Free delivery or shipping fees? It has been a really tricky question to answer and I will explain below the reasons of my choice. Nowadays, when we buy products on internet, we are usde to have free delivery after xx pounds spent. So, that’s not an easy decision not to do, and I really like to make my customer understand why I can’t do it at the moment.
Making eco-friendly soap is a fantastic experience. And to continue making them, I need to make some margin. So I looked at different options.
I had a first option which is to reduce cost of soap and include shipping cost into the selling price. But this is something I could not do. I am really proud of the quality of my product and proud to say that they are made of only high quality ingredients. All the ingredients selected and assessed are under fair trade label, organic label as well. These have a cost and guaranty you a high quality product. At the moment I decided not to ask an eco-cert label because this has a cost. I am just in the beginning of what will be a long journey, so I am counting every single penny !
The second option could have been to sell all my soap bars at a higher price so that I would have been able to cover the extra cost for a free delivery service. I didn’t want to make that choice. £5 is a fair price for a 90 to 100g soap bars. More would have been too much and also not transparent depending on shipping mode you decide to make.
Then, I have tried to elaborate lots of plans , considering delivery options : with tracking or without. Within the UK, Royal Mail with whom I am working with has a really high service level. You can be deliver the next day for a reasonable price. There are so many delivery options. I decided to offer 2 options for each destination (in the UK or outside the UK, within Europe only) :
– Standard option (without signature)
– Tracked option.
So I decided to let you, my customers, choose between a tracking delivery or not. From my own experience, Royal Mail works very very well and I’ve never had any issue so far regarding home deliveries made without tracked option.
And finally, if you are local, you can choose the free delivery by bike! This option is definitely the best one as it is good for you and good for me (I love cycling) ! Available for Chester city center.
Let’s go back to the shop !