Shipping Up To Boston

Actually, we're shipping out of Boston.  As much as we like the Dropkick Murphys, our real dilemma is how to get our products out of Boston and into our customers hands.  We've recently engaged in a hot debate about how to handle the cost of shipping our products to our customers.  In a perfect world, we'd never charge shipping, and hope to earn enough of a profit margin from each product that this could be a reality.  Sadly, never charging for shipping would most likely put an end to our quest for World Domination.  Our virtual doors would be closed before they even had a chance to open.



It's a tricky game, and part of the problem we face is that our cost of shipping is really unknown.  Depending on what each customer orders, the cost could vary widely.  We're talking like Grand Canyon wide.  What if one customer orders some cleaning supplies - heavy liquid stuff?  And another customer orders some recyclable packaging - really light, fluffy stuff?  Both size and weight are vastly different, and so are our shipping costs.



We've looked around the internet at how some of the biggest companines, like Amazon.com & Zappos, and some of the smaller, more up-starty companies, like Lululemon &  Rue La La, handle their shipping.  The real answer is that everyone does it differently.



[caption id="attachment_157" align="alignright" width="300" caption="Amazon.com Free Super Saver Shipping"][/caption]



Amazon offers their free Super Saver shipping on most orders over $25, presuming the product is sold direct through Amazon.  They also offer a premium membership option, Amazon Prime, that gets you 2 day shipping on everything.  And just yesterday, Amazon announced that they are offering same day local delivery in certain cities.  We're curious how that will work out, as we used to be huge fans of Kozmo.com back when you could order a single DVD and have it delivered within the hour.



[caption id="attachment_162" align="alignright" width="174" caption="Zappos.com Free Both Ways"][/caption]



Zappos used an easy solution to solve a difficult problem.  How do you buy shoes online without trying them on?  Easy, offer free shipping in both directions, and make returns a snap.  Why not just order the same pair of shoes in two sizes, try them on, and send back the pair that doesn't fit.  Easy, smart, effective.



[caption id="attachment_165" align="alignright" width="201" caption="RueLaLa.com"][/caption]



Smaller companies such as Rue La La will ship your order for $10, and return shipping is now free.  When they first launched, if was $10 shipping, but you had to pay return shipping, seriously driving up the cost of your order is the clothes or other goods weren't to your liking.  We love their site, and have certainly spent a pretty penny there, and free return shipping makes it that much easier.  We're still bummed about the "merchandise credit only" policy, but I guess it's a small price to pay for some of the great deals.



[caption id="attachment_163" align="alignright" width="180" caption="Lululemon Free Shipping"][/caption]



Lastly, we want to just quickly mention Lululemon.  An email recently came to our inbox (yes, we get Lululemon emails, so what?  Did you know that Victoria's Secret sends their catalog to more men that women?) that announced they'll be offering free shipping for the next month for all online orders.  Pretty sweet deal, and certainly a costly promotion for them.  So that's one way to handle it - charge for shipping most of the time and offer a freebie once in a while.



So that brings us back to bGreen.  We're not really sure what method of shipping we're going to go with.  Probably some crazy hybrid combo method of all the existing methods out there.  Like free shipping on Tuesdays between 8:27 and 9:01 as long as you buy two pairs of recyclable shoes and promise to return one for store credit.  My guess is we'll be experimenting with what works during our first few months of existence.  We'll see, and we'd certainly love your feedback on what shipping options you like (aside from free, obviously) and how much you'd be willing to pay to have your order shipped.