Friction at the Check Out
The Checkout Friction Nobody Talks About
Most abandoned carts aren’t caused by the product or the price…
They’re caused by logistics friction points customers feel immediately but brands often overlook.
The fourth and last part of this series, where we look at logistics elements in your cart that are causing issues.
1️⃣0️⃣ Packaging concerns
Customers care about unboxing, sustainability, and product protection.
If they’re unsure the item will arrive safely — or believe the packaging isn’t eco-friendly — they hesitate.
Good packaging isn’t a cost; it’s part of the buying experience.
Solution: First of all ensure that your packaging fits your brand, and protects your product, insufficient packaging or fill wont get products to customers safely, which can reduce repeat purchases. If you have a sustainable element to your business use sustainable packaging, the cost isn't too far of other options. (Even if you don't have a sustainable element - you should still be trying to use the most environmentally conscious options). At Fulfilment Plus, we work through packaging as part of onboarding to ensure that we have the right packaging and solutions for your brand, getting the unboxing experience right for your customers is critical, so we partner with a range of suppliers to test and deliver the best solution for your product.
Heres a link to our packaging selection process.
1️⃣1️⃣ No Delivery Promise or Guarantee
Customers want certainty.
Brands that give a clear promise (“delivered in 2–3 days” or “late? your shipping is free”) lift conversions dramatically.
Those that don’t offer any delivery guarantee create doubt, and doubt kills sales.
Solution: Agree your transit time with your 3PL or carriers and then ensure that there is a KPI wrapped around it to give you certainty. Then put the transit times on your shipping pages, product pages, and cart. If you have different services levels and are offering these to customers, let them know what the transit time for each is. Its also critical to ensure that you inform customers of delays to freight networks, often people don't know or care about network delays, so keep that info visible. How can Fulfilment Plus help? Our transit times form part of our KPI schedule so they are measured and managed monthly, we publish delays as soon as we know. Additionally we have relationships with multiple carriers to manage performance and ensure that we have options to deliver appropriate shipping times.
1️⃣2️⃣ Unclear International Shipping Details
Duties, taxes, customs processes — if these aren’t communicated clearly for overseas customers, they often bounce immediately.
International shoppers don’t want surprises at the border. Clear landed-cost information builds confidence and encourages global sales.
Solution: All of the ever changing requirements can be hard to navigate and understand and keep on top of. Most international couriers have good solutions to manage the application of duties and taxes, but sometimes visibility can be hard to manage. Ensure that you know the Harmonised Codes (HS or HTS codes) and the Country of Origin and ensure this is passed through with freight consignments so that your carrier can calculate duties and taxes accurately.
Next, determine if you are shipping DDP (Delivery Duty Paid), or DAP (Delivery at Place). With a DDP shipment you pay all the duties and tax, so ensure that you are including all of these costs at the check out so customers are aware and are covering so you are not out of pocket. DAP is an arrangement where the seller is responsible for transporting goods to a named destination, but the buyer is responsible for all import duties, taxes, and customs clearance. As the seller you want to ensure these costs are clear at check out to avoid issues and rejections due to surprises that lead to additional management costs and CS time. DDP is normally cleaner with no surprises, but as the seller you want to ensure that you have calculated your costs correctly by location and can display this through at checkout.
At Fulfilment Plus we have fields within the product master to store country of origin and HS codes, which are pushed through to international carriers to manage the duty process. We offer DDP and DAP terms, and can set rules to use them in different locations or for different order types or values. Unfortunately the calculation of duty cant be performed with carriers upfront when booking shipments.
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Over the last 4 parts we have outlined 12 friction points at the check out, hopefully you can put into action some of the solutions to help your business.
Get in contact to discuss how Fulfilment Plus could streamline these friction points for you: mike@fulfilmentplus.co.nz
Thanks for reading.