Today we decided to open up a taboo topic that many online retailers don't know about, and delivery services often try to keep it that way.

Big box - have you heard of this title?

Big box is a completely legal, relatively easy and very affordable way to optimize the price of your shipments sent abroad.

So what's the problem?

The main problem is that delivery services do not earn as much from such packages as they do from customers who send each package abroad separately. All other complications then mostly arise from this.

What is "Big box"?

Big box is a simple name for a "big package", which we use to fill it with smaller (final) packages, which in this way can be sent much cheaper to the chosen destination and we can concretely optimize our delivery costs abroad.

Who is the Big Box shipping method suitable for?

In this way, many merchants who send a large number of packages to a selected foreign country can optimize their price, but of course a lot also depends on the existing conditions, the number of packages, the size and weight of the packages, etc. It is most suitable for merchants who ship a large number of packages that are light and small to 1 foreign country. Below we will explain more about this and show a simple calculation.

Why send a "Big box" at all?

Big box shipping became particularly popular in our country when Slovenian online retailers began to compete massively on foreign EU markets, but were price uncompetitive with domestic retailers due to extremely high delivery prices from Slovenia abroad. This price, even for the smallest packages, often amounted to 6-7 euros, or even over 10 euros, depending on the final destination and the type of packages.

How do Big boxes solve the problem of expensive shipping abroad?

The price of local shipping (within the country) and international shipping (from one EU country to another) in many cases differs by 3-4x. So, if e.g. you pay 2-4 euros for a package you send to Slovenia, you can pay 6-12 euros for the same package you want to send to one of the EU countries.

A big box is nothing but a large package (preferably the maximum volume that your delivery service still allows), which is useful for us to put small packages in it and in this way (for the one-time cost of a large package) quickly deliver them to the selected country, where the local delivery service opens a big package (Big box) and then sends small packages for delivery.

As a result, you can apply local labels (from the country in which the final delivery will be made) to the small final packages and finally send them out at local prices. So your only additional cost is the price of one large package (shipping + packaging), which usually ranges between 10-15 euros, and you can fit around 30kg of small packages in it, if of course their volume allows it.

So to summarize:

1. You pack the orders of your customers from abroad in packages that you equip with local labels (e.g. you sign a contract with DPD Poland). This of course gets you the local shipping rate.
2. Put all small daily packages that you send to Poland into a Big box, which you send as 1 international package.
3. You send the package from your address/warehouse in Slovenia to the DPD Poland depot in Poland, where they open the large package and then deliver the small packages to the end customers.

Ali se mi splača pošiljati Big box?

The calculation is simple, but of course everyone has to calculate it themselves, as it depends on your current offer, dimensions and weights of your packages, number of daily packages, location, etc.

Basically you need to know the following:

1. Povprečno število končnih paketov, ki jih pošljete v izbrano državo
2. Vaša trenutna povprečna cena za 1 paket
3. How many packages (dimensions, weight) can you fit in 1 big box if you fill it to the top (get information from your delivery service about the maximum allowed dimensions and weight of an international package)
4. Cena Big boxa v celoti (nabava embalaže – velikega paketa in cena dostave le-tega)
5. Cena lokalnih paketov, ki jo lahko pridobite s strani tujih dostavnih služb

Based on this data, you can very easily calculate the "breakeven point", i.e. at what number of daily packages is it worth sending with Big box instead of directly one package at a time.

Calculation example:

• • daily we send approx. 20 packages to customers in Poland

• • we currently pay the Slovenian delivery service 6 euros/package, so it costs us an average of 120 euros/day

• • I fit approx. in the bigbox. 50 packs, so dimensions and weight are not a problem

• • the price of the big box for Poland is 15 euros, the carton box costs me 3 euros

• • I obtained a price of 3eur/package from a local provider

If I send through a local provider, I pay 120 euros per day for 20 packages.

If I send via Big box, I pay 20x 3 euros (price of final packages) + 15 euros (big box) + 3 euros (price of carton) = 78 euros

This means that with 20 packages it is already worth sending with a big box, if of course I estimate that 42 euros per day (or 1260 euros/month) is a big enough difference for a little more work.

It is also necessary to take into account that your traffic can grow (or fall), if your daily number of packages increases to 30, 40 or even 50 packages, of course your savings will be even higher.

It's too complicated, I don't know how to go about it.

We understand. It often makes the most sense to leave "creative logistics" to those who specialize in it, such as fulfillment centers such as Warehouse.si. To optimize your package prices, you can always contact them without any obligations and together you will see if they can arrange better prices for delivery abroad.

It often happens at such meetings that the trader can already save a lot just by simply changing the delivery service, which we already wrote about in this article. We know customers who, with partner delivery prices, saved the entire cost of storing and sending all packages through the fulfillment center (they saved more on the delivery price than the entire service of the fulfillment center just by signing a new contract).

But let's get back to the topic of the article:

What are the downsides of Big Box shipping?

Tracking delay: 

• • Your final packages that will be accepted by customers will be equipped with local labels, which will receive the first real status only when they are scanned in the final country. In practice, this means that when you hand over the Big box, you will only have 1 tracking number of the Big box, which you can follow to the country where you are sending it. Only when they open the big box there and scan the small packages, the final tracking numbers will be visible to your customers. As a result, some customers may be afraid that you have not sent the package for 2-3 days (as long as it took for the package to arrive in the final country) - so it is necessary to communicate this wisely (tell the customer that the package started from Slovenia and that it will the tracking number will be visible in a couple of days when it is scanned in her country, and then she will receive it within 1 day).

Complaints: 

• • V kolikor pride do težav (seveda lahko pride, saj pride tudi pri paketih, ki jih pošiljamo iz Ljubljane v Ljubljano) je tukaj rizik nekoliko večji, saj v kolikor pride do poškodbe ali izgube big boxa to vpliva na vse pakete v njem. Predlagamo, da pred podpisom pogodbe s tujo dostavno službo točno opredelite njihovo odgovornost, torej od kje naprej so oni odgovorni za vaš paket, do kam pa je odgovorna slovenska dostavna služba. Ne pripeljite se v situacijo, ko se bodo zgovarjali eni na druge. Načeloma je tako, da vam slovenska dostavna služba mora zagotoviti dostavo big boxa v depo tuje dostavne službe – če se na poti karkoli zgodi ali če je paket vročen neznani osebi ali na napačnem kraju, odgovarjajo oni. Če se karkoli zgodi po vročitvi v tujini, pa odgovarja tuja dostavna služba. A to je potrebno točno opredeliti vnaprej. Prav tako morate s slovensko dostavno službo doreči kako se bo dokazovalo število majhnih paketov v Big boxu, v kolikor se le-ta izgubi. Svetujemo, da pri predaji Big boxa dostavni službi dogovorite podpisovanje dokumenta, na katerem je popis paketov (število paketov, trackingi in imena), dostavljalec pa se pri prevzemu sam odloči ali bo pakete preštel ali ne.

Are there any other good Big box shipping sites?

Yes, in most cases you can agree with a foreign delivery service that they collect unclaimed packages (or even complaints) in their own depot and then send them all back together in the same big box 1-2 times a month (depending on the quantities). In other words, you will provide local buyers with a local address for returns, and the cost to you will again be minimal (eg the price of one Big box for all complaints and returns within 14 days). You will also not pay for the return of each unclaimed package separately.

My delivery service says it doesn't want to allow me to ship the Big box, what should I do?

Big box shipping is nothing more than sending a large package abroad, which every delivery service has in its regular price list.

Any obstruction of this process is incorrect partner business and as a result, you can tell such a delivery service without a bad conscience that you will consider switching to another delivery service that does not prevent you from optimizing your business.

Also the fulfillment center Warehouse.si enable their customers to deliver via big boxes to countries where it makes sense and to customers who otherwise have a greatly exaggerated shipping price.

For more information about cooperation or Big boxes, you can contact them via the contact form at https://warehouse.si/kontakt.html and get better prices and terms for shipping abroad.

Damir Vidan
OnlySales.si