No matter where you are, it’s safe to say that January has been quite the month. At Easyship, we’ve been powering ahead to add new countries to our lineup and features to our tool kit. Of course, there’s plenty of insightful new content on the blog, too!
Easyship News - February 2020
Coronavirus: What It Means for Shipping
As you can imagine, the spread of the coronavirus has had a significant impact on international shipping, especially on shipments to and from China. Here are a few things you should be aware of:
- Reduced courier capacity: Hong Kong Post, DPD, Seko, and wnDirect are all experiencing delays, especially in China; express shipping methods are operating normally.
- Reduced air freight: In addition to reduced passenger services, air freight services have been scaled back, leading to lower capacity, increased rates, and delays.
- Factory production shutdown: Many factories in China will remain closed following the Lunar New Year holiday period - expect severe delays in production.
Of course, it’s important to remember that manufacturing is still happening, despite the challenges that the coronavirus has created. For those that are still going ahead, Hong Kong is still a good choice as a main distribution hub. The Special Administrative Region continues to have no VAT, GST or import taxes, and offers a low corporate profit tax. In addition, it still offers some of the most advanced and varied shipping solutions, so you will still find ways to get your orders out.
Easyship Continues Global Growth
In January, we made Easyship available in two more new countries! Users in Japan and Korea can now set up an Easyship account and link their own courier accounts to use their negotiated shipping rates while automating and streamlining their fulfillment processes with our suite of useful tools. In case you’re keeping count, in just two months, we’ve added 20 new countries to our roster! Check our website to see if we’re now available in your country!
Give Your Customers More Options for Paying Taxes
Giving your customers full visibility over their payments is crucial for a positive eCommerce store experience. That’s why many of our users like to show the import taxes and duties users can expect to pay at checkout. While Easyship has always offered the ability to show these fees for the cheapest, fastest, and best-value shipping options, we now also offer the ability for users to show an additional shipping option.
This means that as well as showing options to pay on delivery, you can allow your customers to see options to prepay taxes and duties straight away. The best part is that Easyship users can now set up these checkout options through automated shipping rules on our platform!
Helping More eCommerce Merchants Around the World
We want everyone to be able to use Easyship. That’s why we’re building out our integration program by partnering with more eCommerce platforms. So we’re thrilled to announce that this month, we’re doing a beta launch for SquareSpace! Now, merchants on SquareSpace can integrate Easyship with their store and find seamless shipping solutions. We’re excited to welcome SquareSpace merchants to the Easyship family and hope that you’ll find us helpful for growing your business!
More Shipping Solutions
Our eFulfillment clients now have even more ways to ship to customers around the world! This month, both DHL and UPS are giving our clients the opportunity to connect major markets around the world:
- Hong Kong-based eFulfillment clients can now use DHL eCommerce Parcel Direct Expedited to reach customers in India and Thailand.
- DHL eCommerce Packet Plus International is now available to Hong Kong eFulfillment clients to reach 41 countries across the globe.
- Australian Cloud and eFulfillment clients can now use UPS Worldwide Shipping to ship directly to 39 major destinations.
Content We Love
As always, our blog is frequently updated with useful articles to help you ace shipping and eCommerce. Be sure to check out the blog for new articles each day! In the meantime, here are a few of our favorite recent articles:
- February Fresh: Our Favorite Products and Brands of the Month - Check out some of the cool companies we’re delivering for this month - we think you’ll love them as much as we do!
- 10 Ways to Connect with Customers Through Social Media - Social media can be a great way for eCommerce brands to reach more customers (and generate more sales). Here’s what you should know.
- Green Shipping Solutions: Everything You Need to Know - Customers are beginning to take notice of environmentally-friendly companies, which is why it’s important for your brand to create responsible shipping ideas - here’s how.
- How to Correctly Fill Out a Customs Form for International Shipping - The last thing you want is for your international shipments to be stuck in customs. That’s why we’re showing you exactly how to fill out a customs form so that your goods arrive on time, every time.