This blog post was originally contributed by Rachel Go, a Marketing Director at MyFBAPrep.

Online shopping behavior has evolved dramatically this year, with 68% of consumers having elevated expectations from online sellers on marketplaces and D2C websites alike.

Amazon has pampered its shoppers with low prices, vast product selections, and fast shipping so that 63% of consumers now head straight there when shopping online. But, if you’re selling on Amazon and not offering 2-day delivery, competitive pricing, and in-stock items, it will be difficult to compete.

In this article, we’ll explain why fast shipping is the best delivery option eCommerce conversions and how to get 2-day delivery for your store.

Why Your eCommerce Store Needs 2-day Delivery

Customers love the experience of getting their products delivered quickly, but it’s not just consumers who benefit from 2-day delivery. Your business does, too.

Fast, free shipping increases conversions, AOV, visibility, and loyalty to create a more resilient business.

Customer Conversions

Online shoppers love fast shipping speeds because they get their products quicker, they can time their purchases to their schedule, and it feels like they’re receiving VIP treatment. These convincing factors compound one another, creating a strong case for the customer to click and place online orders. We see sellers increase their conversion rates by up to 300% merely by activating 2-day shipping on their store. 

Average Order Value

Customers will increase their basket size to receive free 2-day delivery, increasing average order value (AOV), and boosting your profits.

As customers shop around your store to reach a minimum purchase, they become more familiar with your brand and products, which increases the chances of them seeing something they want to come back for and buy in the future. 

Increased Visibility

Fast shipping speeds of 2-day and next-day delivery increase your visibility on Amazon, helping you stand out from the competition in three different areas: 

1. Fast delivery makes your products eligible for winning the buy box, increasing your visibility on the product page. 
2. Fast delivery results in more conversions and therefore reviews, increasing your organic ranking in the search results. 
3. Fast delivery can make you eligible for marketplace fast shipping programs, such as Walmart 2-day delivery and eBay Fast ‘N Free. 

Customer Loyalty

Customers love 2-day deliveries and will return to your store for them. 87% of online shoppers rank shipping speeds as a key factor in the decision to shop with an eCommerce brand again, increasing CLV and fueling the flywheel effect. 

The flywheel effect is a virtuous cycle for your business, wherein shoppers are delighted by features like 2-day delivery, and continuously return to your store unprompted. As you generate more sales and reviews, you then get more revenue to invest back into ads and your business. Once you get traction, it takes less and less investment to keep the flywheel running.

How to Get 2-day Delivery on Your eCommerce Store

You can implement 2-day delivery on your eCommerce store in one of three ways:

1. In-house Fulfillment

Marketplaces all have their own terms for in-house fulfillment. For example, Amazon calls it Fulfilled By Merchant. This involves using your own space, resources, and chosen shipping carrier to download, pick, pack, and ship orders within 2-days. 

The benefits of fulfilling orders in-house are:

• Control: you have control over the entire fulfillment process, from how much inventory you store and the shipping carriers used to where you invest money and cut corners. 

• Visibility: since you’re responsible for all stages of fulfillment, you get more insight into the process and can implement improvements and updates where you like.

• SFP: if you can maintain service level agreements, you may be eligible for marketplace fast tags through your in-house fulfillment. 

The considerations of fulfilling orders in-house are:

• Capacity: you must maintain 2-day delivery speeds regardless of how busy you are, which may require hiring temporary staff during the holidays and sales. 

• Costs: you pay for all fulfillment costs, including warehouse space, insurance, wages, heating, cooling, shipping, and packaging. 

• Eligibility requirements: you must meet and maintain the stringent eligibility requirements to qualify for your fast tags, and consistently do so in order to keep them.

2. Marketplace Fulfillment

Many marketplaces have their own fulfillment arms, such as Walmart Fulfillment Services and Fulfillment by Amazon.

These marketplace fulfillment services typically handle your entire fulfillment process. Let’s use Amazon FBA for example, which includes storage, picking, packing, and shipping. All merchants need to do is ship their products to FBA’s warehouses.

The advantages of using FBA to fulfill orders in 2-day are:

• Ability: FBA has an army of staff, a network of warehouses, and a fleet of delivery drivers ready to deliver items in 2-days, meaning they can guarantee fast deliveries come rain, shine, summer, or Christmas. 

• Cost: FBA can be more cost-effective than in-house fulfillment, with economies of scale giving you access to affordable space and shipping services. 

• Prime: FBA sellers automatically qualify for Amazon Prime, with no eligibility requirements. 

The disadvantages of using FBA are:

• Reliability: FBA restricted all inbound deliveries of non-essential items and increased 2-day deliveries to one-month during the coronavirus pandemic. While this was an unusual situation, it still prevented many sellers from operating during a critical time. 

• Cost: FBA penalizes sellers for long-term storage, multi-channel deliveries, and heavy items, making it costly for some businesses. 

• Control: FBA exerts significant control over your fulfillment, including Amazon-branded boxes, the priority of orders, and return handling. 

3. Outsourced Fulfillment Company

Outsourcing 2-day deliveries to a fulfillment company involves handing over your entire fulfillment process to a fulfillment service, including storing, picking, packing, and shipping. 

Using an outsourced fulfillment company is like using FBA; however, it comes with additional benefits, including:

• Multi-channel compatibility: outsourced fulfillment companies like Deliverr integrate with all of your sales channels, allowing you to offer 2-day deliveries across Amazon, eBay, Walmart, BigCommerce, and Shopify without paying a surcharge. 

• Warehouse networks: Deliverr uses a wide network of warehouses to distribute stock across the country closer to end customers. This makes guaranteed 2-day deliveries affordable and increases your coverage. It also provides you with resilience against situations such as FBA inbounding limits. 

• Marketplace fast tags: Deliverr integrates with various marketplace fast shipping programs, such as Walmart 2-day delivery, eBay Fast ‘N Free, Wish 2-day, and your own Shopify store to provide 2-day delivery tags wherever you sell (without having to do it yourself).

The considerations of using an outsourced fulfillment service included:

• Branded boxes: fulfillment services that focus on speed, may ask you to keep all branding inside the packaging you send your items in, because branded boxes slow down the fulfillment process, cost more, and can even make certain items more susceptible to theft. 

• Cost: some old model 3PLs have archaic pricing structures expensive for eCommerce sellers. Always look for all-inclusive, transparent pricing. You can check out your costs with Deliverr in our fulfillment cost calculator. 

• Volume: there is a risk that certain smaller companies cannot scale with you as you grow. Ensure your suppliers can keep up with demand, and your fulfillment service offers adjustable spacing to accommodate. 

Conclusion 

2-day delivery is no longer a perk; it’s an expectation. Fortunately, short delivery times are no longer just for big brands but are attainable by online sellers of all shapes and sizes, too. 

If you can meet 2-day deliveries in-house, all year round – great. If you need a helping hand, use FBA or a multi-channel fulfillment service like Deliverr to enable speedy, affordable, and reliable deliveries, and enjoy the benefits that follow.