Best Practices for Online Order Packaging, Shipping, and Pick-Up

When you decide to offer online shopping to your customers, packaging, shipping, or coordination of in-person order pick-up will impact customer satisfaction and the likelihood of your customer purchasing from you again.  Knowing your customer base, their needs, and expectations, and determining how to offer chosen services successfully and efficiently is crucial. For this article, we asked experienced farmers who offer online purchases about their best practices.

Packaging and Packaging Materials

Whether you ship or offer onsite pick-up, online orders must be packaged.  However, packaging methods and materials are likely to vary. Packaging materials can be costly, so selecting the proper material(s) to pack your product in is important.  Product perishability and fragility are of critical importance.

The following factors should be considered:

• Product being shipped
• Outdoor temperatures
• Shipping destination
• Customer expectations

These three factors will impact the shipping time that you can offer customers (e.g, same day, overnight, 2-3 days, etc.), packaging materials, and the amount of protective insulation and padding required to ensure that the order arrives in the desired and expected condition.  Packaging materials may include:

• Outer packaging
   -- Wood, cardboard, or paperboard boxes
   -- Styrofoam
   -- Cushioned envelopes
   -- Cold shipping boxes
• Inner packaging
   -- Wood fiber, shavings
   -- Foam
   -- Box divider inserts
   -- Crinkle paper
   -- Bubble wrap
   -- Insulated liners
• Coolants
   -- Ice packs
   -- Gel packs
   -- Dry ice (check with your chosen shipper before using dry ice as there are packaging and labeling requirements)

Product perishability is a key concern. Whether food or non-food items, if the product temperature needs to be controlled or maintained to ensure safety and quality, using the appropriate type and amount of coolant will be critical. 

Fragile and delicate items, such as foods and beverages in glass containers or fruit that easily bruises, will require additional consideration regarding how items will be protected. Appropriate cushioning material, box inserts, or custom boxes like those in the images below are options.

Suggestion: Place photos or videos on your website showing customers how products are packaged for shipping and delivery.

Shipping

Shipping your product(s) comes at a cost, but it also increases accessibility to more customers. While shipping online orders is certainly not new to customers, for food items, this delivery method took off due to a change in food shopping habits during the COVID-19 pandemic. For instance, recent research found that the selection of delivery for online purchases from artisan food producers (butcher, cheese, etc.) increased among households from 2020 to 2021 (Thilmany, Edmondson, and Gill, 2022).

Providing consumers with clear information about shipping fees before purchase completion is critical, as 92% of customers indicated that this was most important to them as online shoppers (Leosche, 2017). Further, as nearly 80% of internet users cite fast, free shipping as a reason to shop on Amazon, multiple producers shared that they view it as important to offer a flat shipping fee, which can serve as a valuable shipping strategy for small businesses (Chevalier, 2022).

The rates charged by shipping carriers are typically determined through a combination of zones (distance between shipping origin and destination), package weight, and package dimensions. Fragile, perishable, or very heavy packages (usually greater than 150 lbs) can incur additional special handling fees. Recently, as fuel prices have increased, carriers have also assessed additional fuel surcharges.

One practical way to deal with the potential volatility of shipping rates is to only ship to specific, pre-determined destinations. For instance, you may decide to ship only to destinations within zone 1 for your point of origin or to specific destination areas from which most of your orders originate. If you are a high-volume shipper, you may be able to negotiate your rate.

Best Practice: Be intentional about putting shipping information on your website and throughout the checkout process.

For producers with a wide range of products, one shipping challenge you may face is the large number of different shipping materials (boxes, insulated bags, cushioning material, cold packs, etc.) needed to accommodate shipping of any combination of products. One tactic for managing this scenario is only to ship select products or combinations that fit into certain-sized boxes, which allows for greater control over the variability and expense involved with shipping.

Offering various shipping options, such as shipping seasons, delivery tracking, and notifications upon arrival, can be valuable, especially if you are shipping perishables. These options can allow for a broader customer base and enhance customer satisfaction, improving customer retention.

Maintaining pre-determined shipping timeframes or "seasons" may be a wise strategy for perishable foods and plant materials. By shipping only during optimal temperature conditions (for instance, certain months of the year), the chances of your product being damaged by temperatures either too hot or too cold are decreased while preserving your ability to sell your product online. You can maintain year-round sales by allowing customers to pre-order during times of the year when you are not shipping. However, you would have to ensure that the customer understands that they are placing their order with fulfillment to occur at a later date.

Similarly, you may decide there are periods during which you will not ship due to non-environmental factors. For instance, shipping during the holiday season can become unpredictable, so some farm marketers have determined that offering order shipment during that time does not fit their business.

Delivery tracking for packages can be valuable for you and customers purchasing perishable products. This feature allows you and the customer to see the packages estimated arrival time and whether delivery is successful. Customers can ensure they are on hand for delivery if their order needs to be refrigerated, and you can assess the effectiveness of your chosen shipper.

Selecting a Shipping Carrier

Choosing a cost-efficient, convenient, yet reliable carrier for your business's shipping needs is essential. Each carrier offers a loyalty program with benefits for small businesses, so it is vital to research each carrier and the options they provide to ensure they align with your needs. If possible, negotiate between carriers. They may be willing to give you a deal.

When shipping perishable products, the product must arrive at the customer’s door as soon as possible. When comparing shipping carriers, make a note of which offer one-day or same-day delivery and to what locations they will deliver with these options.

Key questions to ask include:

• Does the carrier guarantee delivery within the specified time frame?
• How are delays handled?
• Is GPS tracking or real-time updates provided?

Familiarity with carrier features will allow you to switch between carriers seamlessly should your business situation and shipping needs change.

Shipping Tools

Due to the complexity of shipping logistics faced by businesses, web-based shipping tools and brokers (Shippo, ShipStation, etc.) have emerged that assist with online order management and shipping. In addition to features such as label creation and shipment tracking, brokers may be able to provide shipping rate comparisons or negotiate better shipping rates.  Brokers typically offer tiered fee structures for accounts, with pricing determined by monthly shipment numbers.

Customer Pick-up 

Offering on-site order pick-up is an alternative if you decide that shipping online orders is not feasible or profitable. Additionally, some customers may prefer the convenience of placing an order online from your farm or market and simply being able to pick it up rather than having to come inside to purchase. As seen with the choice of delivery for online orders, the percentage of households ordering online and choosing curbside pick-up also increased from 2020 to 2021 (Thilmany, Edmondson, and Gill, 2022).

However, a survey of fresh produce shoppers found that only half of the shoppers who predicted in 2021 that they would continue using curbside pick-up were still doing so in 2022 (Kresin, 2022). As with shipping, curbside pick-up at farm markets increased during the COVID-19 pandemic, but has waned in the years since.  However, depending on your customer base and target audience, you may find providing curbside pick-up a service your customers value for its convenience factor.

In addition to order packaging, consider these additional factors to ensure an efficient and successful customer pick-up experience.

Labor. How much time can you set aside for packaging and order preparation? Will you need to hire another employee, or can you effectively adjust the responsibilities of existing employees?

Facilities/Space. How much space will you need for order preparation, storage, etc.? Do you have a room or area that can be used for packing orders and storing them until customer arrival? Will you need to keep your product(s) cool between order preparation and customer pick-up? If so, what kind of facilities or equipment do you need to keep your product in ideal condition?

Parking/Drive-up Space. Is there a place where customers can pick up their orders at your business location? Do you have an employee there to assist them if they need help? Will you need to establish other pick-up locations?

Customer Arrival Notification/Alert. Will you set up text, phone call, or email notifications for customers to know when their order is ready? How will you know that a customer has arrived to pick up their order?

Summary

When customers purchase from your online store, you are only halfway done with your job. Although there are many considerations to creating a successful and affordable process for fulfilling customer online orders, the benefits are numerous and well worth the investment. Your chief consideration needs to be determining the fulfillment process that aligns with your customers and their needs. Convenience is key to this.

References and Resources

BigCommerce. How to Ship Perishable Products.

Chevalier, Stephanie. (February 22, 2022). Reasons for internet users in the United States to shop on Amazon as of January 2020. Statista.

Cornelisse, S. and G. Fenton. (November 30, 2020). Shipping Dairy Foods Direct to Consumers. Penn State Extension.

FedEx. Perishable Shipping Information.

Holland, R., N. Miller, M. Morgan, and M.B. Leffew. (May 1, 2020). Considerations for Shipping Meat Products Sold Directly from the Farm. CPA Info #375. Center for Profitable Agriculture. UT Institute of Agriculture.

Kresin, Janice. (2022). Consumer Challenges. Fresh Trends 2022. The Packer.

Loesche, Dyfed. (February 7, 2017). What’s Important to the Online Shopper. Statista.

Thilmany, D., H. Edmondson, and M. Gill. (April 2022). The Changing Face of Food Retailing: Growth in Online Platforms during COVID. Regional Economic Development Institute. Colorado State University.

United Parcel Service. (2018, January). How to Ship Food So It Stays Fresh.

United Parcel Service. (2016, June 1). Beat the Heat: 3 Tips for Shipping Perishables.

United States Department of Agriculture Food Safety and Inspection Service. (2015). Mail Order Food Safety.

Special thanks to the farmers who shared their thoughts and experiences – Megan Way Coopey, Way Fruit Farm; Julie Flinchbaugh Keene, Flinchbaugh’s Orchard and Farm Market; Ken Oakes, Oakes Daylilies

Where trade names appear, no discrimination is intended, and no endorsement by Penn State Extension is implied.