
FoilWrappedChocolates.com invites customers to call their customer service line when choosing shipping based on geography and temperature. Having a customer service line in the header is especially important when there could be an influx of incoming calls.
This time of year, Macharola reports that about 50% of the customer service calls at Blair Candy are for one question: “Will this melt?”
SALES AND PROMOTIONS
As an internal way to manage the melting issue, LowCarbChocolates.com has a few annual promotions aimed at pushing to sell the chocolates before the weather gets too hot.
“We have a big sale in the spring, before summer comes. We say, ‘Load up now, here’s a big discount, order everything you need for summer now,” said Dimino. “After summer we have another sale as a welcome back, that summer’s over.”
When it’s all said and done, mistakes still can happen when shipping chocolate. Perhaps Dimino says it best:
“It’ll still taste great, just won’t be in the same shape,” he joked.
REMEMBER CHRISTMAS IS COMING!
Even though the holidays happen in traditionally cold weather throughout most of the United States, shipping gift baskets to places that are warm and sunny year-round can still pose a problem. Dimino says paying attention to the weather on the holiday gift delivery route is still important.
“Even though chocolate will be less likely to melt in the winter in some cases we still have to require second day or overnight; winter in Miami is still warm,” said Dimino.
You mention Blair Candy has started using dry ice – what are the drawbacks to using the coolant?