Managing delivery costs is essential to a profitable eCommerce business. But carrier surcharges, fuel price changes and complex cross‑border rules make it difficult to know what you will pay to move a parcel from A to B. At the same time, customers expect simple, transparent delivery pricing and will abandon their purchase as soon as things get complicated.
Flat-rate shipping helps you cut through the complexity, giving customers a fixed delivery price that simplifies your operations and checkout processes.
In this article, you’ll learn what flat rate shipping is, how it works and when it makes sense for your business.
What is flat rate shipping?
Flat-rate shipping is a pricing method in which customers pay a fixed delivery charge that doesn’t vary by parcel weight or destination.
Some retailers will offer a single flat rate shipping fee for all products. Others that sell a wide range of product sizes may offer several flat rates based on parcel size. For example, there may be rates for small parcels (that fit through letterboxes), medium parcels and oversized packages.
Retailers will offer these fixed rates even if their carrier charges by weight and destination. It might mean the retailers lose out in some circumstances, but the simplicity and convenience for customers are more important. Of course, it’s still essential to ensure fixed fees more than cover your average carrier costs.
What are the benefits of flat rate shipping?
Flat rate shipping is a popular strategy for eCommerce brands because of its simplicity. It improves the customer experience and increases conversion rates.
Here are the benefits in full:
A better customer experience and higher conversion rates
Nothing turns off customers more than complicated shipping rates during checkout. It’s one of the most common causes of cart abandonment.
Flat shipping makes things simple. A single charge is easy for customers to understand. It also means you can display shipping costs clearly throughout the site, so customers are less likely to be surprised at checkout. This reduces friction and increases conversion rates.
Predictable costs and simpler budgeting
One benefit of flat shipping rates for retailers is that you know in advance what customers will pay per order. If you can forecast sales, you can also forecast how much you’ll pay in shipping fees. All this makes managing cash flow easier, too.
Stronger marketing messages
A simple delivery message is a powerful marketing tool. You can promote flat rate shipping across your website, in emails and on social media.
Simpler operations
Weighing, measuring and pricing each parcel manually is time‑consuming and prone to mistakes. With flat-rate shipping, your warehouse team can focus on packing rather than calculating prices.
How does flat rate shipping compare to other models?
It helps to compare flat rate shipping to other alternatives to see if it’s the right fit for your business.
Standard or calculated shipping
Delivery fees change based on the parcels’ weight, dimensions and destinations. It makes pricing more accurate (and fair), but it’s complex to set up and harder for customers to understand.
Free shipping
Customers don’t pay a delivery fee. Although the retailer still will. This is ultimately a marketing decision that’s common in fashion retail and other highly competitive markets. In some cases, brands set a minimum order value for free delivery.
Potential drawbacks and risks of flat rate shipping
Flat rate shipping isn’t perfect. The simplicity you gain comes with the following trade-offs:
- Overcharging some customers and subsidising others. Some parcels will cost customers more than they should. Others will get a discount. Ideally, these differences balance out over time. Otherwise, you’ll need to adjust your flat rate fee.
- Problems with mixed product catalogues. If you sell a combination of small accessories and large, bulky items, a single flat rate is unlikely to work well. You may need multiple flat rate tiers or a hybrid approach instead.
- International complexity. Cross‑border deliveries introduce extra variables that make it difficult to offer a flat fee. Best practice is to use regional flat rates for international shipping.
So, when should you use flat rate shipping? We look at that next.
When should I use flat rate shipping?
Flat-rate shipping works best for businesses that sell products within a similar size and weight range, as packages won’t trigger oversized surcharges. That includes industries like fashion, beauty and cosmetics, books and media and consumer electronics.
It also works well if you have a reasonably high average order value, so a flat rate fee doesn’t seem disproportionate. Charging £5 delivery on a £100 order is much more palatable to customers than charging £5 on a £10 order.
Finally, flat rates make sense if you ship a large volume of goods. This lets you negotiate better rates with carriers and gather enough data to understand your average delivery cost per parcel.
Optimise your eCommerce deliveries with Pro Carrier
Flat rate shipping delivers the most value when it is backed by the right carrier mix, data and technology. That is where a specialist partner like Pro Carrier can make a real difference.
We work with UK and international retailers to make cross-border ecommerce deliveries as seamless as possible.
Designed by eCommerce experts, our service maximises the customer experience and delivers on every promise you make.
That includes using innovative shipping solutions to reduce undeliverables, a fully-tracked service and local language alerts to decrease WISMO calls, and a carrier-agnostic approach that gives you the most suitable and cost-effective delivery.
Find out how you can offer a flat rate shipping fee to your customers by speaking with one of our experts today.