Devising your shipping strategy will require some careful thought, and perhaps experimentation. Let’s assess some of the more crucial factors.

Can you go for free delivery?

Free delivery is a perk that many customers will have come to expect. Extra costs added on at the very last minute are a key driver of cart abandonment – alongside things like mandatory sign-up and website crashes. Cutting out shipping can ultimately make your process much more transparent, which can

If you’re offering free delivery, however, then you’ll need to pass costs on to your customers in other ways, or compromise on the quality of your service. Many customers might prefer to pay extra if it means getting next-day delivery.

Looking at the needs and wants of your target market, and providing a choice wherever possible, might be hugely beneficial.

Finding the right shipping partner

Often, an effective shipping strategy will involve outsourcing to a specialist in logistics. A third-party fulfilment centre will be able to do the job much more efficiently, and to a higher standard, than most small and medium-sized businesses can handle. This route will also save you the trouble of having to worry about warehousing yourself – which can ultimately make your business much more lightweight and flexible.

Providing alternatives

As we’ve mentioned, customers value retailers which provide them with a choice.

For one thing, not everyone can be available to receive a given package. In many cases, it’s more convenient to pick up a package from a local locker, or a drive-in facility. Curbside pickups became popular during the Covid-19 pandemic, and they’ve since retained that popularity.

Picking up a package from a given location, like a real-world, brick-and-mortar store, is also increasingly popular. It's click-and-collect options like this that allow a city worker to pop into the local shopping district during a lunch break to collect their goods. This might allow you to offer free fulfilment of delivery without having to pay a driver to do the deliveries.

What about returns?

Any successful shipping strategy will incorporate a plan for returns. A seamless returns process can be an invaluable source of damage limitation. The way that you price your return shipping should be determined in advance. If your business is new or has a high return rate, free shipping might not be feasible. Above all, be upfront and transparent about the amount you’re going to charge.

Global companies have begun to reroute cargo shipments away from the Suez Canal as analysts estimate that the blockage caused by the grounded cargo ship Ever Given may take weeks to clear.

Seven tankers transporting liquefied natural gas were diverted on Friday, the fourth day of the crisis. At least three were diverted towards the longer route around Africa via the Cape of Good Hope, according to Kipler analyst Rebecca Chia.

"A total of 16 LNG vessels’ planned transit via the Suez Canal will be affected if the congestion persists until the end of this week,” Chia said, adding that there will be considerable delays in the loading schedule at Ras Laffan from the beginning of April due to this congestion.

The 400-metre Ever Given ship has been stuck in the Suez since Tuesday morning after losing power and running aground, blocking the width of the canal. Dutch and Japanese engineering teams began to seek a way to dislodge the ship on Thursday, and Egypt has suspended all navigation within the canal.

The backlog caused by the blockage has sparked fears of piracy in the unstable regions surrounding the canal as ships are forced to remain static. Lloyd’s List tracking data shows more than 160 vessels paused at either end of the canal, including 41 bulk carriers and 24 crude tankers.

The Suez Canal, an artificial sea-level channel in Egypt that connects the Mediterranean Sea to the Red Sea, is one of the world’s busiest waterways.

[ymal]

Its blockage will have an extreme negative impact on global trade. Approximately 13% of the world’s trade passes through the Suez Canal – an average of $9.6 billion per day, according to shipping data.

As the container shipping industry continues to boom, companies are adopting new technologies to move cargo faster and shifting to crewless ships. But it’s not all been smooth sailing and the future will see fewer players stay above water.

Shred-it, as a member of the Canadian Fraud Prevention Forum, has identified five everyday paper documents that – if disposed of improperly – can undermine the information security of an organization and its employees, and increase the risk of fraud.

A typical organization generates about 1.5 pounds or almost 0.7 kg of wastepaper per employee each day¹. This includes formal business records, like legal and tax paperwork, as well as everyday paper items. These everyday documents can contain highly confidential and sensitive information, but are often overlooked in data protection strategies and are not disposed of properly. The loose records and papers that tend to linger around workstations and offices can subject organizations to fraud and individual employees to identify theft. It's key for businesses of all sizes to recognize that information security risks can originate from a variety of paper documents.

"The first step in protecting your business from the significant financial, legal and reputational damage fraud can cause is to understand all the areas of vulnerability within your organization," says Kevin Pollack, Senior Vice President, Shred-it. "If sensitive information is unintentionally left available to fraudsters, an organization can be exposed to serious information security issues, and the potential for fraud – at both the organizational and individual level – significantly increases."

With the shift towards online storage and a "paperless office", the majority of fraud prevention and data protection strategies focus on protecting digital information. Yet, purging the office of all sensitive and unnecessary paper and records is an important component of a successful fraud mitigation strategy and will protect your business' customers, employees and reputation.

To help businesses embed document management best practices into employee behaviour and encourage frequent document destruction, Shred-it has identified "Five Everyday Documents" that should be shredded to reduce the risk of fraud:

1. Shipping Labels – In an attempt to be environmentally conscious, it is standard practice for businesses to break down delivery boxes for recycling. One step that is often forgotten is to remove the address label from the package, which can potentially include the business address, tracking codes, work orders or account numbers. When breaking down boxes or packages, businesses should remove and securely dispose of the address label.
2. Receipts – Business professionals often have the opportunity to expense client lunches or business necessities paid for out-of-pocket. The receipts associated with these expenses, which contain personal and/or corporate financial information, are often left on desks and easily accessible to fraudsters. Once submitted to the accounting department or recorded on client invoices, receipts should be shredded.
3. Printed Presentations – While the majority of presentations are developed and delivered digitally, many employees still provide hard copies to clients or colleagues. This tendency can result in an unnecessary number of printed documents floating around the office, which can put an organization at risk if the presentation includes sensitive informative.
4. Resumes – It is common for Human Resource professionals to print candidates' resumes during the hiring and interview process. The information found on a resume not only includes personal contact details, but a record of previous employment, academic history and participation in any committees or organizations. All printed resumes should be kept in a secure, locked location or stored digitally in a password-protected file. Once resumes are no longer needed they should be destroyed.
5. Boarding Passes – According to cybersecurity experts, fraudsters are able to read the barcodes on boarding passes and gain access to passengers' contact information, future travel plans and frequent flyer accounts². Travellers should be careful not to leave paper versions of their boarding pass in public areas or in their seat pocket. Use an electronic boarding pass on your phone or shred the paper copy following your flight.

In the hands of fraudsters, the personal and professional information found on a wide range of seemingly harmless slips of paper can open up your organization and your employees to fraud. To help mitigate this risk and educate employees on their roles and responsibilities for data protection, business leaders should train employees on how to properly handle paper documents and encourage frequent destruction of documents. Additionally, implementing information security programs like a Shred-it All Policy and a Clean Desk Policy eliminates the guesswork of what is and isn't confidential and ensures employees don't accidentally leave confidential information in an unsecure bin. As an added environmental benefit, all shredded material is recycled.

(Source: Shred-it)