What is logistics meaning?
Logistics is used more broadly to refer to the process of coordinating and moving resources – people, materials, inventory, and equipment – from one location to storage at the desired destination. The term logistics originated in the military, referring to equipment and supplies to troops in the field.
How many shipping methods for global trade?
Shipping By Rail
Shipping by rail works well when transporting over large distances or when transporting bulk goods. It’s often used to ship products from ports to the final destination and transport products to a port for international export. It is a cost-effective transport option when your company is close to a railhead.
Shipping Via Sea
If you need to move a large shipment of freight and don’t have any time constraints, shipping by sea is an economical choice. There are specialized ships that can carry dry goods, perishables, and other bulk commodities. Transportation times vary depending on port locations, but cargo from a European port to a U.S. port averages around 10 days. Freight is packaged and then loaded into containers. Containers allow for fast transit between the vehicles in the intermodal transport chain.
Shipping By Air
Shipping by air is a good option for time-sensitive freight. Other plusses include tighter inventory control, low-budget warehousing, and lower insurance costs. The downside is that air freight is costlier than land or sea. The price is mainly determined by the weight of the cargo and how soon it needs to be delivered. Some shipping companies even offer pick-up services to the terminal and web-based tracking. This allows you to follow the freight from departure to arrival.
Express Shipping
Express Shipping refers to expedited Shipping. Air couriers and provisions usually do it to make sure orders are delivered overnight or the next day.
The Express Shipping Method is faster than the Standard Shipping Method, and the Express Shipping Method includes Post EMS, Commercial Express. It usually will take about 3–7 days for you. The Shipping methods include EMS, DHL, UPS, FedEx, etc.
Postal Shipping
Postal shipping is a shipping company that national governments typically operate. Postal services can be used to deliver your parcels and important documents, but many businesses prefer to use them to send non-urgent, routine communications to business partners and customers.
Examples of postal services include United States Postal Service (USPS), Royal Mail, epackt, Australia Post.
The Top logistics company
Freight
Air freight
DHL Supply Chain & Global Forwarding
Sea freight carriers
MSC-Mediterranean Shipping Company (MSCU)
Ocean Network Express Pte Ltd. (ONEY)
Sea freight forwarders
DHL Supply Chain & Global Forwarding
Express Service
Postal Service
ePack, USPS, Royal Mail, Canada Post, Australia Post
What’s 3PLs
3PL is a service that allows you to outsource operational logistics from warehousing through to delivery and ultimately enables you to focus on other parts of your business.
Third-party logistics companies provide any number of services having to do with the logistics of the supply chain. This includes transportation, warehousing, picking and packing, inventory forecasting, order fulfillment, packaging, and freight forwarding.
How to choose the suitable shipping method for your online
Which type of products are you shipping?
Before choosing the best eCommerce shipping method for your business, consider the sizing and weight of your products.
If you’re shipping larger products, the cost depends on how far you’re shipping and the weight of the package. A flat rate can be the best option for shipping smaller products because you’re paying a basic fixed rate.
Where are you shipping to?
As far as international shipping goes, it’s necessary to combine global and national carriers to ensure your packages can make it to your desired location on time. For international shipping, this means adopting a local shipping company-specific to that country.
Shipping cost
It’s your choice to pass the shipping cost on to your customer, subsidize the shipping, or offer free shipping. But the cost of the shipping is going to be paid by someone. Many factors affect the cost of shipping. Where you’re shipping from, where you’re shipping to, the weight of your package, the shape of the package, the speed at which you want the package to be transported.
Shipping Speed
Your customers are going to want to know when they can expect their package. In general, you should choose a shipping method that transports the package to them as fast as possible for the least amount of money. That will give you the best chance of getting that person to purchase from you. These are why it’s essential to know the shape, weight, and destination of your products.
Here are the pros and cons of each shipping method; managing your shipping options allows you to delight customers and keep costs in check.:
| Shipping Method | Pros | Cons |
| Shipping by rail | It’s suitable for large quantities of goods; freight burden is small; safety, transportation network throughout the country, not affected by the weather. | short-distance freight is high; long-distance transportation, transit, and other operations time is long; |
| Shipping by air | Speed is fast; it is suitable for the transportation of relatively expensive small batches and fresh food; | The high freight is not suitable for the transportation of low-priced goods; there are weight restrictions; it is limited to cities around the airport. |
| Shipping via sea | It is suitable for long-distance and low freight transportation; it is suitable for the transport of bulky and overweight items, raw materials, and bulk goods ; | slow transportation speed and susceptibility to climate; high port loading and unloading costs; poor transportation accuracy and safety. |
Express shipping V.S. Postal shipping
These aspects consider which one I need to choose: cost, service, delivery time, reliability.
Express couriers usually offer better services and reliability than postal, except they also come at a higher cost. It would help if you considered the value of the products that you are selling and your customers’ expectations regarding delivery time.
| Shipping method | Speed | Service | Cost |
| Express shipping | Fast | better services and reliability | Expensive |
| Postal shipping | Slow | less comprehensive tracking information | Cheaper |
So when choosing a suitable shipping method, you have to be careful you choose the right one for your customers. You have to understand what your customers are like, what they expect and also on your side, how much the item costs and is financially feasible to offer them the express solution!
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