A way to improve online shopping

We can all agree on the fast (and getting even faster lately) pace the Internet is growing nowadays. And among the websites that are the quickest to evolve are online stores. Just think about the last decade or two: in 2000 people successfully communicated via Internet and were beginning to shop online, but no one imagined that the website itself could recommend you complementary items basing on your previous purchases or that the seller can give you a discount basing on the knowledge, how long you’ve kept items in the cart without buying them.

It’s safe to say that online shopping really evolved during the last couple of years and given the huge demand for e-commerce services, online stores will keep improving. There is one field that certainly is in need of change, as it hasn’t evolved much since the beginning of online shopping – the delivery. Most of the time you are offered 2 or 3 shipping provider options with fixed prices to choose from – just as it was almost since the first e-stores. You may think that it hasn’t evolved because there is not much to change here – but is that really the case? We are pretty used to the fact that delivery costs almost always differ from the prices the transport providers display on their websites.

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There is a couple of reasons – sometimes online stores demand from the transport provider a price that is a bit lower than their usual fee. But how’s it possible, that sometimes the delivery cost in online store is higher? Usually delivery cost is based on a weight range – for example if the package weights up to 20 lbs, the delivery price will be lower than the transport cost of package that weights 50 lbs. It’s easy and consistent but now very fair – 21 lbs packages will cost you just as much as 50 lbs packages. Is there any way to avoid this? If the store doesn’t give you the option to pick up purchased items yourself – not really.

But nowadays most of the online stores and almost every customer-to-customer marketplace (like eBay) offers self-pickup option. If you live in a driving distance from the store or the seller, you can just go there yourself. But if you’re not (or for some reason can’t go) – there is one more way. Online transport marketplaces were created to help customers to find cheaper and easier way to transport their stuff. You can place a listing on the website much like you are posting items on eBay  -all you really have to do is wait for transport providers to quote on your listing. It is a good way of lowering transport cost – your goods will be just a part of the transport provider’s load, so you will be able to save up to 60% on shipping! And the transport provider will earn some extra money for travelling on the route he was taking anyway.

A good example of such marketplace is Clicktrans. The company is originally from Poland, but has been successfully operating in other EU countries, mainly UK, Spain and Germany. There are 30,000 verified transport providers registered on the website, which gives you a good chance of finding the perfect transport provider to suit your needs. If you are determined to transport your stuff by yourself, visit the company’s blog for tips and tricks about transportation and removals.