How to ship around the world with Jimmy Joy and Sendcloud

What makes things even more challenging is that those expectations are always on the rise. We all know that feeling of reaching a checkout and baulking at the shipping costs. Anyone who claims they’ve never done it is lying.

We want shipping to be fast and free. End of story. However we will make exceptions for brands we love and/or items we really really want. But those exceptions only go so far. Regardless who you are and what you sell, your successful shipping options exist within very strict parameters.

Jimmy Joy successfully ship to 88 countries worldwide. Here they share with us some of the things they’ve learnt along the way.

Jimmy Joy are on a mission to shake up the food industry. With their nutritious and sustainable ready-to-go meals, they provide complete lunch and dinner packages and give their customers more time to spend on the things that are most important to them.

100% plant-based and sustainable ingredients, Jimmy Joy’s nutrition is good for your health and for the planet, and since 2014 they’ve experienced almost unrivalled success. Growing from a small Amsterdam start-up, to selling in countries all around Europe, they’ve surfed the crest of the e-commerce wave to reach international recognition.

At the D2C Summit: Future Commerce, Jimmy Joy’s Supply Chain Manager Maarten Brondijk presented alongside Sendcloud’s Nick Buddingh to give insights into their success.

Sendcloud is an e-commerce shipping platform that helps businesses manage and automate their shipping process. Covering every facet of shipping, from shipping label creation to tracking and returns management, Sendcloud helps businesses transform their shipping operations and improve their customer experience.

Integrating with all the largest e-commerce platforms, including Shopify, it’s a seamless and necessary addition to any online store. We’ve proudly partnered with Sendcloud for many years now, and always recommend their product to our clients.

At the D2C Summit: Future Commerce, Nick Buddingh returned to represent Sendcloud and explain how Jimmy Joy used their services to scale across Europe.

For all the lesson’s watch the full presentation from Maarten and Nick. Video above!

Customer expectations differ in every country 

People in every country around the world have different expectations for how they want their products to arrive. And you can be assured, fail to provide the adequate shipping options and they will shop somewhere else.

Germany

Germans want to use collection points. Jimmy Joy started out using DPD for their German shipping, but soon switched to DHL because they offered collection point pick-up.

E-commerce is booming in Germany, with a potential customer pool of 90million+. After making the switch to DHL, Jimmy Joy saw their German orders increase by 98%. You do the maths.

The Nordics

Swedes and Finns are also particular about their shipping options. Budbee offer an Uber-like tracking feature when your package is circa 30 mins from your doorstep. The Swedish company has been a huge hit across the region and now it’s imperative you offer it as an option if you hope to sell in any of the Nordic countries.

Brexit sucks

Yep. Brexit sucks.

But there are ways to live with it. When Brexit first hit, Jimmy Joy found most carriers were simply not ready to implement the new restrictions, regulations and requirements. This resulted in pallets of orders being stopped, held and ultimately returned at the U.K border, causing a lot of headaches and costing a lot of money. 

UPS have their own customs clearance that makes things a little easier. Jimmy Joy tried them out but found them to be too expensive.

FedEx, however, provided the solution. Also having their own clearance with the U.K government, Jimmy Joy can now ship to the UK within 3 working days, and with an absolute maximum of 5. These days, that’s a brilliant offer for U.K customers.

Selling to America takes some extra work

America. The New World. Let’s be honest, it’s a dream for all European e-commerce businesses to break into the land of opportunity. But it’s not easy. It’s a vast, highly competitive market where only the best can thrive.

But with good preparation and the best strategy in place, it’s possible to crack the giant and grow from coast to coast. 

Jimmy Joy first shipped a box directly to a U.S client and quickly discovered that this was a very expensive way of doing things. Now they instead ship containers to 3rd party distributors. It’s still expensive but the margins are better.

And that’s the key takeaway for U.S shipping. It will be more expensive, so it’s up to you to decide where the reward outweighs the investment. It can make or break a business so it’s important to get this right.

Transit times

The speed of your delivery options can be the second biggest conversion killer, behind the overall cost of your products. We’ve all done the same at e-commerce checkouts and in e-commerce stores, we get excited by the idea of buying a product only to have our bubble burst when we see the delivery times.

We don’t want week-long waits. We’d rather shop elsewhere. So keeping these times down to the bare minimum is essential to successful e-commerce. Each carrier will offer different speeds in different regions, which is why it’s important to offer a range of options, and to offer the right carrier in the right region.

For more on shipping around the world, watch the full presentation from The D2C Summit: Future Commerce above. If you have any questions or you want more detail on anything discussed, get in touch with our team today for free advice and information.