Shipping is one of the most critical aspects of running a direct-to-consumer (DTC) brand—for perishable goods, the stakes are even higher. Every delay, failed delivery, and packaging mistake doesn’t just cost money—it leads to spoiled products, lost customers, and damaged trust.
The right shipping strategy keeps your products’ quality intact, reduces waste, and maximizes margins. The wrong one drains your bottom line. Here are the biggest shipping mistakes that could be costing you money—and how to fix them.
1. Using a One-Size-Fits-All Fulfillment Approach
Shipping every order from a single fulfillment center can dramatically increase your shipping costs and the amount of refrigerant required. The farther your shipments travel, the more dry ice or gel packs are needed, driving up both weight and costs.
✅ Fix: Take advantage of a distributed fulfillment network that minimizes shipping zones and reduces travel times. This ensures that products arrive faster and require less refrigerant, all while improving your overall shipping efficiency.
2. Inefficient Refrigerant & Dry Ice Usage
Dry ice is vital for maintaining temperature, but overusing it increases costs. On the other hand, using too little dry ice can lead to spoiled products.
✅ Fix: Advanced shipping technology can help automatically calculate the optimal amount of refrigerant needed based on factors like weather events, shipping duration, and product type. This ensures that you’re using just the right amount of dry ice, gel packs, and insulation—minimizing costs and preventing spoilage.
3. Poor Packaging That Increases Costs & Risk
Excessively large packaging means more weight, more refrigerants, and higher dimensional weight charges.
✅ Fix: Shipping technology that automatically selects the perfect box size and the right insulation based on your product’s weight and dimensions reduces excess packaging and ensures temperature consistency.
4. Underestimating the Impact of Failed Deliveries
A late delivery for a perishable product means wasted inventory and damaged customer trust. Every missed delivery or delayed shipment leads to spoiled products that can’t be refunded or resold, eating into your profits and eroding customer lifetime value (LTV).
✅ Fix: Leverage real-time weather monitoring and carrier performance tracking to proactively manage risk. By adjusting delivery routes and predicting potential delivery failures, you can optimize delivery windows and ensure your products reach customers on time.
5. Not Using Data & Technology to Optimize Shipping
Failing to track essential metrics like shipping speed, carrier performance, cost-per-order, and temperature integrity can lead to inefficiencies and missed opportunities to optimize your logistics.
✅ Fix: Invest in a shipping platform that monitors and analyzes key data like carrier performance, on-time delivery rates, and temperature compliance. With access to this real-time data, you can adjust shipping strategies in real time, optimizing your shipping decisions and improving the customer experience.
Final Thoughts
For perishable DTC brands, shipping isn’t just about getting products to customers—it’s about doing so in the most efficient, cost-effective way possible while maintaining product quality. Leveraging data-driven logistics to optimize everything from carrier selection to refrigerant usage can drastically cut costs, reduce waste, and ensure your products arrive in optimal condition.
Shipping should be a competitive advantage, not a cost center. Let’s talk about how Grip can optimize your logistics and protect your bottom line: partnerships@gripshipping.com
