How to buy and ship from store?

What is ship from store? #

"Ship from store" is a fulfilment process where orders are filled from the brick-and-mortar store or retailer’s premises instead of the warehouse or distribution centre. The ship from store system is essentially the answer to the high demand for online orders that has taken over the retail industry in recent years. Ship from store is increasingly becoming an important fulfilment option as customers expect convenience and quick turn a around.

Ship from store has given an opportunity for brick-and-mortar retailers to convert expensive storefronts into distribution centres. Physical stores are essentially processing order picking, packing and shipping takes place in the retailer’s brick and mortar locations. This therefore reducing the costs of warehousing products farther away from the customer base. Additionally, whether a retailer is local, regional, or national, they increase their reach to customers by being able to service walk-in shoppers as well as extending the reach to online shoppers.

As an international shopper, how does ship from store benefits me? #

Speed of deliveries – The deliveries to shopper could be fulfilled quicker compared to using distribution centres. This is because of the ability to anticipate and move stock from one source to another allows retailer to manage orders directly, and request shipment to shopper at a much faster pace. As a shopper, you will see your order delivery to your doorstep significantly quicker.

Lower shipping cost - Not only the ship from store option expedites the order fulfilment process for shoppers, they can also save on shipping costs. Shipping a package few miles away will cost a lot less than shipping it from a centralised distribution centre, which could be significantly further. This will save shoppers from paying higher than expected shipping cost.

Obtain goods otherwise not available – Most of these retailers that utilise the ship from store option, would ship directly to their customer worldwide. International shoppers therefore can access a wider variety of goods not available in their home country from retailers that offer ship from store.

What are the online retailers that ship from store? #

There are many retailers that ship from store. See below for the UK retailers that ship from store or directly from the seller’s location.

Etsy

eBay

Hamleys

Harrods

What if the store does not ship directly to me internationally? #

There are large percentage of retailers that do not offer ship from store option. These retailer’s typically use distribution centres to fulfil orders. Many of them do not ship to international destinations due to limitation imposed by the distribution centres or simply their preference of not shipping to international destinations.

This can be frustrating to shopper. The way around it is to use a forwarder or reshipper. Company like ForwardVia.com offer shoppers a UK address to shop, they receive, consolidate and arrange international shipment to their doorstep. Here are the benefits of using reshipper:

• Save on shipping cost – Enable shopper to purchase from multiple retailers and consolidate or combine multiple packages into one for shipping
• Storage facility – take advantage of their free storage facility and you can shop for more, from any stores local to the reshipper’s address
• Worldwide shipping – these forwarders offer worldwide shipping to over 200 countries, hence wherever you are they can ship it