Key Points:
- Direct injection is a form of consolidated shipping
- Direct injection allows you to bypass the traditional supply chain methods and courier services to take advantage of several unique benefits
- Easyship is experienced in creating bespoke direct injection solutions for eCommerce retailers
As eCommerce becomes an increasingly popular method of shopping, retailers are increasingly being pushed to satisfy demanding customers with fast and cheap shipping solutions. You may not have heard of it, but direct injection is a type of shipping that can be useful to eCommerce retailers.
A direct injection is a form of shipping consolidation. Like all consolidated shipping services, this allows you to group your shipments with others heading for the same country to slash costs and speed through customs clearance. The key difference is that with direct injection, you may be able to take advantage of taxes and duties exceptions.
Easyship specializes in organizing direct injection shipping into the US, where we have six strategically-located “injection points” across the country. But, we also offer this type of order consolidation in the EU, Asia, and Australia. This can be especially useful for our users who consistently ship high volumes to these markets.
Because direct injection is becoming increasingly useful, we want to make sure you know about it. To that end, this article will discuss what this type of shipping is, who can use it, how it works, and what its benefits are.
Table of Contents
What is Direct Injection?
At its core, a direct injection is a form of consolidated shipping. Using this system, individual shipments going from one country to another are packed together to be shipped by air. On arrival in their destination country, they clear customs electronically and are then passed on to a local courier that handles last-mile delivery to the customer.
The three main features of direct injection are:
- Goods are shipped by air as bulk cargo
- The last-mile shipping labels are applied to each order at their point of origin
- The customer is the “importer of record,” rather than the business
However, perhaps the most crucial part of direct injection shipping is that it allows shippers to take advantage of exceptions for import taxes and duties. This is specifically relevant within the US, though it can apply to other markets that offer low taxable import thresholds.
How does it work?
It’s pretty simple, really. Direct injection allows you to bypass the traditional supply chain methods and courier services to take advantage of several unique benefits. Here’s a step-by-step guide:
- The package is packed at its origin point; the customs paperwork is filed and the destination shipping label is applied here.
- The package is then sent to a consolidation point so that it can be grouped with other packages being sent to the same destination.
- All shipments are flown to the destination by air as bulk cargo.
- Shipments clear customs electronically at the destination.
- Once in the country, each individual shipment is then handed over to a local postal service for delivery to the customer.
By skipping ocean shipping, direct injection can get goods to customers very fast - usually within days - and at a cost that’s far less than regular courier services. It’s become particularly useful for crowdfunding projects dealing with manufactured goods. That’s because products are often manufactured in Asian hubs but need to reach backers in the US, EU, and other parts of the world in a way that’s fast and cheap.
What Are the Benefits of Direct Injection?
Not to put too fine a point on it, but the greatest benefit of this type of consolidated shipping is that you can access certain import duties exceptions and lower duties thresholds. But, there are plenty of other benefits, too.
1. Duty exceptions
The biggest benefit applies if you ship regularly to the US. That’s because, in the US, direct injection allows you to access the Section 321 Information Entry exception, which exempts individual orders of less than $800 from import duties.
A similar exemption applies in the EU. If you ship anywhere in the European bloc, you’ll be able to access duty-free imports for orders under EUR150. In either case, you simply have to fly your goods into the country with other individual shipments and file for customs clearance electronically.
2. Speed
By using air bulk cargo to ship, direct injection is faster than traditional ocean-based bulk shipping. In addition, since orders are generally packed in the country of production and sent directly to the customer, they’ll skip spending time in warehouses en route, which can reduce delivery times - sometimes by days! For urgent deliveries, express courier services may still be faster, but they’ll be far more expensive, too.
3. Lower costs
If you ever took an economics class, you’ll know that economies of scale mean that doing more of something can make it cheaper. This applies to direct injection shipping. Consolidation means that you can access bulk shipping rates that wouldn’t normally be available for individual shipments.
But, volume matters. The higher your shipping volume, the cheaper direct injection will be for you. The main point to take away, though, is that this type of shipping can ensure you save significant amounts of money. If you’re an eCommerce merchant that regularly ships numerous packages to the US (or EU), then this could be a great option for slashing your shipping budget.
4. Higher customer satisfaction
We’ve already told you that consolidation makes shipping faster and cheaper. But did you know that, by extension, it can also improve your customer satisfaction? Direct injection is a great balance between cost and speed in shipping, so while they won’t know this is how they’re getting their shipment, they’ll be happy that they’ll be paying less and still getting their orders in a reasonable timeframe.
The Easyship Factor
Easyship has plenty of experience at organizing direct injection solutions so that our clients can access fast, affordable, fuss-free shipping. We’re particularly focused on handling these types of requests in the US, Europe, Australia, and Canada.
Here are just a few of the ways we can help you with our personalized direct injection plans:
- Help you save on duties for shipments in accordance with local exemptions
- Arrange seamless door-to-door services
- Get reliable last-mile courier tracking with major couriers like USPS, DHL, and FedEx
- Prepare customs paperwork for electronic filing
Don’t forget that if you need advice at any point, we can help. Just speak to your account manager or contact our support team!
Use Direct Injection to Save on Import Duties
Direct Injection can be a very useful form of order consolidation for shipping. The main benefit is that it can save you (and your customers) from paying import duties if your shipments are below the exemption threshold. It can also be faster, cheaper, and easier than other traditional shipping methods.
Easyship is experienced in creating bespoke direct injection solutions for eCommerce retailers, so if you think this might work for your business, have a chat with us! We’d be more than happy to talk you through the process, show you how it can help your business, and answer all the questions you may have!
