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Any wild guesses as to which is one of the most trending online businesses besides clothes and apparel stores right now? Yes, you got that right! According to Statista Eyewear Report 2019, the segment eyewear frames accounted for 28% of the eyewear revenue in 2018. By 2023, this industry is going to grow rapidly and form a solid online market. 

There is a massive demand for online eyewear which includes shopping for prescription glasses, fashion wear and contact lenses. Back in 2012, companies like Ray-Ban, Fastrack and Oakley got a tremendous response when they crashed the e-commerce gates mainly due to their logistics strategy. Since then, there is a well defined online eyewear market that attracts passive buyers who want to avoid the inconvenience of shopping from an offline store.

As an eyewear store owner have you noticed  some interesting things about your consumers? Let us check some;

• Continuous exposure to various device-screens increased the number of people who wear spectacles  
• There is more awareness about vision-health and corrective glasses are more common than ever
• Millennial consumers are more fashion-forward and hence form the largest customer group
• Swift logistics, changing fashion and better income motivates millennials to change glasses frequently

 All these are a clear indicator that the eyewear market is here to stay. 

Saying so, on the one hand demand for functional eyewear, such as office lenses, progressive lenses and digital devices lenses is increasing. On the other hand, competition is toughening since many local providers are introducing lower quality products marketed to provide similar functions at a much-reduced cost.

One way to beat this competition is by providing excellent e-commerce courier service. Great variety, more options and discounts alone are not the driving points for defining your business success. 

Consumers become loyal customers when you offer them good service, ease of purchase, undamaged products and the convenience of easy returns. Remember, you are running an online show. Hence these will be your unique selling propositions. So let’s see how to make the most out of your shipping strategy for your online eyewear store.

More the merrier: So what’s your logistics strategy? Is it revolving around on-time, high-speed deliveries or does it promise undamaged products to consumers? Whatever is the case, you need to ensure that what you commit, happens.  

With the e-commerce wave, there are several third-party fulfilment partners in the market. Some carriers offer you the ease of providing deliveries to your customers on time. Others might offer other benefits such as delivering neat and undamaged packages. 

Chances are that you will rarely find a fulfilment partner that offers all that you need under one roof. So what should be done? One of the easiest ways to cope with this situation is to depend on multiple e-commerce courier service providers. Surely, each fulfilment company will have some upper hand over others in terms of best rates, fastest deliveries or the most productive warehouse team. 

You will need to leverage all these advantages to keep the ball rolling. So dip the stick when it comes to choosing partners, keep a tab on their services, get quotes from several providers and reap benefits from all of them.

Get it right with the right packaging: We are talking about eyewear here. That in itself is a very delicate product. A little manhandling and your product can be easily damaged. A damaged product is eventually returned by the customer which means two things. Firstly, such products will undergo reverse logistics, adding to the company cost. This also means that you can end up losing a good amount of customer base. Nobody wants to receive a scratched glass or a broken frame.

As an online seller of an eyewear store, you will have to employ a variety of packaging boxes depending upon what you are shipping. You will also need to ensure that the boxes are made of appropriate material suitable for the product. Not only this, you will need to have product packaging in all sizes and shapes. 

Make sure you know the details of the e-commerce courier service specific to the packaging to eyewear products. This is because most of your products are fragile and require utmost care. You also need to make sure that your package is attractive. Remember, nowadays eyewear isn’t just a necessity. For the majority of the people, it’s a trend. We are dealing with a set of customers that are investing in something trendy. These fashion-forward individuals would not want to receive a boring package.

Let technology handhold your business: Eyewear is very similar to garments. While you get very cheap products, there is no limit to how expensive a suitable pair of sunglasses or spectacles can be. If your online store is selling expensive brands, then these are certainly high-value products. Hence your logistics strategy needs to keep track of where exactly these products are once they leave your warehouse. From the customer’s point of view, those individuals who love eye-wear and maintain a collection, buying an expensive collection, is like an investment. Even they would want to know the shipping status and where exactly their product is. Moreover, if there is a defect or delay, tracking makes it easier to look for the product and manage the order.

You can offer your customers this benefit by opting for a good shipping aggregator platform. Nowadays, most technology-driven shipping platforms are equipped with real-time tracking features for enabling better e-commerce courier service. This is one of the best ways through which you can keep track of your shipments and also provide timely and accurate information to your customers.

Give them suitable payment options: Imagine your customers are spending precious time on the portal choosing a perfect frame. And just when they are about to pay, they come to know that there is no option for a COD. That will some blooper, isn’t it?

Well, running an online store means offering your customers the ease of shopping from the comfort of their homes. You need to ensure that your logistics plan includes this aspect. While you expand the demographics of your shipping, you need to provide multiple payment options also. The majority of people in smaller towns and cities choose cash on delivery options as a mode of payment. You need to lay your hands on a fulfilment partner who can provide end-to-end support for your cash on delivery payments with real-time tracking.

In a nutshell: There is no short-cut to efficient e-commerce courier service success. Whether your business is just at its threshold or already thriving, you need to ensure that you are following good shipping practices. Efficient shipping is the first point towards expanding your online store for eyewear products. Relying on the services of an aggregator platform for your shipping requirements can fulfil most of your shipping needs.

ShipKaro is one of India’s leading shipping aggregator platforms built with a purpose to provide integrated logistics services to e-commerce clients across the B2B and B2C segments. It enables you to automate your shipping along with innovative options such as tracking facility, COD support, scheduled pickup facility and more. So with ShipKaro by your side, you can focus on other important aspects of your business and keep growing!

Need further tips on the logistics of your online eyewear store? Drop a comment and let us know!