As most of the drop shippers or Shopify sellers get the products on Aliexpress, it would worth of bit time to talk about Aliexpress alternative shipping solutions.
What is the current Aliexpress shipping solution.
Let’s take a look at this picture
As we can see from the above pictures, there are different shipping solution available. Let’s break down one by one.
AliExpress Standard Shipping
When you read the AliExpress standard shipping will you consider that AliExpress also does the shipping service as EMS,DHL,Fedex,UPS does? The answer is Yes and No.
Yes. AliExpress does have a shipping service called Cainiao Network which intergrates quite many shipping companies in China, and set certain standards that are delivery time,coverage areas,tracking ,and API ability . Put all them in a whole new coat which is called AliExpress standard shipping.
No. As described above, AliExpress just uses the API intergration which converage all shipping service as one, all the service is actually done by shipping companies. However,if you ever talk to AliExpress, you won’t have the indpendent shipping service.
The AliExpress standard shipping mostly consists of postal services like China Post(ePacket), Singapore Post, etc, it is cheap, but mostly it takes 15-45 days, and parcel loss happens with a not small percentage. There is also AliExpress Premium service which takes about 15-20 days, stable and expensive.
But this is not the key , the key is since AliExpress is not the shipping company itself, so whichever joins the Cainiao Network has to sacrifice the profit or markup the price, or AliExpress need to take a slice. Since the AliExpress standard shipping is not transparent , the AliExpress selllers more or less will markup the shipping cost and marke a profit from the shipping service.
Take this shoe for example .
Using this AliExpress Standard Shipping service will take around 35 days to the USA since it is definitely using postal service. Superton only charges customers around 10$, it takes only 12-15 days. You may take this link as a delivery time reference
It is a whole different customer experience, you pay more get less. Of course, AliExpress does provide a lot of conveniences, since you don’t need to talk to suppliers separately, and it is all in the AliExpress system.
EMS\DHL\Fedex\UPS\Aramax
EMS,DHL,Fedex,UPS,Aremax are standard international express.
- Quick, it takes mostly 3-5 days from China to the USA or most of the EU countries. Aramex is more for the middle east market.
- Expensive, You will just find the shipping cost is much higher than the product itself, only ship those high-value items.
- Duty/Tax not included, In most cases using Superton parcel shipping service, we have already paid the tax, shippers don’t need to consider tax, it is basically a DDP shipping solution. But using EMS,DHL,FedEx,UPS,Aramax. The buyer may end up paying import duty.
AliExpress Alternative Shipping Solution in Practise
To be very frank, this solution may not apply to new dropshippers, because only you have a barging power with AliExpress seller, you can start to use the AliExpress alternative shipping solution.
- Ask for the Aliexpress seller for wholesale price,but not include shipping first, just say that you want to import the product in bulky order, other wise AliExpress may not comply, because without shipping the seller’s profit will definitely drop;
- Find a fullfillment agent in China, and the fullfillment agent is able to provide warehousing and shipping service.
- Bear in mind , there are new cost may occur, like warehousing cost, inventory management.
- Also a good system from fullfillment agent is also the key to make the whole process smooth.
Try to break down the element, you will definitely see your margin will be higher, and you have more control over your supply chain.
If you have anything feel confused regarding this topic, leave a comment, or email us.